A rebased GDP and citizens well being

Ideally the recent rebasing of the Nigerian Gross domestic product (GDP) suppose to be a sheering news and a valuable reason to roll out the drums to celebrate an economy that have been adjudged the 26th and 1St best in the world and Africa respectively; but for the reality in terms of economy prosperity of Nigeria as a country and the citizens at large definitely there is nothing to sheer and celebrate.

To the manager of our economy rebasing our GDP is nothing but the best thing to have happened to our country in the recent time, but to those at the other end of the economy that has been mismanaged, misgoverned and battered and chartered without much hope such an exercise is just an exercise in futility.

No doubt with the rebase GDP, the Nigerian economy is fast growing, but whether this growth has translate to economic prosperity in terms of physical and human capital development is a different ball game.

We learnt in elementary economics that growth without a corresponding development is nothing but a classroom exercise and therefore the recent rebased GDP that put our GDP at over $510b is nothing but a macabre dancing of our economy managers who are feeding fat on the nation’s resource without adding any value.

If economic growth and economic development is the yardstick of measuring how the country of the word are fairing, no doubt as it is stand today Nigeria will counted as one of the least developed country in the world with high percentage of the citizen living below the poverty level.

We all know that no sector of the economy can be adjudged to be doing well put side by side with other countries of the world even in the underdeveloped Africa. Take them one by one, is it Education, power, oil and gas, Telecomm, Aviation, Agriculture, rural integration and development, Physical infrastructural development?

To make the matter worst,  the critical sector; that is power and energy that suppose to drive other sectors has remain comatose in the last three decades without any hope of getting better. What the managers of our economy have been doing is to run Nigeria economy on the pages of newspapers and electronics media, where projects are executed and commissioned on the pages of newspaper. Nigeria has become  a generator driven economy and no matter what analyst may  say and propound , a generator driven economy cannot grow or develop and therefore anybody that thinks Nigeria economy is better than Ghana and South Africa should think twice.

Nigeria is a country where good plans are enumerated on papers. Over the years so many economic plans that were intended to stimulate economic growth and development have been put in place , committees upon committees have been set up to fashion the way forward for the country but none has achieved the desired result because our political leaders most time use those thing to buy time and cover their inefficiency .

We were told that with the rebasing the per capital income is now above $2000, that is aboveN320,000 in terms of our national currency. If this is the correct position how then do we reconcile a minimum wage of N18,000 that have not been fully implemented all over the country with per capital income of above N320,000.

Granted that the wealth of the nation is in the hands of few people as recently alluded to by the president of the federal republic of Nigeria, should that be the reason for the level of decay in our infrastructure all over the country. Given the situation on ground Nigeria as a country is poor and no doubt the current liabilities is more that the assets if we are to put aside untapped natural endowment.

Nigeria government has failed to use available resources to develop the country at the appropriate time. With over  fifty years of oil exploration and development, Nigeria and Nigerians have not been better off.

Most times our leaders will; tell us that high GDP and other economic indices is not a guarantee that the citizens will be rich and they will quick to refer to countries like China and other fast growing economic but they have forgotten that these countries have world class modern infrastructure in their countries. Power is stable, road network are superb, railway and other means of transportation are world standard and therefore these have natural transform into economic prosperity for their citizens. In most of these countries citizens don’t pay schools fee and hospital bill and therefore they have less burden to carry.

Our leaders should wake up to the reality that Nigeria is gradually becoming a failed nation with no hope of meaningful life. An average Nigerian is poorer today than he was ten years ago. Nigeria is a nothing but a nation without glorious past to cherish, no prosperous present to hold on to and worst still no promising future.

In conclusion, GDP rebasing has no meaning to an average man in the street of Yenogoa or any other place in Nigeria who cannot afford to send his children to school nor eat three meal in a day.

AKINYOGBON KOLA OJO