By Ikechukwu Okaforadi
The Chairman of the Governing Council of the Institute for Progressive Affairs, Hillard Etta, has blamed former military President, Ibrahim Babangida, of being the brain behind the crippling of Nigeria’s industrialization and economic emancipation.
Fielding questions with journàlists at the APC National secretariat, over the economy of the country, especially the exchange rate and fuel price hike, Etta, former acting National chairman of All Progressive Congress (APC), said since Babangida introduced Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP), Nigeria began to import most items that are consumed in the country, including items that were easily manufactured locally.
“I want to believe some of you remember there was a time in this country we were not using batteries made from elsewhere for our vehicles; we were not using any tyres manufactured elsewhere for our vehicles and the same for ceramic wares made in Nigeria, but when General Babangida introduced SAP, SAP sap away our Nigeria made products”, he said.
Explaining that each dollar that is sent to China to pay for finished goods represents export of jobs meant for Nigerians to China, the former APC acting chairman said “Today, everybody is looking for dollars and remember that for every dollar sent to China, we are not just sending dollars, we send our jobs with those dollars to China because these things are linked together.
“While it is excruciating, it is not just that fuel is expensive but young men and women have no jobs. I believe in the near future, the government will find a way to mitigate these things”.
“Take for instance, the scarcity of dollars is because our economy is tied to importation. If not, we will not be going about looking for dollars. I did some research a few days ago and I found out that Nigeria spent 40 million dollars in 2014 to import toothpicks.
“That is to show you how stupid and foolish our trade policies are. How can we for whatever reason take 40 million dollars which is several billions of naira? How can we spend 40 million dollars to bring in Maliana to remove food from our dentistry?
“A local government in Cross River called Akanpa can supply Maliana for the whole of Africa. My question has always been, why is it that it is the importers who are making money from this importation that the government is protecting. Why not the farmers who have Maliana in their backyard?
“My hope and contemplation is that this government headed by a President who understands money and economics will know that there are so many things that we should not be importing from China so that we can keep our foreign currencies and stabilize our currency and economy”, he advised.
