RENOWNED economist, Hernando De Soto-Polar from Peru yesterday said that for a developing country like Nigeria to overcome economic woes, there is urgent and dire need for combinations and standardisation in policy implementation in the country.
According to him, combination will involve the possibility of having collaborative efforts aimed at producing something, while standardisation will require the proper documentation of resources and property. He stressed that without standardisation, property values are worthless, which would erode on the capital adequacy of an economy.
De Soto-Polar was the guest speaker at the 70th birthday lecture organised for Mr. Pascal Dozie, Chairman of Diamond Bank Plc in Lagos yesterday.
The Peruvian, also a renowned author, whose lecture was entitled: "Unlocking hidden capital in developing country," said that 70 to 80 per cent of capital that could have been used in the development of developing countries were dead, adding that over 70 per cent of such economy are run by the informal sector.
According to Hernando, the secret of the developed economies of the world is that they had been able to standardise and formalise their languages of trade, stressing that the abundant dead capital in the developing countries needed to be converted for the good of the countries.
He noted that the globalised economy was working in the direction of standardisation, stating that, lack of legal framework, particularly on land and capital hinders access to finance in developing countries.
"The informal sector still controls most part of the economy in this part of the world. The work is on how to channel those funds to the productive sector of the economy, which is the formal sector.
" Therefore, the whole idea of business or economy is about standardisation, which allows for globalisation and development," he added.
The renowned author explained that with enormous human and material resources embedded in a country like Nigeria, there should be no room for under development,
"The system of capital utilisation is a system of science and its application is all encompassing. Therefore, to achieve much in this area, there is need for collaboration by all."
According to him, unlocking hidden capital in developing countries would require identifying and exploring the un-utilised resources embedded in the country and at the same time channelling them towards infrastructure development with adequate sustainability.
He said there is need for cooperation and division of labour, stressing that looking at the environment, everything that surround us came as result of combination, in which we have been able to coordinate ourselves and channel abilities collectively towards achieving the goals of development.
De Soto-Polar averred that countries like India, Japan, Israel, Malaysia and Singapore are thriving in the global economy today, because they employ the ability of the enormous human resources at their disposals.
De Soto Polar said, in Peru 50 per cent of the economy is in the hands of the poor and that the government of the day has put up measures towards channelling those funds back to the formal sector.
THE GUARDIAN
