Lagos — Three illuminating events compel me to suggest a very urgent and comprehensive rethink of our development agenda. The first is about my daughter, Amaka who got married in August of 2008.

I was shocked at the limited venues that could sit 2000 guests in the Lagos mega city. The second was our NBA conference held at Abuja, late August 2008. We just couldn't find venues to hold 15, 000 lawyers. The third related to my recent tour of Dubai, as part of an official delegation of government. We stayed at the Dubai Dusit. I was in room 3106 on the 31st floor, on a street brimming with hotels, forty storeys high, with function rooms that can accommodate thousands, sitting or standing. Our largest hotel, which I will not name, has 800 rooms approximately and only ten floors.

We have all heard about the Dubai 'Miracle'. I can assure you, that it did not happen by chance. It was carefully nurtured and driven by a relentless political architect - their ruler, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed. That's why Dubai sits atop world development index and we occupy the bottom. If I cannot host a simple wedding reception, it speaks volumes about the long journey ahead.

So I am concerned whether Nigeria has the right development agenda to become one of the 20 most industrialised nations by 2020; a mere twelve years ahead. To unravel this concern, I reviewed some development literature, starting with Claude Ake's seminal work on "Democracy and Development in Africa". Ake argues that the main obstacle to our development is political and a confusion of agendas. As I pored through Ake's writings first published in 1995, I was struck that his central theme remains fresh and valid today: "Nigeria suffers from an array of development agendas often in conflict and never implemented".

I remembered Vision 2010, NEEDS 1, NEEDS 2, Vision 2020, and now, the seven-point agenda!!! Are they not too many? I also reviewed Dr. Sam Amadi's important book, "Fundamental Insights and Institutional Designs for Development in Nigeria", and the work of the late distinguished American scholar, Professor Mansur. Last but not least, I reviewed De Soto's classic work, "The Mystery of Capital". Again the Central theme of Mansur, Amadi and De Soto was very instructive. They all argue that classical theories of economic development are no longer valid in framing development agendas. They all agreed that the quality of a country's institutions and business regulations are the vital indicators of development in addition to other regulatory measures.

Professor Chukwuma Soludo's inaugural lecture delivered at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, on October 30, 2008, on "financial globalisation and domestic monetary policy" validates them. Soludo traced the historical origins of economic development from the classical school to Lord Keynes, and state intervention, to full central planning, and then the shift back to market fundamentalism and the Washington consensus and finally, the Barcelona development agenda. Soludo's treatise is well worth a read in the search for answers.

For me, our agenda should be, primarily, what will work for us. I repeat the obvious that Nigeria ranks at the bottom of most development indicators. What should we do to get out of this almost hopeless situation? First, we must go back to Claude Ake, and think through a coherent, holistic and non-conflicting development process. Second is that we must recognise that the development process is far wider than pure econometrics and statistics; the process must be felt on the streets, beyond the usual measures of the Bretton-Woods institutions, which have collapsed with the massive failure of international financial capital systems.

So if the development process must be felt on the streets, it is important that we should be concerned about context and content. I believe a good development strategy for Nigeria should include a legitimate Constitution and a credible electoral system. Modernisation and social transformation are also very vital. So, as we begin to modernise Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt for instance, by building super highways, ports, telecommunications services, high rise office blocks, etc, there must be a connecting element of social transformation of people in the shape of free education, affordable medical services, housing, jobs, cheap food, etc.

In reframing the Nigerian development agenda, the proposed constitution must have four vital elements, namely Inclusiveness; everybody must talk, PRONACO, etc. Convening authority; we simply have to accept the National Assembly as the starting point so as to move; validity, and legitimacy, We the people should validate the Constitution by referendum and no one else on our behalf. A legitimate constitution will then give expression to a credible electoral process where we can elect our "Obama". This "Obama" will most likely articulate development issues in the interest of the people. The sitting Nigerian president still has a strong chance, in spite of a measured start, to deliver a good development agenda. I say this because the president has had the foresight to work out a new electoral reform process. He will receive the report on 5th December, 2008. He has also shown keen interest on the issue of a legitimate constitution and the rule of law, a most vital element in the development agenda. So going forward, the president needs to harmonise, as Ake has suggested, the divergent development agendas and programmes into relevant frameworks and institutions. The ministry of National Planning simply does not fit into any development paradigm, and should be scrapped "with immediate effect" and replaced with a ministry of development headed by a senior cabinet level minister. Next, the president should collapse all the small advisory portfolios on millennium development goals, African peer review mechanism, NEPAD, etc, into one strong portfolio, which we may style "Development adviser".

With strong development institutions in hand, the president should charge his advisers to provide a comprehensive development framework, to leap-frog Nigeria into the industrialised world, in the shortest possible time. The key drivers of this process will be led by a major transformation strategy of new laws, regulatory frameworks, and institutions. The agenda must be flagged by time lines and measurable deliverables. Failure to deliver should not be tolerated and non-performance rewarded by instant removal like English Football League managers. I am aware that Governor Soludo of the Central Bank is driving the financial services sector transformation strategy at great speed. This process requires to be complemented across sectors; maritime, transportation, housing telecommunications, tourism, construction, energy etc.

We all know that Nigeria was not invited to the recent group of 20 meeting in Washington, because truth be told, we simply were not qualified to be there. Keep in mind that at that meeting, the foundation for a new global strategy for the mobilization of capital, trade and services was laid. We need to be at the next meeting in January called by President Nicholas Sarkozy in Paris; even if we have to "gatecrash". Our leaders can easily push this country forward. It is time to listen to our souls and look inwards. I remember when Washington forced US to privatise national assets and scolded China for socializing theirs. What a paradox that Washington is now socializing national assets by buying up toxic debts and China is doing controlled privatisation. The BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China) together with Arabia and South East Asia, are set to overtake the West largely because of coherent, consistent frameworks on development driven by national interests. Remember the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP)? Some of its key architects like Joe Stitglitz have since recanted for misleading us, in his books on "Globalization and its Discontent" and "Making globalization work". No nation has succeeded without a clear vision. The Nigerian development vision needs to be driven by some basic but very simple questions - Where are we going? How do we reach there?

Agbakoba, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, is a former president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA)