Momoh: Foreign Ideologies, Laziness, Bane of Our Economy

Akinwale Akintunde

Director General of the Electoral Institute of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Abubakar Momoh has attributed Nigeria’s economic crisis to some foreign ideologies being imbibed by the leaders.

Momoh disclosed this in Lagos yesterday at the 2nd edition of the Tunji Braithwaite Symposium organised by The Tunji Braithwaite Foundation in honour of the late Elder statesman, Dr. Tunji Braithwaite who passed on March 28, this year.

The Symposium was first held in September 2013 as part of events celebrating the 80th birthday of Dr. Braithwaite.

Speaking on the theme: ‘Nigeria Crisis: The Imperative of a New Socio-Economic Order’, Momoh said the Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAPs) introduced by the Babangida regime was the beginning of Nigeria’s economic failure.

The professor of Political Science condemned policies such as Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), National Poverty Eradication Programme (NAPEP) SURE-P, You Win and other foreign ideological polies as fallacy because they were based on western views.

Momoh said the ideology and the direction of the economy had not changed from 1986 because our leaders were lazy and not thinking.

He warned that no foreigner or foreign ideology would help to develop our economy and urged leaders to start thinking of home based solution to the country’s economic crisis.

Discussants at the event which include Chief Ayo Adebanjo, Dr. Chukwuemeka Ezeife, Mrs. Annkio Briggs and Professor Pat Utomi, who moderated the discussion, restated calls for restructuring of Nigeria.

According to Utomi, Nigerians were more divided now than even during the civil war.

He said the current economic crisis was self-inflicted and the time to wake up was now.