Elections are over, now’s time for business

The intensity of political activities in the weeks leading to December 2014 was unprecedented in Nigerian history. The outcome, already known to keen political watchers at home and abroad, are no less unprecedented. Without delving into the details of what characterized the elections or a number of flashpoints where  results are still subject of controversies, few points are worth our attention here.

First among them is that seekers of elective posts now have to work hard to get through to clinch the offices they very much seek to occupy, unlike before when contestants traditionally took the electorate for granted; some even boasting that they would secure elective positions even without voters’ support. This observation does not detract from the fact that there were pockets of reported cases of electoral frauds and infarctions here and there during the elections. The scale, however,  could be said to be fewer today than before.

Secondly, attention is gradually shifting from non-descript issues and superficial sentiments in deciding who to vote for. Hitherto, economic consideration played up less than religious, ethnic, cultural and other social sentiments.

Although the just-concluded elections were still heavily tinged with these sentiments, with limited emphasis on what to do to improve people’s lots, many decided to vote for what they expected to be a change, for which another four years would either prove their choices right or wrong.

This, however, places a lot of demand and public expectation on the victors in the election exercise as the public, for once, has begun to see reasons to vote and may exercise their powers again next time based on their judgment of the incoming governments at the states and federal levels.

The third factor, which will have a far-reaching impact on Nigeria’s outlook on the global scene, is the conduct of the election and the aftermath.  In spite of whatever arguments, complaints and misgivings coming from whatever quarters, the outcome of the presidential election, the non-interference with the conduct of the election by the President, his speedy and proactive concession of defeat and early congratulatory message to the declared winner are clear and unequivocal signals to the outside world that Nigeria is coming of age and is proving a safe haven for foreign investors.

It has two immediate implications, one of which sets a precedent for incoming administration to be fair to Nigerians by avoiding any form of interference with such an organisation as the electoral umpire, irrespective of how its official position affects the electoral prospects of those in power. This flows from the second implication, which is the much needed creation and sustenance of public institutions that should be allowed to operate in ways that gain the confidence of the populace. In other words, public institutions are not supposed to operate at the whims of those in power.

It behoves the incoming governments at states and federal levels to concentrate more on institution building and avoid wild goose chase.

They are not likely to win the applause of the populace through populist programmes, but through enduring institutions, which are instruments required to stabilise national economy as well as instill public trust and confidence in government.

It needs to be noted that, apart from the fact that there has been a lull in Nigerian economy preparatory to the election, the business community has been very wary of what the outcomes could be. While the local investors are conveniently mostly dependent on government as a big spender, single most dependable customer, patron and business partner, their enterprises could only reasonably be expected to be tied to the apron string of the government.

Therefore, the lull in government activities was palpable in the limited number of sittings in the states and national assembly since the year began, affecting appropriation bills and government spendings, which also have translated to lowered economic tempo. The talk about why the private sector needs to free itself from such a quagmire by making demands on politicians is reserved for another day.

The foreign investors, on the other hand, not only kept business on hold, the executives of many of them literally took vacation, choosing rather to observe from the safe distance of either their home countries or other international outposts of their transnational corporations. You can hardly blame any of them as their decisions are most often based on counsels and advice of hired consulting firms, many of which use subjective criteria that are often flawed at the end.

The doomsday prophets had told them that Nigeria would not exist as a country from 2015, and they thought to play safe, based on advice from ‘experts,’ believing that whatever could not be salvaged as a result of the anticipated losses accompanying the predicted breakdown could easily be written off as  losses incurred in doing foreign business in what they imagined was a ‘failed nation.’ Thank God, we were saved from what would have become a self-fulfilling prophecy!

Those who track Nigeria’s economic barometer will readily agree that a whole quarter of a nation’s economic calendar is way too long to be tied down to vagaries of politics in general and electioneering in particular.

The losses to the whole economy cannot be recovered within the remaining three quarters, no matter how they are accelerated. Foremost among the reasons is the fact that Nigeria’s economy is just beginning a transition from monocultural to multicultural.

Another is the fact that the foreign investors still will want to wait to see how the new administration settles down and some will want to know whether or not to continue with a new government.

Moreover, with a change of government at the top and in many states, many old, on-going or current programmes will be jettisoned by in-coming governments for a number of reasons. Remember these are politicians and have their own yardsticks that often conflict with those of technocrats and experts.

The change of government almost always requires a new set of ideas, approaches, priorities,  expectations and road maps, which are ultimately tied to new set of people at the helm and which are mostly driven by some sets of values, mostly known to them.

There is hardly anything anybody can do to change that as the new set of people would want to establish justifications for their coming in. And, that they must do. But the process is usually heavily paid for by the generality of the populace and the toll it takes on the economy.

For the monocultural nature of the economy, it is hardly surprising that the economy will have to wait for a time to stabilise after the election, which may effectively push normalcy forward up to June 2015. Again, this is hardly surprising as it will take every new government time to settle down. Many of the operatives will be people with little or no experience, who will definitely need time to acclimatize.

In addition, even where there was an experience, bringing new people together to pursue a vision is hardly a thing to accomplish overnight.

The same fervour that drove successful electioneering campaign is not necessarily what is needed to run a government. Nor are the tactics that got people voted into offices the same as those needed to evolve, drive and implement policies. While all politics are ultimately local, running public offices increasingly requires an international mindset, especially at such a time as this.  It is good to come up with interventions that positively impact on the populace, that is, at the local level.

Politicians coming into public offices, either in executive or legislative capacities should, however, be aware of the rising profile of Nigeria on a global economic scale. They need to know what it means to state that Nigeria is one of the 11 emerging world economies, one of the few fastest growing economies and an investment destination. They need a working knowledge of how to fast-track doing business, not to hinder or obstruct it.

A good grasp of the economic gap created during the peak of the recent political activities is needed in formulating policies to aggressively diversify Nigeria’s economy so as to make room for more players and enable the system to continue functioning whenever one sector is held down as in the troubling case of nosedived price of oil at the time the naira value was experiencing a free fall since last quarter of 2014.

Perhaps the economy would not have been in such a limbo at this critical time if the country were already a big producer and a big exporter that would have benefitted hugely from the fall in naira value.

It is now time for those who won various elective positions to lay aside the toga of winners, halt the revelings, wining and dining, and face the real and onerous business of governance as the clock of the four years of mandate they got would soon begin to tick and they need to commence early to prove to the public that they indeed merited the mandates.

OLUKAYODE OYELEYE