Peter Obi advises FG to borrow ideas not money from China

 

Vice Presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2019 election, Mr. Peter Obi, has said that Nigeria stood to benefit more by borrowing progressive business ideas than taking public loans from China to put into the economy.

Obi, who spoke at the 60th Founder’s Day Lecture of University of Nigeria, Nsukka, said China had gone through different stages of national development to arrive at her present level, Vanguard reports.

He said it would, therefore, pay Nigeria better to copy China’s economic development template rather than running to the Asian giant for loans.

The two-term former governor of Anambra State argued that China which could only boast of a GDP per capita of $960 in year 2000, had grown to a GDP per capita of $10,275 in 2019, with a High Human Development Index of 0.798 in 2019 as against 0.594 in year 2000.

According to him, the huge economic development seen in China is as a result of huge investment in MSME sector, which drastically reduced unemployment and increased government revenue.

Obi said: “MSMEs in China which constitute about 95% of Chinese firms, account for 60% of China’s GDP and contributes more than 65% of the import and export business in China.

“They also contributed about 50% of the overall tax revenue of government. MSMEs constitute about 95% of all enterprises in China.

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“China’s GDP is today about $14 trillion, which means that 60% translates to about $8.4 trillion— about 21 times the GDP of Nigeria.

“MSMEs account for over 60% of industrial output and provide over 60% of the overall employment and 80% of urban employment in China.

“Talking about the growth of the MSMEs, 10 years down the line, 60% of these MSMEs have shown to become large corporate when compared with Nigeria that 96% are still at the micro stage.

“China has about 840 million people employed (which is 60% of the population), and MSMEs provide 60% of these, which is 500 million people.

“In urban employment, the contribution of MSMEs is even greater; 80% of urban employment is attributed to MSME; of about 500 million people employed in urban areas, MSMEs employ 400 million.

“China had planned to create 50 million jobs from 2015-2020, which is 10 million annually, and is religiously following the plan year-on-year.

“In fact, China has consistently surpassed its annual target. China has an unemployment rate of only 3.7%.”