The President of Garden City Premier Business School, Prof. Silva Opuala-Charles, has said the blue economy, if properly harnessed, can contribute an additional $500 billion to Nigeria’s GDP.
Opuala-Charles who made this known in an interview with Atlantic Television Network, in Port Harcourt, decried the government’s inability to diversify the economy, stating that it is the reason for the country’s economic stagnation.
He said “Talking about blue economy, one of the problem of this country is the government’s inability to diversify the economy. For me, blue economy is an area that Nigeria needs to explore. Today, our economy is about 475 billion dollar, now, if we properly develop and harness the blue economy, we can comfortable add another 500billion dollar to our economy.”
Opuala-Charles also highlighted private sector partnership as a major means of growing the economy of the country, urging the government to bring in private players.
“It’s important for the government to look whether we can bring in private players and that’s how the economy grows. If you look at India and China, what are the things propelling the growth of their economy, It’s because they introduced private sector participation into the economy. I think it’s important for government to look beyond just revenues to spend.”
He said countries with the biggest economy opened their windows to private sector participation which also contributed to their economic growth.
“In 1998, China opened up its economy to the world. As at that time, Chinese economy was about 500 billion dollars, something like Nigerian economy in 1998, now companies from Europe and America started coming in. 60 per cent of new opportunities are given to outsiders. What they are trying to do is to lure people there to invest and take advantage of their presence to increase the capacity of their economy.”
He further stated that while private companies will be interested in the partnership, the government should only work with private partners who have the capacity to grow government assets.
