National goal cannot be achieved with ease and simplicity

CONTINUED FROM LAST WEEK

IT is a great pleasure for me to be given the unique honour of addressing this First Annual Conference of your Association. I want to assure you that, when I say this, I am not merely trying to be courteous, or uttering a platitude.

In a temporal sense, this is an infant Association. The truth of this is borne out by the fact that, whilst this is the First Anniversary of your existence, the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry has just held its 80th Annual General Meeting.

In essence, however, and by its sheer composition, this Association can be said to be as old as, and, by analogy, wiser than any of its members.

Speaking from experience of similar organisations in other parts of the world, this is an instance where the whole can be said to be much greater than the sum of its parts. The saying – ‘two heads are better than one’ – does not truly express what is common to the experience of all of us here. For, other things being equal, the integration of the exertions of two wise heads in the solution of any problem achieves far greater, far better, and far quicker result than that which can be achieved by two heads operating separately. This is particularly so in economics and other kindred disciplines. In the Preface to THE GENERAL THEORY OF EMPLOYMENT, INTEREST AND MONEY, the late Lord Keynes speaks of the commission of ‘undue proportion of mistakes if one thinks too long alone in economics…‘

It appears that you have succeeded, in this Association, in providing a forum for the pooling of the rich and diverse mental resources of our great country in order to bring them to bear, in harmonious combination, on the varied and complex economic problems which beset us, without ever running the risk of diminishing returns. In this way, you have done a valuable service to the country’s business interests, and to the Federal Government.

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Hitherto, the absence of a country-wide organised commercial and industrial body, which can speak with one voice for the whole of the private sector, made it difficult for the Federal Government to ascertain and, wherever possible, reconcile the conflicting interests involved. But henceforth, you have presented the Federal Government with an Association with which it can deal without any doubt as to its country-wide representativeness. For this reason, I assure you that the Federal Military Government will do all in its power to co-operate with, and make use of, this new Association as an effective channel of mutual communication between it and the members of our business community.

In hailing the debut of this Association, we must not fail to praise the Lagos chamber of Commerce and Industry and its sister Bodies throughout the country which, in years past, have rendered, and will, in future years, continue to render competent and invaluable services for the promotion of commerce and industry in Nigeria.

Having made these preliminary remarks, I want to confine the rest of this address to three main topics, namely:

1) Nigeria’s national objectives and aspirations.

2) Reconstruction and rehabilitation proposals, and the complementary roles of the public and private sectors in executing them.

3) The strengthening of the relationship between the public and private sectors.

It is no longer a question of academic speculation and polemic that nations must set themselves economic and social targets for periodic fulfilment. Unlike other matters (including the definition of the word ‘economics’ itself) on which they rarely agree, economists of the socialist and Keynesian schools as well as those of the neo-classical non-Keynesian school are now unanimous on the imperativeness of planning, and of declaring periodic national objectives and aspirations, which alone can serve as the shining beacons towards which efforts for maximum growth can be mobilised and geared, but without which all developmental voyage is certain to be bound in drift, chaos, and misery.

Nigeria’s national objectives and aspirations can be stated in simple and succinct terms. But this should not be taken as suggesting that our national goals can be achieved with any kind of ease or simplicity.

IF WE WANT TO KEEP OUR TEAMING PEOPLES REASONABLY CONTENTED AND HAPPY, WE MUST ASPIRE AND STRIVE TO TRANSFORM THIS LAND OF OURS INTO A MODERN, PROSPEROUS, SELF-SUPPORTING, AND DEVELOPED. STATE WITHIN THE NEXT TWO DECADES. AT THE SAME TIME, WE MUST SEEK TO MAKE SIGNIFICANT CONTRIBUTIONS TO WORLD ECONOMY. These, in broad terms, are the objectives which we must and can pursue and achieve in the time stated.

CONTINUES NEXT WEEK