CONTINUED FROM LAST WEEK
AS a result partly of the invention of various kinds of labour-saving devices including automation, computer, etc., and partly of misplaced emphasis, the fundamental point is sometimes overlooked by rulers and planners alike that nothing of utility in this world can be produced without the physical and mental labour of man. Even the picking of a ripe fruit which has fallen from a tree requires some measure – albeit insignificant—of physical and mental application.
It is correct then to say that no production can take place and no production problem can be solved without the active and dynamic intervention of man. Even the electronic computers, whose speed, precision, and infallibility in solving problems are extolled above so-called defective human ‘efforts, are the handiwork of man. Unless this indispensable instrument for the tackling of economic problem is itself appropriate and adequate, the resultant solution is more likely than not to be wrong or defective. It follows, therefore, that the economic prerequisite of the countries of Africa is appropriately and adequately trained manpower. Give them this, and their economic problems, having regard to their abundant natural resources, are more than 60 per cent solved. In this connection, it must be realised that, in the final analysis, neo-colonialism is basically a phenomenon of the shortage of technical and managerial know-how.
It is for all these reasons, therefore, that I regard the AACB as doing first things first by holding this Training Course. In the words of the AACB itself, the general object of this Course is:
‘To assist in the training of officers from the middle Management to Junior Executive positions in African Central Banks. The courses will also build up knowledge of Central Banking with particular reference to conditions in African countries and other developing countries of the world.’
A Course such as this is bound to be twice beneficial. It will immediately and directly benefit those who receive instructions thereat. It will also benefit the Central Banks and members of their top management by the provision for them of better equipped staff. Time was when the functions of Central banks were confined to the maintenance of:
i.) reasonable stability in the internal price level; (ii.) stability in the external value of the currency; and (iii.) balance of payments equilibrium.
But, today, these very difficult and intricate functions have been further complicated by the assumption by the Central Banks, or probably it is more correct to say, by the imposition on them by all the Governments of the World of entirely new functions. As a result of this development, it is now the duty of the Central Banks to discharge efficiently and effectively, in addition to the traditional ones, the functions of:
(i.) promoting a higher rate of economic growth, and raising the standard of living of the people; and
(ii.) achieving full employment.
In tackling all these gargantuan problems, African Central Banks and planners are in a happier position than their counterparts in many of the developed countries. Ours is not the problem of striving to make already fully utilised natural resources yield greater increase, by an extra-skilful redeployment of the factors of production. On the contrary, the prime causes of our underdevelopment are inadequate development and inappropriate orientation of human resources, as well as the non-utilisation, under-utilisation, and mis-utilisation of our natural resources. There are even many instances where African countries have very little knowledge of the extent of their natural resources, let alone their full or sufficient utilisation.
Granting, therefore, that the other sectors of our economic activities pursue their assignments with the same enlightened and realistic approach as the African Central Banks, the traditional and modern responsibilities laid on the latter especially those relating to (I) the balance of payments equilibrium, (2) the promotion or higher economic growth, and (3) the achievement of full employment, will not prove so onerous, as at first sight appear. And it is my humble opinion, which I believe may be shared by many, that the continuance of this Training Course in the future will. in all certainty, further help to lighten the burdensomeness, if not the gravity, of those responsibilities.
With these few remarks, I have the greatest pleasure in declaring this First AACB’s Training Course, held in Nigeria in 1970, open.
CONTINUES NEXT WEEK
and then