By S.O.K. Shillings
Nigeria is the richest country in Africa having the highest GDP. Conversely, it is ranked 17th by its Per Capita Income. We are rich because of oil, our manna from nature. We are poor because we do not produce. Even the refined product of the oil we got from God is imported.
Lack of productivity is the greatest problem of an economy. National economy is equal to natural resources plus productivity minus waste. Productivity begins with getting virtually every citizen economically engaged. We indulge in too much waste chief among which is the proliferation of government, spending so much to manage so little (topic for another piece). The price of petroleum products is not so high even at N600 – N700 per litre considering relative international price. We are simply too used to deceiving ourselves by pampering our poverty. The snowball of the Naira will not stop because it does not depend on bravado. It is the reality check of the productivity index.
Removing fuel subsidy will not make Nigerians poorer. It is the failure of productivity and waste that will. The exchange rate in 1980 was 80 Kobo to $1. Try and remember the number of manufacturing companies in those days, the products we produced and exported, and how many of those companies or products still exist? how many governments there were then, and if the many states and local governments we have now have improved social services delivery.
It is not enough to generate 50 billion Naira per month in Lagos; or
trillions from the Ports Authority. It is important to profile the earning from direct productivity otherwise the tax is a burden on the economy especially when the income is wasted. The expected action after the subsidy removal (itself a phenomenon being debated as to its existence), is the assurance of the application of the money thus saved on productivity even if it is one industry.
Substituting subsidy with doles and palliatives is antithetic. For how long can local governments continue to provide rice and beans? The only economic respite lies in increasing salaries which is remuneration and return on productivity. The enhanced buying power will spread vide the multiplier but only for a short time too without a productivity agenda. It is too far different from thrusting #8,000 every month into the palms of those who are not working most of which are stolen by evil servants.
I insist that Government should be the driver of a productivity revolution with policies and actions. The policies will include the maximal engagement of citizens like deciding whether it is reasonable to keep able-bodied men in prison for a long time who are not adding to productivity value; rejigging of the education curriculum for value and not to justify governance (to be discussed later); and, applying public money, like the savings from subsidy removal, to kickstart an industrial revolution through the unit trust/Big Business suggested earlier in this serial.
Hasty policies are distortions. Why hastily change the colour of naira notes in the swap and insist on immediate application of cashless policy which did not work? Why remove fuel subsidy at a time we are not producing the product and relying on private Dangote Refinery that promised starting in July? While we are not producing, the price of petrol and other products will continue to rise with the value of Naira and we are fast approaching boiling point.
I dare state that the removal of petroleum subsidy without a corollary production plan by way of Dangote Refinery or immediate repair of existing refineries is a faux pas. The subsidy must be reinstated forthwith while the criminal elements must equally be dealt with. The present price cannot be sustained. We are in real mess. It is a shame that Government acted uninformed or misinformed. It is a crisis that cannot be dealt with otherwise. If Government continues as a paddy-paddy set-up with nobody in jail for such magnitude of dereliction in public knowledge, then it is affronting the people by insisting on imposing avoidable poverty when the money thus saved will only service the ubiquitous and undesirable government officials. Hard decisions demand hard actions in the balance which is absent here.
A Nigeria that cannot assist Innoson Motors to grow but prefers Toyota for public officials is a doomed leadership and system. This country can no longer afford an extravagant free-spending bicameral legislature, a slow and unreliable justice system, 37 states and 774 local governments alongside the retinue of almanjeris, area boys, unemployed graduates, unskilled youths, high women prostitution …
It is not enough for Osun to provide land and takeoff money for willing farmers? A serious revolutionary approach will be to engage the youths in farming drawing them out, monitoring and providing the incentives. In fact, those lazy, jobless, criminal-minded ones should be conscripted. How well are we prepared for the predicted global food shortage?
The youths represent the energy of society. This country has never been serious about youth development. Even the academic manifestos of the political parties have no provisions for them except that they should be allowed to participate in governance. Mbappe rejected a bounty offer in excess of $700 million from Al Hilal while Osimhen is mulling multi-billion Naira offer from Saudi Arabia which is spending billions to enter the football market. Sports is not just exercise for the body; it is money. Davido and co. are making a fortune from music without input of government.
The National League needs a breath of money and the national sports festival should be reshaped and revamped. There is need for prototype youth centres where there are facilities for sports, music, arts and culture, and special skills.
It is pertinent to mention that if we are not ready to stop corruption and waste, especially the system of governance practised thus far; if not being seriously involved in aviation, communication, engineering, iron and steel, mining, automobiles, fabricated manufacturing, sports, IT, AI, space et al and not ready to roll our sleeves and bend down to work on the little that are available especially agriculture, there will be nothing good to come out of ‘Nazareth’ and the end is near. That is how public money is being invested in Dangote Refinery while 4 are wasting. That is how legislators are insisting on new cars in the face of budget deficits. That is how we will ultimately fervently pray for ‘Niger’ to happen to us.
We owed a duty to rescue our francophone neighbours from the shylock jugular of France for our mutual benefit long before now. A ‘Big-brother-Africa’ or democracy-must-thrive show is unaffordable at this point. Our neighbours should provide extended local market for our products, a easier way of benefit than the American-styled-and-inspired, expensive, immoral military intervention colonialism that is brewing. It is a tacit approval of military attack on sovereign states beyond political borders.
Long Live Federal Republic of Nigeria!
S. O. K. Shillings Esq., writes from Ikorodu
