Truth be told, the problems we are facing today predates the Coronavirus pandemic. When one is privileged to travel to a prosperous nation, what do you see? You will see an organised society, educated and disciplined people. You will see a broad range of entrepreneurs, young and old, who are innovating across various sectors of the economy. That is why economists say that a nation’s ability to develop innovations that continually solve problems of society is the best index towards measuring long term growth and prosperity.
A country that depends on the ingenuity of innovators will know how to manage its economy to remain competitive and vibrant by promoting innovation and entrepreneurship. On the other hand, a country that depends mostly on natural resources and rents put its citizens at the mercy of commodity prices dictated by market forces in the international environment.
Those in the government who claim that Nigerians are prosperous can now see the level of prosperity of citizens as some of our youth’s scramble for CaCOVID palliatives from rooftops of warehouses across the country. Some politicians say that some youths who scrambled for palliatives were “politically motivated.” Perhaps, only politicians can understand the “political motivation” behind the looting of warehouses. But I join many Nigerians to condemn looting by any persons in whatever form in our society.
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With all promises made by the federal and state governments, how prosperous are we now? Before we answer the question, it is apt to state that debt like any other trap is easy to get into but difficult to get out of. A country that lives beyond its means will be unable to make good its fiscal promises and cannot be regarded as a prosperous country.
A prosperous country must be stable and peaceful with a sense of patriotism among the people. Electoral process must be transparent and politics of violence must be discouraged. As citizens, we must respect our country’s electoral process
Our country spends more than it earns. Out of the proposed budget of N13.08 trillion for 2021, the expected revenue is N7.89trillion. This results in a fiscal deficit of N5.20 trillion. Where will the country get the balance from?
We are more than 200 million people for goodness sake. And it’s on record that we can muster about 100 million poor people living below $1.0 (N367) per day. The high cost of governance is so disturbing that the country cannot provide adequately for the basic needs of its people. So, can we still say our country is prosperous? Probably not.
A paper presented recently by one of our respected economists, Bismarck Rewane, shows that, “Only nine states could be classified as fairly prosperous in Nigeria.” The states, reflected in the paper titled “Nigeria: Resource-Rich & Cash Poor; Plenty Potential …. Little Actual,” are Kwara, Oyo, Osun, Ekiti, Ogun, Ondo, Edo, Lagos and Anambra. While 12 other states fell within the category of highly miserable according to the respected economist, the remaining 15 states were classified in his paper as fairly miserable.
Anambra State, according to the economist, has the least incident of poverty in the country with 14.2 percent while Taraba scored the highest on the misery index with 39.1 percent. With these unimpressive statistics, one begins to wonder how prosperous is Nigeria in black Africa? The economist concludes that “Nigeria needs a big-push that could awaken the sleeping “giant of Africa” to break out of the vicious cycle of poverty.”
From one of my articles in this column on why achieving productivity remains a national challenge, it was stated that Nigeria must find ways and means to reduce the ranks of the rural and urban poor. In the article, I stated that reducing the ranks of the poor will entail amongst others crafting policies that create more productive, higher paying jobs outside subsistence agriculture, attracting foreign direct investment and improving the quality of technical education at all levels. We must find ways and means of engaging our youths through capacity building programs.
I argued that the solution to building capacity to tackle poverty is in having a workforce with quality education that is shifting from low-productivity subsistence agriculture and casual labour to higher productivity in agriculture, manufacturing and service sector jobs. Whether we like it or not, technology and a quality workforce will provide the key to high productivity.
We live in uncertain times. Coronavirus has exposed the weakness of most economies in the world. In Nigeria, the manufacturing sector has contracted continuously for six months, according to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). While the CBN claims that N1.8trillion, $1.36 billion and €10.92 million loans to MSMEs, according to a report. Are entrepreneurs aware of what the federal government has done to help sustain their businesses?
Our youths constitute the largest demographic segment in the country. While unemployment is about 27.1 percent in the second quarter of 2020, we must therefore engage our youths meaningfully by creating doors of opportunities for them. Recent youth protests show that trust in government across the country has sunk to a historic low and may still drop with time if nothing concrete is done to reverse the trend.
In order to be a prosperous nation, the quality of political institutions matter. If we look at history, some of the countries which are prosperous today, are in the Nordic region namely Denmark, Norway, Finland, Sweden, and Iceland among others.
These countries developed strong political institutions and quality government. When we mention strong political institutions, one will be considering the rule of law, not the rule of strong men. Nigeria must be prepared in all respect to promote and honour people with skills rather than yes-men and political loyalists.
In addition, Nigerians must have faith, trust and respect for the system. How can a government be effective when citizens do not trust it? It is through genuine leadership. Democracy cannot be successful with few “good men” in the political arena.
A prosperous country must be stable and peaceful with a sense of patriotism among the people. Electoral process must be transparent and politics of violence must be discouraged. As citizens, we must respect our country’s electoral process.
Most times, elections in some states would be heralded by drums of war. We saw what happened in the 2020 gubernatorial elections in Edo State for example, where “infantry divisions” of youths in some political parties displayed brigandage before elections.
Bad administration and suitable terrain encourage the development of brigands. How did we get to this stage where some of our youths are violent and desperate? Is it because they have lost hope of achieving their dreams in life? Most of our youths are ready to break the law or do anything to get what they need for a living.
One is tempted to ask: Are we really having a democratic system of governance? I ask this question because some scholars believe that democracy is about the people. Still, democracy is only truly good when it is made to work effectively, and even more importantly, fairly.
Democracy, according to some public intellectuals, needs a method of representation that yields stable government while recognising to a large extent the views of minority and individual interests. Such interests may not, and need not conform, to majority interests.
In a democracy, most citizens are not bound by law to see issues of interest the same way as those in government. That is why constant conversation between the government and citizens on issues of national interest is very key especially in a time like this.
Accordingly, those in the government must not treat the hue and cry from all corners and crannies of the country for a better standard of living with kid gloves. The conditions necessary to be a prosperous nation are not easy to achieve but we must be seen to be making genuine efforts towards achieving them.
An associate once told me that if no one speaks when federal, state, and local governments are not steering the ship of the nation in the right direction, the nation would be heading for a monumental disaster. What should be at the front burner of our national discourse now is what we need to do in the short and immediate terms so that Nigeria can be a prosperous country. (Concluded) Thank you.
