Ezekwesili: Nigeria suffering from resource curse

Oby Ezekwesili, a former minister of education, believes that Nigeria is suffering from resource curse.

Ezekwesili, who is also one of the conveners of the Bring Back Our Girls Group, said this while speaking in Lagos at a forum organised by the Women in Successful Careers (WISCAR).

She described resource curse as a paradoxical situation in which countries with an abundance of non-renewable resources experience stagnant growth or even economic contraction, as the country focuses all of its energy on a single commodity and neglects other major sectors.

She identified presence of mineral resources (crude oil) as one of the things that make it difficult for the Nigerian economy to grow faster.

“The possession of mineral resources has worked in opposite direction for the nation, and that is what is known as a resource curse,” she said.

“What has made a society to overtake other societies has always being the quality of human capital.”

She also noted that a reason for the growth of human capital in other societies is access to quality education.

The basis for attainment in society, the basis for social and economic mobility, has often been access to education, she said, adding that education is a part of economic development.

“We have what it takes to grow the economy greater than where we found our self, but we failed to do so,” she said.

“For the immense potential that we have, for an entrepreneurial society, we shouldn’t be producing dismal economic output. Making economic growth to translate to development is what guarantees that a society is run on the basis of inclusion.”

She bemoaned the empathy deficit in the country, saying: “In every society, people talk about equitable and just approach, there has to be equal opportunity for every citizen.

“The maxim of equality of opportunity is central to building an inclusive society. Equality of opportunities and not equality of outcomes, they are completely two different things.”

Ezekwesili noted that having been part of an advocacy for the 219 young women who were abducted for having gone to school and knowing that they have not been rescued is the best possible indicator for anyone to understand what empathy deficit does to the society.

“The chibok girls have suffered empathy deficit simply because we are a society that has been comfortable with inequality.

“Inequality manifests itself in the constant, quick, supersonic rescue of those in the upper class of the society when they face the same situation as the Chibok girls.

“Poor governance, whether it is health, education, roads, water, agriculture, etc, happens not because of the failure of the institution, but mostly because of the deficit of empathy. When the society excludes, the excluded will someday wake up and demand their rights.”

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