The Redeemed Christian Church of God, Region 19, Redeemers’’ Men Fellowship Economic Conference held over the weekend, with the theme, Disrupted, Resilience, Rebuilding and Recovering. Speakers at the event addressed Nigeria economic outlook, financing, transport and logistics, agriculture and value chains among others.
Some of the distinguished speakers at the well-attended conference include; the Lagos State Commissioners for Budget and Planning, Samuel Egube; Chairman, Presidential Economic Advisory Council, Dr Doyin Salami, Executive Vice Chairman, Emerging Africa Group, Toyin Sanni and Agric Consultant, Prof Funsho Sonaiya.
Addressing the theme, the Pastor in charge of region 19, Pastor Brown Oyitso noted that these four powerful words have become part of our daily lives, “especially in recent times when we have faced unprecedented challenges. The global pandemic, climate changes, social and political upheaval and technological advancement have disrupted our lives in ways we could never have imagined. But in the face of these challenges, we have also witnessed the power of human resilience, and the determination to build and recover.”
Going forward as nation, he called on all to “continue to be resilient, creative, and determined as we work to rebuild and recover from these challenges, let us use these opportunity to build a better future for ourselves and for generation to come. With faith, pursuit, perseverance, and persistence we will doubtless recover.”
On his part, the Region 19 RMF Coordinator, Pastor Amos Emovon, explained that the conference is an opportunity for participants to learn from experience and insights and to explore new strategies and solutions for rebuilding and recovering these disruptions.
He added that “The conference offers a wealth of benefits for participants, including knowledge sharing, networking, inspiration, skill-building, and exposure to new ideas and technologies.”
Dr Doyin Salami addressed opportunities in Nigeria post transition. He noted that going forward, Nigeria critically needs investment capital, but is capital- deficient.
According to him, Nigeria is poised for reform, that “critical fiscal situation necessitates the embrace of private capital.”
“The key macroeconomic imperative for Nigeria’s growth and stability is how to raise the investment intensiveness, by mobilizing both domestic and foreign capital.”
He added that Nigeria needs to raise investment/GDP ratio from current levels into the 25% to 30% range. “The most basic measure of financial depth, Broad Money relative to GDP, stands at a mere 23%, compared to say, 74% in South Africa. The NSE (combined asset classes) is only 23% of GDP” he said.
On energy poverty and transition imperatives he said the projection is to achieve 30GW of power by 2030, with renewable contributing 30% to electricity grid; Gas being deploy as ‘transition fuel’.
Egube noted that Nigeria has huge potential to become a global economic powerhouse. According to him, “Young population can be upskilled to boost productivity and create high value products and services.”
“If we can engage the people and make them productive they will convert our natural resources to productive use” he said.
Agric Consultant, Prof Funsho Sonaiya, made presentation on Post-Covid Investment opportunities in the Agriculture Value Chain. He noted that investment opportunities towards efficiency and sufficiency are in Transport and Storage (Logistics), Trade, Retail and E-Commerce. Adding that building resilience in agric value chain requires sustainable Agric finance.
Speaking on funding your dreams, Sanni noted that dreams are precise imaginative insight into a desire future, adding that dreams turn imagination into reality.
For dreams to attract needed funding she explain that there must be the right mindset, clear cut vision/plan, knowledge acquisition, network/partners.
She listed suitable financial options to include; Bootstrapping, Angel Investment, Venture Capital funds, business accelerators and Incubators, business loans from microfinance banks, private placements, note issuance, bonds, commercial papers, initial public offerings, project and infrastructure financing.
