TheCable

Kingsley Moghalu, a former presidential candidate, says Nigeria is bankrupt because its leadership and politics are a “grand fraud”.

The former deputy governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) said Nigeria’s problem is not lack of brilliant minds, but a lack of strong and effective institutions.

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) recently said at least 82.9 million Nigerians are living in poverty, although earlier data from the World Poverty Clock puts the estimate at above 90 million.

This means that about 40.1 percent of Nigeria’s population — excluding Borno state which has been ravaged by Boko Haram insurgents since over a decade — is surviving on less than a dollar daily.

Writing via his Twitter handle on Thursday, Moghalu said it is only strong economic institutions that can provide the needed opportunity for wealth creation in Nigeria.

He wrote: “90 million Nigerians live in extreme poverty and the country is essentially bankrupt not because we don’t have brilliant economists, but because our politics and leadership are a grand fraud. Prosperity requires nationhood, first, followed by strong, effective institutions.

“Without strong political institutions, we can’t have strong economic institutions that can set up an equal opportunity for wealth creation. If we don’t restructure a big, diverse country constitutionally back to real federalism, Nigeria can neither be stable nor prosper.”

90 million Nigerians live in extreme poverty and the country is essentially bankrupt not because we don’t have brilliant economists, but because our politics and leadership are a grand fraud. Prosperity requires nationhood, first, followed by strong, effective institutions.

— Kingsley Moghalu (@MoghaluKingsley) August 27, 2020

The interplay between political foundations, governance and institutions on the one hand and the marketplace on the other, is called political economy. For developing countries getting this right,not abstract economic equations, is the key to the wealth of nations. #EndofStory

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— Kingsley Moghalu (@MoghaluKingsley) August 27, 2020

Moghalu said an interplay between political foundations, governance and institutions on the one hand and the marketplace on the other is the key to wealth creation in developing countries.