'Fiscal decentralization will move Nigeria forward' - Akinwumi Adesina - video Dailymotion

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00:00 Are there any policies or strategies that other African countries are implementing right

00:04 now that Nigeria is yet to catch up with?

00:06 Well I think one of the things is first and foremost is to have as a matter of policy

00:11 fiscal decentralization.

00:14 I think you also find that there's a whole issue of the principles of eminent domain

00:20 that resources that are under the ground belongs to the state.

00:24 But question is which state?

00:25 I'll give you an example.

00:28 You have a lot of states that have gold, some of them have lithium, some of them have copper,

00:34 some of them have bitumen and so on.

00:36 But they can't use it just because it doesn't belong to them.

00:39 I think they should have those states to have at least a significant share of that to belong

00:44 to them.

00:45 That way they can use it for their own development.

00:47 I remember going to one state once and I will not name the state and I was on the road and

00:51 the road was very bad and it was close to a world class hospital that the African Development

00:56 Bank had invested in.

00:57 We put in $40 million into that hospital.

00:59 But on my way coming back the road was a disaster.

01:02 So I picked up my phone and I called the governor.

01:04 I said, "Well why don't you fix the road?

01:06 We just fixed the hospital."

01:07 He said, "It's a federal road, it's not my road."

01:09 And I said, "Well the people around here don't care whether it is the federal road or your

01:13 road."

01:14 All I'm saying is there has to be a lot of good work, coordination between federal and

01:18 state.

01:19 At the end of the day all we're trying to do is to make sure that development gets to

01:22 the people where they are.

01:24 The last thing I will say is you can invest in natural resources, oil, gas, minerals,

01:28 metals, agriculture.

01:29 That's not where the breakthrough of Nigeria is going to come from.

01:32 It's going to come from investing in the youth.

01:34 They have bright ideas.

01:36 They are creative.

01:38 And we just have to make sure we have the right kind of incentives to unleash their

01:42 potential in Nigeria.

01:44 And I think Nigeria's youth will make us proud always.

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