Finance
Nigeria must embrace technology to achieve quality growth, says Prof. Acemoglu
Professor Daron Acemoglu
By OKEY ONYENWEAKU
With Nigeria and other African nations still grappling to find the best strategy to grow their economies sustainably, the famous author of the widely read book, ‘Why Nations Fail’, Professor Daron Acemoglu told the developing economies to accelerate their technological development for quality growth.
Acemoglu who authored the book with another Professor named James A. Robinson spoke today at a segment of First Bank Holding Nigeria, FBHN, at 125th anniversary celebrations on the theme, ‘’Institutional Impact on Economic Growth and Improved Living Standards’’.
The guest lecturer who appeared to modify the theme to ‘’High Quality Growth for the Emerging World’’, said the barriers to achieving high quality growth in Nigeria and other African nations were lack of automation, institutional slide and the international issue.
He argued that economic growth was dependent on employment growth, wage growth for all and qualitative Health and Education for all.
According to him, quality growth can only be achieved by effective and efficient deployment of nations resources, adding that ‘’efficiency is really the height of productivity growth’’.
Comparing Africa with developed economies, the renowned Professor of Economics who still lectures at Massachusetts Institution of Technology (MIT) affirmed that high quality productivity slowed after 1987 in the United States of America (USA).
He stated that the US economy was growing because it was able to exploit its capabilities in Technology, noting however that, ‘’College graduates today earn 30% lower than their fathers who were also college graduates in their own time due to low productivity.’’
While advising developing countries to strengthen their institutions and enjoy economic growth, he said economies grow better in Democratic governments than dictatorships.
‘’Non democracies don’t go away peacefully or go out on their own volition. Dictatorships are pushed away when the economy of the nation tanks and become very bad,’’ he said.
