Economist seeks constructive political leadership system

A political and economic scientist, Peter Azonobi, has urged a constructive system of political leadership to replace the old, outdated and destructive system inherited in 1960.

He made the call at a press conference in Ikeja, Lagos, to announce date for the launch of a book, Nigeria Beyond Buhari, a book on inquiry into the future of Nigeria.

He said that literary works had played a great role in the change and transformation of Europe and America as it led the foundation for renaissance. He said: “Nigeria Beyond Buhari is about political leadership moving from the Destructive Age of Ideology (DAI) to the Constructive Age of ldeology (CAI), the helpful age of a nation and people.

“This is a political economy drawn from Alexander Gerschenkron’s Economic Theory of the Great Spurt. The Russian economist noted that all nations were once backward and to move from the level of economic backwardness to a modern industrial economy will require a sharp break with the past.

“In his economic theory, Gerschenkron examined the economies of Europe and America, which were once backward. He revealed the attempts made to achieve industrialisation during the 19th Century. The Great Spurt Theory of Gerschenkron can provide a good model for Nigeria’s socio-political and economic progress in this 21st Century and beyond.

“This is also drawn from Joseph Schumpeter’s “Gale of Creative Destruction,” which describes the “process of industrial mutation that continuously revolutionises the economic structure from within, destroying the old one and incessantly creating a new one.”

This again captures how the internal dynamics of a society’s economy gives birth to a new arrangement.