A Former United Kingdom Foreign Minister, Baroness Lynda Chalker, has called for synergy between all tiers of government in Nigeria in order to meet the needs of the citizens.
Chalker told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that Federal and State governments must learn to work together in the interest of the masses.
“Nigeria’s government at all levels must learn to listen to one another and work together to provide social amenities that the people want.
“The federal and state governments must learn to listen, learn and work with one another to provide what the people want.
“It is not right to say that a road is a federal road when it damages; so the government must learn to talk together and listen to one another in order to satisfy the needs of the people,” she said.
Earlier in her lecture on “Africa in a Competitive World, Development and Business” at the Lagos State University (LASU), Chalker said most African economies, including Nigeria’s, would not achieve sufficient sustainable growth unless there was progress in raising competitiveness, productivity and business digitization.
“The capacity to offer Nigerians greater opportunities and better living conditions would depend on how successful it was at increasing competitiveness, controlling corruption and smartening up its offer to both Nigeria and foreign investors”, she said.
The UK former minister said that success could only be achieved by reinforcing education, creating a stronger ecosystem where the private sector could develop.
“Over the last five years, Africa has seen the highest rate of population growth at about 2.5 per cent annually and by 2050 a quarter of the world’s population will be on the continent,” she said.
According Chalker, in Nigeria alone, two to four million young people are estimated to join the labour market yearly.
