Screeching to a halt! – 4
CLOSE THE ECONOMY AND BAN IMPORTS, OR DEVALUE TO PROMOTE EXPORTS Closing the economy is a non-option, I’ve been told much earlier, because global hegemons are watching this country like hawks! Didn’t we know that when we went to town thumping our chests? So the economy remains open to all sorts since we signed up […]
CLOSE THE ECONOMY AND BAN IMPORTS, OR DEVALUE TO PROMOTE EXPORTS
Closing the economy is a non-option, I’ve been told much earlier, because global hegemons are watching this country like hawks! Didn’t we know that when we went to town thumping our chests? So the economy remains open to all sorts since we signed up with WTO. The CME has made a brave statement to the effect that some of these things will be taxed. The truth however, is that the countries who make laws for us don’t keep the laws they made themselves. Anyone living in the western countries would know that have a swathe of goods they don’t allow into their countries, willy-nilly. Our governments seem unable to speak up about this injustice, but that is where we civilians come in.
COMPARE AND CONTRAST
Well, compared with 1983, we can speak and write on these things, despite not being in government, and actually get a larger audience. It is also apt to compare the response of powerful countries when they went into a downturn in 2008/9, compared with our last experience with serious recession in 1983 when they were our advisers. In the days of SAP, we were told to lay off workers, increase taxes, reduce government expenditure, increase interest rates, privatize and so on. in 2009, they did the EXACT opposite for themselves. They NATIONALISED companies like banks and auto makers, the reduced interest rates to near zero, they kept workers in employment and even employed more, they reduced taxes and even gave refunds, they increased government expenditure. The choice now, is ours to ingest the medicines in the right combo that will not worsen our problems. I doubt they will agree that we are old enough to administer the antidotes on ourselves though.
WAYS FORWARD
My own humble contribution are along the following lines, and they deal with some nuanced and often-ignored issues which have always rendered our economics useless.
1. A proper consideration of our economy will reveal three segments of people. a. Those whose take home cannot take them home or even to the bus stop, b. Those whom envy is driving them to join the Joneses by all means and for whom nothing will be enough, and c. Those who just have this greed akin to an addiction especially because they are close to one source of cash flow or the other. There is a need to curb c, and to re-orientate b and to ensure livable wages are paid for a. But the world is watching and like they say, ‘you can’t give what you don’t have’. The first thing the people will ask a preacher of reorientation or anti-corruption is; ‘do you practice what you preach?’
2. George W Bush was urging Americans to go out and spend post 911. I have seen a lot of that since then and it seems received wisdom to urge the hoi polloi to ‘spend’ in order to ‘help’ the economy. I think it is bad economics for governments to coax and confuse its citizens to spend just because. A corollary to this, is the proliferation in recent years, of avenues for Nigerians to spend, spend, spend. Not only did foreign supermarket chains enter Nigeria and we became their best global customers, these days all sorts of platforms have arrived which take our people’s monies away at the click of a button. A government should try and protect its people. It has become worse lately as betting sites proliferate in Nigeria, and what with the addiction to football, ‘Baba Ijebu’ (pools betting) is here again, only repackaged for the digital generation
3. In order to assist ourselves and to lift this economy, we will have to take some pains initially, but it should not be made to look like the poor people, or those struggling to get by, are the perpetrators of the malaise that got us this far. We should not be made to bear too much burden. Instead, a long-term view is required on the part of government, and a lot of sincerity too. To this extent, Nigerian government may try and do a long-term ‘hard reset’ of the economy by having a rethink of public education, modernizing it, and making it attractive to more people. That does something to the psyche of Nigerians. And it sure helps to save money for everyone. Public education should be made free in rural areas, and almost free in urban areas up to secondary. Universities should be upgraded and made to adhere to performance standards. For this upgrading, it should be made known to all, that university is a privilege. We would have to pay to attend, or people should opt for cheaper technical education. Now is the time to improve the wages of our technical experts, who graduate with skills from technical colleges.
4. The spendings which the government must prioritise now, should include research and development, to improve on our society and produce the things we need. It should also include improvements in public health to produce a healthy population. Well, we now hear that the so-called transformation of the Agric sector is all ‘flash’, but now is the time to take food production serious. This is the time to just ensure food is available if nothing else. Households should also know this to be true. But I agree, that a few Nigerians have stolen the country blind in order to ‘oppress’ at times like this.
5. This is a good time to cut down on government excesses. I read a recent interview by the Swiss Ambassador to Nigeria in Premium Times. He stated clearly that officers like him fly economy class in Switzerland, and that is a very rich country. We thought the last CONFAB will achieve some results but it didn’t. Otherwise we would not still be saddled with huge legislator’s salaries and emolument. We just lost our heads in the last few years in short. But it seems many Nigerians cannot bear to remove their heads from the skies.
WHEN THE GODS HELP YOU TILL YOUR LAND
The Bible asks “Shall we continue in sin, and expect the Grace to abound?” And the answer was “God forbid!”.
There is always an element of luck in the transformation or development of countries. But when the Lord helps you to clear your land, till it, make ridges, plant, harvest, peel your yams, cook it, pound it and serve it hot on your table, with egusi soup and the lap of a matured goat, it is important not to boast that you have arrived or achieved. These problems now becoming evident have always been there. We feared for a day like this. We feared that this could get worse. Luck is good. Embrace it for what it is. And like an American quarterback in a game of American football, clutch your luck in your strongest arm and race to touchdown, bulldozing adversary, knowing that ‘touchdown’ will be when you create a momentum that can be followed by other generations unborn, not when you build a stadium or a sparkling city for the superrich, or a Taj Mahal for your darling wife or a palace for yourself, driving inflation up astronomically.
May the Almighty strengthen us and give us wisdom, courage, mutual love, patriotism, vision at these times.