economists-from-nigeria

"If you are conscious that you are not qualified, maybe you will work hard enough to justify our confidence."

"I don’t know what linkages and connections one can establish, but one thing was clear. Not only was I the only child, my mother was the only child."

"I believe that the country must draw necessary lessons from its experience and deliberately build itself into a strong nation exploiting fully its diverse talents and culture."

"“First of all, you are not yet addressing the political problem of your country. You have been put into power by your neighboring countries under a false assumption, and sooner or later they are going to turn against you because you would not be able to deliver what they want from you."

"I came to ECA to foster regional cooperation and integration, not to be an undertaker of the corpse of defunct ones."

"“Because that’s the way""

"Democracy requires patience, commitment & Endurance .The most admired democratic country in the world today did not achieve that in a day .It took years of learning & persistence for them to reach where they are today."

"Quality education plays a fundamental role in addressing insecurity by tackling its root causes such as poverty, unemployment, and ignorance. It empowers individuals with the knowledge, skills, and values needed to promote critical thinking, tolerance, and responsible citizenship. Educated communities are better equipped to resist manipulation, extremism, and violence. Furthermore, quality education fosters social inclusion, expands economic opportunities, and strengthens institutions-all of which are essential to building long-term peace and security."

"Things may not go exactly as we wish but even then, we have a responsibility to step out with hope, doing our best each day to pursue the outcomes we seek for ourselves and our loved ones. Hope must override despair and nothing should distract us from giving our all to achieve the goals that we have carefully laid out in the weeks and days leading to this remarkable day. I do not possess the power to predict the future but I know one thing for sure: victory ultimately goes to the one who never gave up."

"We strive valiantly but again and again, we come short, not because we so desire but because it is the nature of human endeavours. Our modest success in the last one year has come from waking up with new enthusiasm each morning, believing that we shall achieve better outcomes in the new day, having learnt from the mistakes of yesterday."

"The present and future of Abia depend on the quality of education we provide for our children. We will intentionally prepare our citizens to be skilled participants in the global village, where science, technology, and mathematics are used as productive tools for work and play."

"Celebrate women around the world, promote gender quality as well as eliminate gender stereotype."

"Gender parity is a statistical measure that compares women and men through their income, education, and work hours among other points. It is also an important tool for policymakers striving towards gender equality."

"Women need to be part of the solution, not just a part of the discussion."

"You have to have a passion for development in Africa and the Caribbean."

"Corruption is not just a problem of Nigeria; it is a global problem."

"You can't just have a World Bank and IMF, which are supposed to help in development, and have the richest countries control them."

"Then, there is the issue of monetary and fiscal policy coordination. Non- harmonization of monetary and fiscal policies is an issue of serious concern in the country because they complement each other. Monetary policy has a limit and whenever it reaches that limit, the only way out is for the fiscal authorities to intervene in the economy. So, in the absence of such coordination/harmonization between the two, a serious economic problem may arise."

"Leadership is not about the next election, it's about the next generation."

"We have to make sure that the benefits of globalization are shared more widely."

"But in the legislature, there's still not quite the acceptance of letting women break through the glass ceiling. It's clearly a man's world."

"In 2016, the Nigerian economy officially entered into recession, recording two consecutive quarters of negative GDP growth rates of 0.36 per cent and 2.06 per cent in the first and second quarters, respectively. For the full year of 2016, the real GDP contracted by 1.51 per cent. Achieving price stability has remained the priority objective of most central banks. However, given the high level of poverty and unemployment in most developing countries, it has become imperative for central banks to work hard at achieving price stability with growth."

"Taking these factors together, the effect on the Nigerian economy has been the significant decline in the country’s foreign reserves, depreciation of the Naira and substantial increase in consumer prices. To reverse the trend and put the economy back on a path to economic recovery, significant effort is needed on the part of the Federal Government, especially harmonization of its fiscal and monetary policies to boost aggregate demand and investor confidence."

"The challenges are many. Oil price volatility and the unstable global environment are major challenges for Central Banking in Nigeria as they are causing growth challenges and other spill-over effects for the local economy. Central Banking in Nigeria is faced with other enormous challenges such as the size of Nigeria’s informal sector. Globally, developing/emerging economies are characterized by a big informal sector which causes a lot of limitations to Monetary Policy implantation and coverage because a majority of the participants in the sector are not using formal financial services and so cannot be captured formally."

"It is also expected that the fiscal authorities would provide direction and leadership while the monetary authorities would facilitate an enabling business environment conducive for growth. Nonetheless, the overriding mandate of the Bank continues to be price stability across the major price rates: inflation; loan interest; and foreign exchange. Stability in prices is essential for investment and consumption. Monetary policy can help through influencing short-term interest rate, but monetary policy alone is not enough to pull the country out of recession. Fiscal policy must come in and do its part to fully pull the economy out of recession."

