The founder of ARCO Group, Alfred Okoigun, has urged Nigeria to shift urgently from dependence on oil and other natural resources to a knowledge-driven economy, warning that long-term prosperity would depend on investment in science, engineering, research, innovation and human capital.

Delivering a keynote lecture at the Nigerian Academy of Engineering Technology Dinner and Awards Night, Okoigun argued that although Nigeria was rich in oil, gas and solid minerals, countries achieved lasting growth not through the resources they possessed but through the knowledge and innovation they cultivated. The future, he said, would belong to nations that could innovate and generate value through knowledge.

He said Nigeria had for decades focused on exploiting natural resources while neglecting to build a strong scientific and technological base, and pointed to South Korea, Singapore and China as examples of countries that transformed their economies through sustained investment in education, engineering, manufacturing and research.

Drawing on the evolution of ARCO Group, he said the company had deliberately invested in knowledge transfer, technical partnerships and local capacity rather than focusing solely on commercial opportunities, enabling it to expand into engineering, marine services, aviation training and drone technologies. He said Nigeria’s greatest asset was its people, not its oil reserves.

Okoigun called for a coordinated national strategy involving government, universities, research institutions and the private sector to reposition education as critical economic infrastructure, warning that as the global economy was reshaped by artificial intelligence, biotechnology and robotics, the question was whether Nigeria would help design the future or simply purchase it.