Former President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Dr Olisa Agbakoba, SAN, has said Nigeria is grappling with economic hardship because it is not producing.
The lawyer said the country is not a lazy economy where people do not work hard to make money, and this adversely affects the cost of living.
Agabkoba said this in a recent interview with Control TV, adding there is a problem with the economic strategy of President Bola Tinubu-led administration.
“We place the wrong emphasis on the numeric value of the naira to the dollar. We should be concentrating on the productive value of the naira to the dollar,” he said.
“The problem is that we are not producing. If you don’t produce, there is nothing to sell. And if you don’t have anything to sell, you are broke. You then depend on the oil which is so small. So we need to produce.
“What are we producing? We are not selling! We don’t sell, we get nothing. So, that’s the problem to say the economic strategy is wrong. You need to expand the economy.”
The renowned maritime lawyer said the federal government should look at all the sectors of the economy including the creative industry and the legal sector to increase Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Agbakoba said, “Look at all the sectors, just look at what the creative sector is talking about, but they are ignored. In the United Kingdom, legal services contribute 3 per cent to its entire GDP. Here, nobody even counts us (legal services).”
“So, that’s the problem. We must find a strategy to correct this. It must be such that we can produce. And we won’t produce in the context of insecurity. These are the questions.
“In the North, agriculture is supposed to be the mainstay but nobody can do mechanised agriculture in the context of insecurity. So the challenges are multi-faceted.
“So, if we want to grow our economy, we must be looking at how do we become productive. We are a very lazy economy. It doesn’t make sense. It’s just like stealing. Imagine the lady in Humanitarian Affairs, it was alleged that she has stolen half a billion and all we heard is that she has been suspended. If you can get money easily, why will I have to work hard? It’s not reasonable.”