The Nigerian Institute of Management (NIM) (Chartered) has said Nigerians have a lot of roles to play towards moving economy of the nation forward.
NIM said for the economy to compete with other developed countries, its citizens need to contribute their quota because no meaningful development can take place in a chaotic atmosphere.
Speaking in Ibadan at the opening ceremony of the 2022 annual national management conference of the institute with the theme: “Public policy management and entrepreneurship development in Nigeria”, the acting President of the institute, Dr Christiana Atako lamented the economy has been characterised by lot of inefficiencies, public sector dominance, over reliance on oil as the major revenue earner which have typically affected the country’s course of development.
She noted the theme was arrived at when the institute came to the sad realisation that one of the major reasons the is because of scant regard for putting in place appropriate public policies that drive entrepreneurship development.
She said: “Since the mid-1980s, Nigeria has introduced some structural economic reforms, abolished polices and structures which prevented entry into certain industries, and opened up its markets to competition from domestic and foreign entrepreneurs.
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“The government has also introduced and pursued a number of entrepreneurship encouragement policies aimed at reducing the high rates of unemployment and poverty.
“Although Nigeria is still plagued by many development challenges, the country is naturally endowed with entrepreneurship opportunities. The realisation of the full potential of these opportunities has been dampened by the adoption of inappropriate industrialisation policies at different times.
“Several policy interventions that were aimed at stimulating entrepreneurship development via small and medium scale enterprises promotion, based on technology transfer strategy, have failed to achieve the desired goals as it led to the most indigenous entrepreneurs becoming distribution agents of imported products as opposed to building in-country entrepreneurial capacity for manufacturing, mechanised agriculture and expert services.”
“In most developing economies like Nigeria, public policy is currently shifting emphasis from small and medium scale enterprise (SME) to entrepreneurship. The institutional framework set by public policy affects the prevalence and performance of productive entrepreneurship which should be rewarded. Successful ventures must also have the incentive to continue renewing themselves just as it must be easy to start and expand a business.”