UNILAG's Odukoya Critiques Nigeria's Investment Policies

At the Adeleke University Toyin Falola Annual Lecture held at the Performing Arts Theatre in Ede, Professor Adelaja Odukoya, a Comparative Political Economy professor at the University of Lagos, criticized Nigeria's economic policies for promoting investment without adequately strengthening domestic production. He highlighted contradictions in the Nigerian state's management of economic activity, stating that while investment and entrepreneurship are encouraged, there is a failure to create technological capacity, productive employment, and processing industries necessary for sustainable development.

Odukoya noted that increased economic activity does not equate to development, emphasizing that genuine development should be measured by the expansion of productive, technological, institutional, and human capabilities. His views were supported by Professor Toyin Falola, who stressed that Africa must develop its industrial and technological capacity to transform its natural resources into productive power, rather than remaining dependent on historical exploitation.