Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, on Thursday urged the Federal Government to convene an emergency economic conference to enable the relevant experts tyo proffer solutions to the nation’s economic challenges.
Soyinka made the call in an interview with newsmen on the sideline of a private visit to the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, in Abuja.
He said that President Muhammadu Buhari needed to convene an emergency economic conference to provide the platform for relevant stakeholders in the economic sector to suggest the way forward.
“I think the President needs to call for an emergency economic conference with experts, manufacturers, consumers, labour unions, university lecturers and other relevant stakeholders for rescue operation.
“The state of the economy is not very encouraging; it is parlous quite frankly.
“I think those economic experts, chamber of commerce, private businesses etc, will agree with this.
“The economic condition of the nation, of a people, does not deteriorate over night, something came before that deterioration.’’
The Nobel Laureate said that a prolonged and unchecked process which was neglected in the past was now knocking on the door.
“The consequence of this past governance, in other words, is what we are all undergoing right now.
“So, don’t look to see a bonanza economy in the next few months to a year; recovery is going to take quite awhile.
“And at the same time, we must rely on our objective economic experts to tell the government when it is going wrong and when it is taking certain measures to address the problems,” he said.
Soyinka said that the way the Federal Government was recovering looted funds was impressive, adding that the tempo should be maintained.
