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For Navajo Nation President Ben Shelly, the future of that nation’s economy depends on investments in technological infrastructure in his community.
“Navajo residents live in a remote area,” he said. “Their roads are bad, they have very poor connectivity. When someone gets hurt, they call 911, and by the time the person gets there, the person is gone. Through this Internet … in the instance of that, they look into that and save a life. These are things that we’re working on.”
Shelly, the first New Mexican to be elected to his position and the seventh president of the nation, spoke in front of about 75 people at Zimmerman Library’s Willard Room Monday night.
He said that beyond technology investments, such as Wi-Fi connectivity lines in reservations, the Navajo Nation’s economy should focus on job creation. And he said that for this to happen, the government should impose fewer regulations on the nation.
“The key is job revenue — just get it going and get it done,” he said. “We should not just sit here and talk. Let’s get it moving … There should be less government regulation, less red tape on the tribal government.”
Shelly said the nation should also invest in transportation infrastructure to increase its connectivity to more industrialized cities. The nation should also develop energy resources, such as solar and wind energy, to optimize its economy, he said.
And the Navajo Nation should not hesitate to work with the state government to attain success.
“We should develop economic development so we can have jobs and revenue just like everybody else, have a good home, just like every American out there,” he said. “New Mexico is a sovereign government. We could create partnerships that would bring jobs and revenue. Working together would make that happen.”
The event was organized by Beta Sigma Epsilon, a Native American fraternity on campus.
BSE President Alray Nelson said the fraternity had been working hard since October to organize the event. He said his organization put up the talk to celebrate Native American Heritage Month, which is this month.
“We wanted to honor an elder because one of the pillars of our fraternity is to honor our elder,” he said. “We chose the Navajo Nation because they’re the largest nation in the U.S. … I think it was very successful. It wasn’t like any other event that we have had on campus because we had an opportunity to stand shoulder to shoulder with the president and grill him with questions.”
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Nelson said he agrees fully with the president’s economic development plan.
“President Shelly would be known as the president of technology,” he said. “He’s the only president that I’ve met from the Navajo Nation since I was born until now who has talked about the Internet. He talked about incorporating young people into this generation of the Navajo government. His economic plan is ambitious, but I also believe it’s attainable.”
To help with the nation’s economy, UNM should provide more financial aid opportunities to Navajo students, Nelson said. He said he also urges these students to be more involved on campus by joining BSE.
“The same young people are going back home to run these tribal programs,” he said. “The same young people are in the process of running for public office. We can say that UNM actually cultivates a lot of young leaders.”
Shelly said he agrees with this.
“For a help for finances, yes,” he said. “They shouldn’t help them just because they’re Native and have them go through a different curriculum or different classes just to go up there. Individual people should work hard and earn what they get.”
The economic future of the Navajo Nation looks bright, Shelly said. And he said that someday, the nation might even decide to push for statehood.
“I want to look at their future,” he said. “The future of the Navajo Nation is this: we are growing. The population is growing at 300,000 strong, and at about another 20 years, about a million. I probably won’t get to see it, but I hope I’ll get to see it, but you might decide to say, ‘Let’s become a state.’”
