In the eyes of many Nigerians, going by the common opinions across the nation, the nation’s current state is one of disarray, prompting a widespread yearning for more relevant interventions in critical sectors to alleviate the severe difficulties faced by the populace. It appears however that governments at both the federal and state levels, are visibly concerned and cornered by the circumstances, seem willing to embrace any proposed solution in their desperation, without fully considering the ramifications of such solutions.
To effectively address our challenges, it is crucial to begin with a clear understanding of the precise nature of these issues. We must identify what these problems are, their origins, and the contexts in which they arose. A scattergun approach, adopting every suggested remedy, will not extricate us from our perennial troubles. While we are part of a global community, our problems are, to a significant extent, unique and localised. Even within Nigeria, the strategies that will prove effective are likely to differ from one region to another, from one state to the next. A genuine commitment to finding solutions necessitates a thorough recognition of our distinct circumstances and the development of solution pathways that are specifically tailored to address our respective unique challenges.
It is time for a candid acknowledgment of the realities we face today. We are a nation fragmented by deep-seated tribal and religious biases, which have significantly hindered our ability to unite and leverage our diverse strengths and resources for the collective advancement of the country.
So, let’s get to tell ourselves the truth of what we are facing. One, we are a nation that is broken by the adopted love for tribalism and religious sentiments; and unfortunately, has broken nearly all chances of coagulating our unique strengths and resources across divides to build, and fight for the progress of the country. A divided nation cannot also be a progressive nation. Like the popular adage, if the wall is not cracked, the lizard would not enter. We allow multiple cracks on the wall of Nigeria, and so create rooms for numerous anomalies and troubles to ail the country.
Secondly, and consequential to the first, we allow corruption to come and stay as a norm in our system. The menace has grown so deep to the point that Nigeria’s resources are no longer for Nigeria and Nigerians, but for just a few sets of people, call them hyenas if you like, who are positioned across the country to seize the resources as soon as they are released. It has been said again and again thay the resources of the country are skewedly concentrated in the hands of less than 2 percent of the population of Nigerians. And so there is no way, regardless of projected solutions, that we can solve Nigeria’s problems when the hyenas are not repentant or ready to abandon their habitual looting of the nation’s treasury.
Another major problem we cannot continue to overlook when we search for solutions is the almost loss of manufacturing power in the country. It was not so in the past. Infact, we once presented a boisterous producing economy with industries cutting across sectors all over the country. But today, we import almost 90 percent of all needed commodities in the country, putting enormous pressure on the nation’s balance of trade, and subsequently, the strength of our local currency. We import drugs and medications; import food, import fabrics, import building materials, import irons and steel materials. Yet, we possess the potential and the capacity to locally produce and even export and for local consumption for each and every of the mentioned components of our import and even more.
More worrisome, is the reality that we import petrochemicals into a country that is so blessed with petroleum and holds one of the largest deposits of the resource globally. We cannot continue to allow our story to be one of a nation that exports crude, corruptly manages its oil; but refuses to manage effectively and effectively, local refineries and localisation of refinery components of crude oil for local industrialisation.
Another concern worthy of mention is the failure of the country to build on its capacity to be self-sufficient in local food production. Nigerians have no business with hunger but for the nation’s abandonment of its agricultural prowess and the allowance of corruption in this critical, sensitive sector. If we cannot feed ourselves sufficiently today, to the point that we are where we are, it is our undoing and the responsibility is on us to return back to the table to change the reality.
The Forex problem: what is not the way out and what would work? Increasing monetary policy and the cash reserve rates pari passu or as the case may be, to stiffen naira supply, and to temporarily accumulate foreign inflow of dollar cash to create a spurious surplus that will disappear as soon as the available dollar supply is repatriated by the owners, those with legitimate claims over it, would not only offer a temporary and deceptive hope for the country but would also cut off all chances of local businesses to survive in the face of acutely high lending rate by the lending institutions. We will literally stiffen local businesses including manufacturers.
