Former United States Ambassador to Nigeria, Walter Carrington said on Monday Nigeria can realise its potential by taking advantage of the population boom and creating an enabling environment for youth productivity.
He said Cote DโIvoire and Senegal had impressive growth rates than Nigeria last year due to their less reliance on oil.
He said Nigeria must diversify its sources of export earnings and focus on agriculture, energy and infrastructure.
Carringtom, 87, said Nigeria continues to be frozen out of membership of confederation of nations which are thought to be the most important in the world.
South Africa, he said, enjoys more respect internationally than Nigeria despite its size and resources.
The former ambassador delivered a public lecture in Lagos with the theme: Nigeria and Africa in a changing world.
It was organised by the Lagos State Office of Overseas Affairs and Investment.
His wife, Dr. Arese Carrington, presented her memoir: Defend the defenseless at the event.
Lagos State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, was represented at the event by Secretary to the State Government, Mr. Tunji Bello
According to Carrington, Nigeriaโs growth rate last year slowed to โan anemicโ 1.6 percent.
He said the weak performance, according to a United Nations report, was a fallout of depressed oil prices, falling oil production, energy shortages and price hikes, scarcity of foreign exchange and depressed consumer demand.
In contrast, Cote DโIvoire, he said, posted an impressive growth rate of eight percent, while Senegal grew by 6.3 percent.
โEven with power shortages and bad agricultural weather, these two Francophone countries were able to far outshine Nigeria.
โFalling oil prices in 2016 underscored the necessity for oil revenue dependent economies, like Nigeriaโs, to diversify their sources of export earnings.
โIf the signs that oil prices may recover prove to be accurate, it is incumbent upon countries like Nigeria to direct more of that revenue to growth enhancing sectors like agriculture, energy and infrastructure,โ he said.
Carrington said there has been a raft of optimistic predictions for Nigeriaโs future โpartly because of the feeling that Nigeria, under its current leadership, is on the verge of turning around.โ
The former ambassador said although its economy is the 20th largest in the world and is expected to rise to ninth by 2050, Nigeria has not been invited to the G-20, which claims to represent the worldโs most advanced economies.
โSouth Africa whose economy is smaller and is not expected to grow as dramatically as Nigeriaโs is however, a member.
โI continue to wonder whether the continuing domination of South Africaโs economy by her white minority gives Western countries a comfort level that they do not feel when dealing with black controlled economies in the rest of Africa.
โSome 15 years ago, four of the worldโs major emerging economies, Brazil, Russia, India and China, came together in a group that became known by the acronym BRIC. In 2010, seeking an African member, they chose South Africa which became the S in the newly named BRICS.
โI look forward to the day when Nigeria becomes the N in a renamed group of 6 which will be known as the BRINCS,โ he added.
