Nigerian post COVID-19 socio-economics

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the failure of capitalist governments to provide healthcare systems to deal with such situations. Covid-19 isn’t the first pandemic, it follows the “black death” and bubonic plague whose effects were not so devastating to economic life because in olden days economies were based upon local agriculture and crafts. This meant […]

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the failure of capitalist governments to provide healthcare systems to deal with such situations. Covid-19 isn’t the first pandemic, it follows the “black death” and bubonic plague whose effects were not so devastating to economic life because in olden days economies were based upon local agriculture and crafts.

This meant that ordinary life returned fairly quickly. Capitalist globalization of these days has made things very different. Virtually all governments worldwide are in a critical economic state as they try to take care of the poor while trying to slow down the spread of coronavirus and work out some sort of recovery plan which doesn’t involve other countries. In Nigeria, President Muhammadu Buhari has set up a special economic policy implementation committee chaired by Vice-President Osinbajo to plan how the economy will recover from the adverse effects of the pandemic.

The committee is tasked with taking charge of the implementation of various federal government’s economic recovery programs.  In developed nations their post-COVID-19 economic committees are tasked with returning things to normal i.e. how they used to be before the crisis.

In Nigeria, there was nothing “normal” about the pre-coronavirus economy and the committee must look forward to the future, not backwards to an inglorious past. Post-independence African nations tended to gravitate towards the socialist Soviet Union and communist China. This was hardly surprising because not only were socialism and communism closer to the African way of life but the USA was despised for slavery while European countries were despised for colonialism. After the collapse of the Soviet Union and modernisation of China, capitalism took over as the standard African socio-economic system. In the process of embracing capitalism and abandoning welfarism, critical institutions providing public services were left weakened.

Capitalism embraced globalisation and required governments to take a back seat while businesses created wealth and controlled citizens lives. The end result being that when covid-19 arrived, governments of even the most “advanced” nations like the USA were in no position to provide needed equipment. Worse still, capitalist nations operate in the belief that human beings are motivated by profit not public interest. The system is sustained by compelling people to work so that profit can be made off their labour, and then further compelling them to spend their money so that profit can be made from supplying their needs. When citizens stay at home or become self-sufficient the system collapses.

All around the world, anti-capitalists are united in the hope that covid-19 will signal the long-awaited end of capitalism. The pandemic has highlighted the situation that globalisation has created a situation in which the supply and manufacture of critical public health equipment has been left in private hands. There is no gainsaying that “for-profit” healthcare is not designed to withstand pandemics. It goes without saying that governments shouldn’t have to wait until there is a pandemic before resolving to force profit oriented private businesses to produce vital equipment.

COVID-19 provides a much-needed opportunity to rethink the ultimate purpose of governance. Rather than rushing to solve problems when they arise, governments should concern themselves with ensuring national goals and ideologies that are driven by public interest rather than profit. Nigerian governments are habitually guilty of negligible spending on public services. Nigerian political leaders are habitually strong in displays of wealth and privilege and traditionally weak on displays of compassion. The new economic recovery plan should not be about a return to the past, but rather about charting a new course.

It should be concerned with how to remove slums, distribute wealth more equitably, stop deforestation, end live animal markets and stop widespread diseases, none of which have been considered priorities in the past.  Something also needs to be done about the absence of a social safety net. The spectacle of ministers doling out wads of cash in times of crisis is un-becoming to say the least.  An economic framework must be established within which institutions are created to enable the nation provide continuous assistance to the poor.

To facilitate economic success in the future, massive investment must be made in education, research and development activities to make the best use of untapped national capacity. There is no disputing that the banking system requires complete overhauling. There must be an end to the situation in which banks concentrate on making profit by deducting money from customers account through spurious charges rather than by lending and stimulating the economy.

Micro-credit banking has failed, and any economic revival plan must encompass re-investing in the post office as both a major employer of labour and a “bank” for the poor. In terms of facilitating infrastructural development, the committee must address the issue of public-private sector partnership guidelines which always appear to favour corporations over citizens welfare. The committee must also develop realistic plans for mass employment. The often-muted belief that investment in agriculture leads to full employment is behind the times. Modern day automation and computerisation requires efficient large-scale farms and factories to employ fewer people.

All in all, the logic of the so called “free market” has been proved to be faulty. Capitalism gives rise to massive disparities in distribution of wealth, which have always created crime and social unrest. The only way to prevent this is to fundamentally alter the social and political condition of the lower strata of Nigerian society. Vice-President Osinbajo is known for his knowledge, humility, empathy and grace.

These attributes are required to chart a new economic course. Government must prepare itself to spend far less money on purchasing official vehicles, maintaining official aircraft, unnecessary foreign travels, and paying political office holders humongous allowances. This will enable government pay citizens a universal income whenever stay-at-home orders are issued. The natural way of African life gravitates towards welfarism. The post covid-19 economy must return to the African culture of concern for fairness and the well-being of others.