So what do we have to do? We should ask ourselves why is dollar so scarce that too many naira keep chasing it about. And we must sincerely answer ourselves that the corruption element that enables the hoarding of dollars against all pleas is the biggest problem facing naira strength. I have consistently asked, where are all the trillion of budgetary allocations across the states and the centre disappearing into when we are not seeing commensurate developments? We budgeted trillions of naira over the years; the governors and handlers of federal agencies, ministries and parastatals corner the monies in some opaque manners, buying off dollars, and take them off circulation altogether in anticipation of futuristic selfish gains, including the big masquerade: election spending. We must have to stop individuals who in disguise of legitimate businesses access dollars only to hoard it and partially return them to black market for profiteering. That is the main source of illegal wealth accumulation by bank executives, of most spurious petroleum merchants and filling stations’ owners and manufacturers. We must end the era of moving unaccounted dollars within Nigeria; the corrupt demand for dollars.
If we can muster the political will to do what must be done, then, we must criminalise the entire usage of dollars within the country. No individual, citizen or non-citizen should hold any amount of dollar above $1000; and with a stiff penalty of imprisonment without options of fines. We must also devise ways to flush out stored dollars across the country by all means possible. No individual or corporation should be able to move dollars around and across our systems without legitimate paperwork. With technology, and giving the unique identity of each dollar or any foreign currency notes being, every beneficiary can be tracked and the purpose of usage can be followed up accordingly on a regular basis. In fact, this public scrutiny would either discourage bad actors in the scheme or attract only genuine beneficiaries and in both cases, it is better for the country.
If we would achieve the above, as stated, then, we must first develop the willingness to fight corruption head-on. Not all the deception we have been seeing all along in the manner of some low budget Nollywood; resulting in the more we claim we are fighting corruption, the more corruption is eaten deep into our national fabric. The only thing that can stamp out the menace in Nigeria is humiliating death penalties for the culprits paid for by the families of the convicts. It is only when corruption is substantially out of the equation, that we can truly devise policies that are not innately planned to enrich certain individuals.
Then, we must fix the Nigeria National manufacturing capacity. We cannot continue to record mammoth import bills as against very relatively low exports and expect our currency and economy to fare well. Despite the unbearable weight and the destructive consequences of overdependence on foreign commodities and services, our appetite for the same refuses to wane. Until we stop seeing everything that is foreign as being better than our indigenous goods and services, we will remain a dominated nation, as prophesied in 1835 by Lord Macaulay in his address to the British Parliament on the need to break the strong heritages of the Black race. Our fabrics must be good enough for; our leather works acceptable by all. We must produce our drugs and medications and trust our medicare until they evolve the best they can become.
We must coordinate and restore the nation’s steel power and; drive a coordinated solid minerals management policy devoid of corruption and finally resolve our national electricity generation and distribution challenges to meet the nation’s full need for regular and affordable energy supply. Then, we must truthfully visit the rot in the nation’s petroleum industry. We cannot continue to use mouth to solve the problem in the industry while we continue to lose capacity to locally utilise our crude oil. The national refineries and the modular refineries; how long would it take to stop putting them back on track beyond empty promises and unrepentant corruptions? We must refine our crude, produce everything needed by Nigerians in Nigeria and develop the petrochemicals’ large scale manufacturing capacity on the back of crude refining sub products.
Then, agriculture; for how long will a nation as blessed as we are continue to cry under the weight of non-sufficient food availability. When are we going to get tired of ‘audio’ commitments to the sector without physical evidence of real investment in the sector? I have repeatedly said this; we must immediately declare a state of emergency in the nation’s agricultural sector. Government from local to the center must prioritise development of agriculture and see as many Nigerians as possible joining the movement. This is the way out.
Then, as regards jumping to all suggested solutions, I will advise the President to soft pedal. We must think through every option in the light of current realities and peculiarities. And that is why we must ask ourselves pertinent questions on the implementation of the Oronsaye report; how fast and to what extent should we implement it? We must exercise caution and intelligently scrutinise the report to establish the extent to which we can afford the implementation currently as a nation. Just merging and scrapping agencies and ministries might not result in any positive for the country if we cannot see the output from now. More well-meaning Nigerians need to join the conversation, the civil space for engagement in order to curry solutions with wider acceptance; and which would no doubt deepen our democracy.
