Former presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress, ADC, Kingsley Moghalu, has said claims made by the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, LP, Peter Obi, that the economy cannot be driven by just physical infrastructure is correct.
Moghalu disclosed this in a post via his verified Twitter handle on Monday.
The former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, said the foundation of economic transformation is human development, noting that the economy cannot make real progress without it.
He also stated that it is mass education and skilling of millions, access to healthcare, and potable drinking water that lays the foundation for moving millions from poverty to sustainable income and wealth creation opportunities.
He wrote, “From the standpoint of economic transformation, presidential candidate @PeterObi has a strong, even if controversial point: that the economy cannot be driven just by (physical) infrastructure. The foundation of economic transformation is human development (social infrastructure).
“Unless and until we understand this, our economy cannot make real progress. It is the mass education and skilling of millions, access to healthcare, potable drinking water (not the business of pure water and water tankers) that lays the foundation to moving millions from poverty to sustainable income and wealth creation opportunities.
“Physical infrastructure is of course important for the economy. But 133 million poverty stricken, mainly illiterate Nigerians cannot be the most productive users of infrastructure for which we claim we have borrowed to the hilt, and for which we are spending more than 100% of our meager earnings servicing debt. This has been my position for the past two decades, and is supported by the evidence of all great economic transformations such as South Korea and China. I simply have to be blunt about this.”