"4 Mar 2021 — has only just begun her run. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala ... said “in every challenge, there is an opportunity”. For Africa, she ."

"Poor financial literacy is another. It is only when the vast majority of the Nigerian population is financially literate that they can participate in the formal financial system; the reverse is the case."

"Nigeria needs to deepen its financial sector as a whole. Deepening the financial sector entails improving financial structures to ensure efficient delivery of financial services to the private sector."

"Financial illiteracy results in poor financial inclusion. Non-financial inclusion becomes a threat to the survival of the Nigerian financial sector as most adults and young Nigerians are financially excluded from the formal financial sector. A high percentage of adult Nigerians don’t have bank accounts, and this in the long run becomes a big headache for central banking."

"Without good data, you're flying blind."

"When it comes to election time, everybody wants all sorts of things"

"A number of fiscal and monetary policy options have been deployed to end the recession and the efforts are yielding fruits as the recently released inflation figure shows that inflation is trending down after 15 months stretch of rising price level. The CBN is also working to increase supply of foreign exchange and boost liquidity in the interbank market to ease the scarcity of foreign exchange for the manufacture of goods and increase the level of production. On the part of the fiscal authority, efforts at broadening the revenue base and increasing the collection of taxes have been intensified and are yielding fruits."

"by N Okonjo-Iweala · 2014 · Cited by 2 — She said, "People knew about the economics, maybe the geography—but they didn't know how people lived""

"Our politicians need to realize that you do not politicize the budget. In a developing country, that's lethal."

"Africa must trade more with itself."

"Trade is a strong driver of global growth."

"Nigeria’s economic recession can be traced to a number of global and domestic factors. They include slump in commodity prices, general slowdown in economic activity in developing countries, over dependency on oil, lack of diversification of the revenue base, consumption-led growth, militancy in the Niger-Delta region, insurgency in the North East and unutilized excess liquidity in the banking system."

"Current trade issues are not purely the fault of trade policy."

"The best way to ensure the desired economic growth and low inflation is economic diversification with a broadening of the revenue base. Reducing the import dependency will also help to curb the demand for dollar; thereby reducing general inflationary pressure."

"So I want to encourage us that whatever we need to do, let us do it right. We must not subject this institution to that type of incident again."

"The experience was humiliating for her and the entire management of the bank, said it was the first time that the bank would be investigated in its entire history."

"Throughout my period at the bank, I have one slight regret and that’s during the period I was acting governor. It was the time that the CBN was being investigated. It has never happened before that the activity of the CBN is under investigation."

"We went for the IMF meetings and when we met with investors, they asked us: ‘what is happening? We understand that there was some financial mismanagement in the CBN.’ It was humiliating."

"I think for me, that was a low point. The credibility for this institution was eroded. For an institution this important to be subjected to that is bad. At the end of the day, it was not just the CBN that suffered for it, but the economy as a whole did suffer."

"The exercise paralysed activities at the apex bank."

"The independence of the Central Bank is necessary. The Bank needs the freedom and space to take a long view of what is best for the economy and take decisions accordingly. Central Banks have consistently moved towards policy independence to pursue policies free from political interference. Although no central bank can be entirely independent of government’s influence, it must be free to choose the instruments it needs to achieve its mandate. The Bank must also be free from fiscal dominance; that is a situation where fiscal considerations unduly dictate monetary policy."

"In recent years, academics and policymakers have shown increasing interest in the independence of central banks with respect to the formulation of monetary policy. In the European Union, this interest was realized in the Maastricht Treaty, which gave the European Central Bank complete autonomy in conducting the monetary policy without political intrusion. Most empirical studies support central banks’ autonomy in the conduct of day-to-day monetary policy operations devoid of political pressure. This enables them to deliver better inflation outcomes, without compromising economic growth. The CBN Act of 2007 bestows independency on the Bank."

"The monetary policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria in recent times has continued to focus on achieving price and financial stability for economic growth and development. The persistent inflation in the last one year is an issue of concern."

"The inflationary pressure could be traced largely to structural factors, which included poor electricity supply, high cost of energy arising from scarcity of petroleum products, increase in the prices of imported food, raw materials and finished goods, seasonal factors, increase in electricity tariff, insurgency and insecurity in the North East, as well as pipeline vandalism by the Niger Delta militants. However, some monetary factors included exchange rate depreciation, and budget deficits in the face of dwindling oil revenues."

"The threat to CBN autonomy is also disturbing. Global best practice prescribes central banks’ independence to enhance policy coherence and sturdiness born out of freedom of vision and implementation space."