The Director-General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has canvassed the need for the Nigerian government to ensure policy consistency in developmental agenda even when there is a change in the political leadership of the country.
The world class economist and former Nigeria’s Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy gave this charge in her keynote address titled ‘A Social Contract For Nigeria’s Future’ at the opening ceremony of the 2024 Annual General Conference of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) on Sunday in Lagos.
She pointed out that “maintaining good economic and social policies; maintaining policy consistency and adding more reforms on top of that will lead us along the path of good progress that we all desire,”.
While decrying a phenomenon called the “not-in-my-administration syndrome” in governance which, she said, had been responsible for the not-so-good economic performance of Nigeria, Okonjo-Iweala maintained that the country needed a social contract and that all Nigerians, irrespective of their political or other affiliations, should agree on a social contract.
To ensure sustainable national development, the WTO boss said certain sacrosanct policies should not be changed whenever there is a change in administration in the country, adding that such policies should be enacted into law after being subjected to public scrutiny or hearing.
According to her, security of lives and national assets should be prioritised in the proposed social contract between the government and the governed just as the three arms of government should be allowed to independently operate.
Okonjo-Iweala clarified: “No one should tamper with the Central Bank asking for the manipulation of interest rates or exchange rates. Do not use the Central Bank as a fiscal agent asking for the printing of naira beyond agreed Ways and Means limits as this can fuel inflation.”
To achieve accelerated development in the country, she specifically recommended that provision of basic infrastructure should form the third element of the social contract and that social safety nets for the most vulnerable of society should be included in the social contract.
True independence of the judiciary should form the fourth element of the social contract, she said, while charging the NBA to hold the government accountable on all grounds.
