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Nigeria is giant of Africa with clay feet –Sanusi

Former Emir of Kano, HRH Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, has described Nigeria as a giant of Africa with clay feet, saying other Africa countries like Ghana, Senegal and Kenya are better placed economically than Nigeria. Malam Sanusi spoke on the second day of the ongoing Kaduna Economic and Investment summit (KADINVEST) 6.0 on Friday. Speaking on the theme of the summit; Transisting to a sustainable knowledge based economy, the former Central Bank of Nigeria, governor said: “Only nine per cent of new graduates in Nigeria find employment, so we have an incremental 4.5 million people added to the unemployed annually. 41 per cent is the number for youth unemployment. Overall, we have 27 per cent unemployment among the youths, which is the most serious component of the population and that is why you have restiveness, thuggery, crime and that is why you have insecurity”. He also said: “Nigeria is ranked 114 in the global innovation index, we are lower than other African countries like Kenya, Rwanda, and Senegal. We are ranked 14 in Sub-Saharan Africa.

I think we should have this reality check and know where we are as a country. “If not, we continue to call ourselves giant of Africa, we are a giant with clay feet. We are 14 in innovation in Sub-Saharan Africa. Countries like Senegal Kenya are ahead of us and I am not even talking about South Africa. Our expenditure on education as a country is only seven per cent of the budget.

We are spending less than Ghana on education, not on percentage, but in absolute terms. “And we are surprised that companies are moving to Ghana, that industries, individuals are moving there. We are not investing in education and human capital. We have a 68 per cent mismatch between graduates’ skills and job requirements, the major areas been communication, IT and decision making.” The former emir also said Nigeria needs to move from depending on oil to human capital development, saying that many countries no longer depend on oil and as such the market is no longer there. He said the countries that are growing are those that have developed their human capital and not resources. He commended Governor Nasir El-Rufai for looking into the future with his policies, praying that Kaduna should be saddled with a good leader after the present administration to carry on with the good works.

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