April 25, 2016
Promoting Sustainable Growth and Inclusive Development in Nigeria’s States
The Forum on Inclusive Nigerian Development (FIND) recently convened a meeting on April 12, 2016 to draw together representatives from states' economic management teams, development agencies, financial services, economist, media members, and civil society groups. The drastic fall in global oil price has massively impacted the Nigerian economy and shows no signs of booming back in the near future. The state governments have been unable to offset the fall in oil revenue thus far, and the price drop has dramatically underscored the importance of diversifying the economies in an inclusive and sound way. Working together in this meeting, participants were asked to look into lessons learned in the past, what strategies could be used to increase the states' internally generated revenue (IGR), and how to best move forward to implement these strategies.
The morning held presentations from Fatma Samoura, UN Nigeria Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative; Douglason Omotor, advisor for the West African Institute for Financial and Economic Management; Oluyomi Ola-David, Lecturer at Covenant University; and Chuma Ezedinna, Office in Charge, UNIDO Regional Office, Nigeria. and began the conversation on how to approach tackling the deep issues on the table for the day's meeting.
The afternoon session saw meeting participants split into breakout groups, each focused on one of the following topics:
- Resource mobilization for inclusive development taxation
- Good governance and service delivery at the state and local government levels
- Rural economic transformation and employment generation
- Growing the real sectors -- agriculture, manufacturing, tourism, etc.
These breakout groups reviewed important questions facing the state governments, citizens, and industries in the face of working toward more sustainable and inclusive development. Following hours of conversation, these groups came back together to report to the group as a whole and discuss their thoughts. The day allowed for insightful discussions on today's complex issues.