Gordon Brown sees present global economic crisis as adjustment of roles

Economic powers in Europe and elsewhere, such as Spain, Italy and even the United Kingdom, could be overtaken by Nigeria in 20 to 30 years, going by the huge resources and economic strategies being put in place, former British prime minister, Gordon Brown has said.

Brown said: “ Nigeria has a chance to lead the world. You have purchasing power and population. Nigeria is a place to watch, so use your oil wealth to create jobs for your citizens and create access to the market”.

Brown, a Labour Party Member of Parliament (MP) and Chancellor of the Exchequer, who is credited with helping to develop the economy of Britain and also to avert a recession in that country, spoke in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, at the opening ceremony of the First Rivers State Investment Forum (RIVINVEST) tagged, ‘Change that Works’.

He gave huge credit to Nigeria’s Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, for the debt write-off and swaps the country enjoyed a few years ago, commending her persistent nature, and advised Nigeria to now invest steadily in power/energy, education and infrastructure, to enable it blaze a global development trail.

He added however, that :”Prosperity does not depend on infrastructure alone, and no matter how good the resources are, if the transport, roads, water and power are not there, then there can’t be meaningful development.”

The influential global leader, said Nigeria should realise that the world is undergoing a restructuring that would throw up new global economic powers that would emerge from Asia, Africa and Latin America .

He declared that Africa must be part of the new economic restructuring and that Nigeria looks set to be central in this aspect, with its huge market and abundant human and natural resources.

On the global economic crisis, Brown observed that for 200 years, Europe and the United States, with less than 10 per cent of the worlds’ population, were controlling global production, but that in the past few years, other production centres had emerged, and that this was causing some instability.

To him, what the world sees as a crisis, could be good in disguise, the birth of a new global economic order, which would shift emphasis from Europe and America as major producers, to other economic powers, exporting to the former exporters.

He said the world may have rejected the order, whereby 10 per cent of the world, produced for 90 per cent, and that the adjustment to this new emerging order, might have caused the instability we notice. He said the matter might be beyond the issue failed banks and deficits.

He said that to arrive at the promised land, Nigeria must focus on the creation of necessary infrastructure, to move the economy. “I hear you have half of the power you need but distribution has been an