Contrary to natural expectation, Nigeria is today perceived as broke at every bend. On Wednesday, March 11, 2015, an International Rating Agency, Standard & Poor’s, warned that Nigeria’s economy was in “clear and present danger”.
What makes the situation more confounding is that in the face of this damning report, the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, also revealed that “On annual basis, the total exports of Nigeria stood at N17.204 trillion at the end of 20014, representing a rise of N2.959 billion or 20.8% over the level of 2013”, even when the nation’s budgetary outlay for 2014 was less than N5 trillion.
By Hon. Josef Omorotionmwan
In his justification of the recent increase in the pomp price of fuel, the Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, postulated that the issue was not about oil subsidy but that Nigeria was skint.
Does this fit into God’s original plan? At creation, God blessed Nigeria. All the necessities of life, He gave to us freely and in abundance – the precious air we breathe; the water we drink; and the expanse of fertile land – were just there. Where the terrain was difficult, He tucked underneath the earth, the wherewithal for its development.
And by Lai Mohammed’s standard, if all else fail; we can increase the pomp price of the few available drops of petrol to N500 per liter. Then four lean seeds of tomatoes could sell for N200. All that matters is that we always have a fall-back situation, which is unavailable to many nations.
In the beginning, agriculture formed the mainstay of Nigeria’s economy. Before the advent of the oil boom of the 1970s, the nation’s economy was largely dependent on revenue from agriculture.
We recollect, with nostalgia, that Nigeria’s palm oil seedling was adjudged the best the world-over and that was when Malaysia and other countries came to collect the seedlings as the nucleus for their own production.
In whichever direction we turned, we were blessed – the groundnut pyramid of the North; the cocoa of the West; the rubber and timber of the Mid-West; and the palm produce of the East – all of which have today gone virtually into extinction. Nigeria has never had any reason to be broke.
Then came the oil regime, which was supposed to bring greater prosperity and enhanced economic boom; but which has ended up spelling doom for us. As it were, this was the opportunity to abandon our original pursuits in agriculture and we then put all our eggs in a single basket.
In the new frontier, we met easy money. Things became so rosy to the extent that money was not our problem but how to spend it.
There is, though, the often mistaken impression that our earnings from the oil sector were totally wasted. Truly, we threw money around but the argument cannot be sustained that the money we spent in assisting our brethren in South Africa during their struggle against apartheid was money flushed down the drains.
Even at that, we earned enormous reputation and goodwill in the process. Nigeria stood tall in the comity of nations.
Again, Nigeria’s development was never at a standstill. We built bridges over water and on land; we built highways; we constructed airports and seaports; and provided schools and hospitals, etc. Development has always been on the move.
You can only truly appreciate the fact that development is ongoing if you leave this country for say ten years. By the time you return, you can hardly find your bearing through any part of the country.
The only reasonable argument we can make is that the oil regime also succeeded in throwing up many fat cows that, besides being richer than the country, are also intent on continuously bullying the rest of us with their ill-gotten wealth.
Contrary to natural expectation, Nigeria is today perceived as broke at every bend. On Wednesday, 11 March 2015, an International Rating Agency, Standard & Poor’s, warned that Nigeria’s economy was in “clear and present danger”.
What makes the situation more confounding is that in the face of this damning report, the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, also revealed that “On annual basis, the total exports of Nigeria stood at N17.204 trillion at the end of 20014, representing a rise of N2.959 billion or 20.8% over the level of 2013”, even when the nation’s budgetary outlay for 2014 was less than N5 trillion.
The current war on corruption is not about any person. It is not about President Muhammadu Buahri. Rather, it is about the soul of Nigeria.
To be truly meaningful, the war must be properly organized. It cannot be won by sporadic shots at a few individuals. It must be comprehensive. That war is bad which at the end of tenure succeeds in picking up the Governor for stupendous accumulations; while leaving the legislators who gave the Governor the annual appropriations to walk our streets in freedom.
What, then, is the whole essence of checks and balances, including the legislative oversight of the administration enshrined in our Constitution?
This fight against corruption must continue to open new vistas as we go along. The funds realized from the war cannot remain idle for too long. We must promptly decide what to do with the money.
Useful information on the fight cannot remain over-classified for too long. For instance, one way of ensuring that the funds do not get re-looted, as happened in the past, would be to make the system transparent. Like other revenues, Nigerians want to know what comes into the Loot Recovery Account on a monthly basis.
The identity of the looters cannot remain shielded for too long. For example, it is when we know the looters that we can determine where the money belongs. A recovery from an ex-Governor of a State belongs to that State. While the State gets back the recovered loot, it must also be prepared to contribute to the cost of recovery.
A recovery from a player in the oil sector clearly belongs to the Federation Account from where it would be re-distributed as appropriate.
The recovered loots cannot be treated like what past leaders did with the Excess Crude Account that became a veritable source of slush funds of all sorts, including electioneering campaigns.
At all levels, the legislature must be involved in re-appropriating the proceeds from the recovered loots; and the judiciary must be handy in the process of reward and punishment of offenders.
The much talked about idea of diversifying our economy cannot remain in abstraction. It must be real! Like the old Spirituals, if Nigeria counts her blessings, it will be abundantly clear that she has no reason to be broke.
Hon. Josef Omorotionmwan is a public affairs analyst and Chairman, Board of Directors, Edo Broadcasting Service. He can be reached at: joligien@yahoo.com
