The Director-General, Bureau of Public Service Reforms participated in the 28th Nigerian Economic Summit (NES #28) . The event which has the theme "2023 & BEYOND: PRIORITIES FOR SHARED PROSPERITY" convened national and global leaders in government, business, politics, development, civil society, and academia through a hybrid Summit platform of in-person and virtual dialogues to deliberate on the theme ‘2023 and Beyond: Priorities for Shared Prosperity’. As Nigeria proceeds into a transition year, stakeholders were galvanised to articulate the country’s development imperatives that satisfy the need for economic security, social justice, conscientious governance, political stability and environmental sustainability with the intentional prospect of drawing lessons and insights from the past and present to set the economic policy agenda for sustainable economic development.
The principal objectives of the Summit were to:
• Set an economic policy agenda for accelerated economic growth, underpinned by sustainable and inclusive development;
• Deliberate an actionable framework for transformative political leadership and effective governance that builds the Nigerian state's capacity to deliver dividends of democracy;
• Build consensus on the imperatives for transforming Nigeria’s immense human capital into national productive and innovative capacity that creates a secure collective future of prosperity for all;
• Identify critical factors for effective implementation of the national development plan for sustained economic development;
• Identify pragmatic initiatives to elicit economic leadership at the subnational levels, adopting a "Bottom-Up" approach to subnational competitiveness that contributes to national economic growth and development; and
• Articulate the framework within which economic priorities for Nigeria in 2023 and beyond are debated, discussed and agreed upon.
On the Agenda Deliberations at NES #28 underpinned by five Pillars: Economic Sustainability, Visionary Leadership, Execution, Political Economy, and Inclusive Growth.
The Summit was further designed around four sub-themes:
A. Delivering Macroeconomic Stability for Shared Prosperity
To achieve a peaceful, inclusive and prosperous Nigeria, it is important for stakeholders to collectively build resilience strategies that will cushion the impact of internal and external shocks on the economy. A stable macroeconomic environment that stimulates inflow of private investment, which would improve socioeconomic inclusion through formalisation of the informal sector, intensive job creation and a drastic reduction in poverty and income inequality becomes imperative.
B. Investing in Our Future
Nigeria's enormous population has a high propensity to be a liability if not adequately managed and deployed. Investing in Nigeria's future entails expanding Nigeria's capabilities to invest in critical physical, financial, digital, technological and innovation infrastructure that support the building of our most valuable asset – Nigeria’s human capital.
C. Unlocking the Binding Constraints to Execution
Evidence shows that even where a country has the appropriate legal and policy framework, the capacity to translate them to tangible, measurable and perceivable public outcomes remains essential. Strong institutions, an execution and performance-oriented culture, and core competencies to deliver prescribed mandates are critical for government's effectiveness in addressing Nigeria's issues.
D. Reframing the Agenda for Transformational Leadership
The role of transformational leadership at all levels, tiers and arms of the Government of the Federation is of the highest national significance in shifting the strategic trajectory and pace of governance to confront the intractable public problems of our times.