Regina Otokpa 
Soludo
Anambra State Governor, Prof. Chukwuma Charles Soludo has said Nigeria needs a fundamental reset to transition from destructive subsidies to a productive social contract that creates opportunities for all, with education as a key example.
Soludo who made the call on Thursday in Abuja while delivering a convocation lecture at Veritas University Abuja on the topic, ‘Let us make a new deal for Nigeria,’ underscored the importance of combining Catholic social teachings and Chapter Two of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria to create a robust progressive ideology and manifesto.
He said: As we muddle through the shocks occasioned by the needed disruptive changes, we must sit and craft a pragmatic new deal for Nigeria, plus an emergency national infrastructure plan akin to the US Marshall Plan for Europe after the Second World War.
“Some elements of the new deal such as the minimum wage legislation, draft tax reform bill, planned cash transfers, etc as well as the audacious Lagos-Calabar coastal highway and Lagos-Sokoto highway are positive signs.
“This moment calls for historic coordination between the federal and state governments to agree of the critical elements of the augmented New Deal and Marshall Plan as well as their implementation to deliver outcomes within the shortest possible time. a key issue will be the ‘national plan’ for the deployment of the apparent fiscal/subsidy windfall.
“I say “apparent windfall because much of the nominal increase in fiscal revenues is largely a money illusion. in both us dollar terms and real purchasing power terms, much of the current revenue windfall is still far lower than in previous years.
“For example, a state that received n5 billion or us$43.4 million as monthly facial allocation in 2007/8 when the exchange rate was n118 to the dollar and a bag of cement sold for a few hundred naira would need to receive at least N77 billion a month at current exchange rate and prices to be restored to its 2007/8 position. but the state does not get even a third of such. fixing the oil output will be a critical game changer in the short to medium term.
“However minuscule or even non-existent the windfall in real terms, the federation must be seen to intentionally execute a new deal that pragmatically coheres with our peculiar federalism while urgently addressing the needs of the people.
“Besides the humongous investment to build infrastructure for the 21st century, we urgently need to prioritize our national investment in human capital— to transform our abundant human resources into productive capital. in the 21st and 22nd centuries driven by digitalization, only societies that intentionally mine their human capital will triumph.
“Deploying our depleting natural resources to invest in the bridge to the future human capital will not only give our teeming population a stake in society but also secure their future. As a country,
“We must aim to remember this time in our history as the moment when we dared to remove the negative subsidies but deployed a part of the windfall to benefit our children and youths via their education and health. at the minimum, we should set a national target to bring down the out-of-school children to zero within 5-8 years, and qualitative tuition-free secondary education to all Nigerian children within 10 years, while mainstreaming selected centres of excellence for the exportable labour force”.
The renowned economist and former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), urged the graduating students to take charge of their lives, participate in shaping Nigeria’s destiny, and realize the country’s manifest destiny as a great black power by the 22nd century.
Despite the challenges bedevilling the country, Prof. Soludo emphasized that Nigeria remains a land of opportunity and the graduates to see their current situation as a challenge or an opportunity.
Vice Chancellor of the institution, Prof. Hyacinth Ichoku, acknowledged the commitment of the governor to the education of youths.
Prof. Ichoku pledged the continued dedication of Veritas University to providing quality education as well as building quality systems and moral value for students.
