How prepared are we for a post oil economy?

By Tony Ademiluyi

SIR: Nigeria is yet to come to terms with the reality of a post oil economy as she lives as though the demand for the black gold will be there forever. There is no bold plan to wean her economy off total oil dependence. It is ridiculous that many of our governors cannot pay salaries of civil servants and pensioners as and at when due because of the paucity of funds that accrue to them from the Federation Account..

Many countries in Europe has set 2030 which is less than nine years away as the time for the total phasing out of fossil fuel-run vehicles in favour of electric cars. Imperial College has scrapped its famous Masters in Petroleum Engineering in response to this new global reality.

Nigeria desperately needs digitally compliant and visionary leaders that can effectively steer the ship of state in these highly troubled times. Singapore, a tiny country leapfrogged from a Third to a First World Country because of the massive investment in education by the Lee Kuan Yew-led leadership. Wealth has long shifted from the abundance of natural resources to human capital development.

Flutterwave, a Fintech company was founded by two young Nigerians – Samuel Iyinoluwa Aboyeji and Olugbenga Agboola in 2016 to provide payments solutions. They attained Unicorn status –over one billion dollar valuation in barely five years and have raised over $200 million for expansion within this short space of time. Another local Fintech firm, Paystack founded in 2015 by Sola Akinlade and Ezra Olubi – two Babcock University graduates was acquired for a whopping $200 million by Stripe in 2020 after just five years of existence. Technology companies in Nigeria despite the harsh business environment have raised hundreds of millions of dollars in the last decade.

How many Nigerian companies run by rent seekers who masquerade as businessmen have achieved similar success? How many corrupt politicians who have massive slush funds and deploy it into phony business enterprises with front businessmen have emerged as Unicorns even two decades?

Our population which is projected to balloon to over 400 million by 2050 is now more of a liability than an asset as a result of the lack of effective leadership to harness it like what the Chinese leaders did. The government isn’t even thinking about ways to develop Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics education as well as technology to create jobs, develop an alternative revenue earner to oil and create sustainable wealth in the country which will in no minuscule measure stop the insurgency and banditry which has its roots in the pervasive poverty in the land.

There is no sturdy government-backed plan to create a post oil economy. What will be the fate of our economy in the next decade if this nonchalant attitude continues?

• Tony Ademiluyi, Lagos.