OLUMIDE EMMANUEL, an author, a wealth creation advisor, and an entrepreneur, is a man of great influence who, besides being a motivational speaker, is also a commentator on economic issues. In this interview with CHUKA UROKO, Assistant Editor, he highlights some of Nigeria’s prevailing economic challenges, including inflation, exchange rate, and government policies, and offers solutions. He also speaks on the national minimum wage and what individuals can do to create wealth. Excerpts:
The federal government recently approved N70,000 as the national minimum wage. How does this cope with inflation and prevailing economic realities?
If you look at it from the point of the exchange rate, you will realise that even though it has increased at the naira level, it is a reduction at the dollar level. In the last few months that this debate has been going on, we have been having true vocabularies like minimum wage, living wage, etc. that have been pushed simultaneously. Right now, the minimum wage has been increased, but the living wage has been reduced. So, in naira terms, the minimum wage has increased, but in living terms, people’s quality of life has reduced. Even if you have N100,000 now, it cannot buy what N30,000 could buy a year or two ago.
Some people out there do not understand what consumer purchasing power means. Can you offer insights on that for the interest of such people?
The United Nations has defined living below $2 a day as poverty and living below $1 a day as extreme poverty. 75 percent of Nigerians live in poverty because, at the present exchange rate, the new minimum wage amounts to $43, meaning that it is less than $2 per day. So, when you talk about people’s purchasing power, it is becoming weaker and weaker because their take-home cannot take them home.
What they are earning, when taken to the market, cannot get them basic needs and the basic requirements of life. If you look at what has happened, you will discover that everything around us has increased and inflation is at the highest it has ever been. It is not going to get any better except the people at the helm of affairs, the policy formulators, do all that is required for things to change.
What happens in this country is that we always look for one solution that fits it all, but it doesn’t work like that. You may bring in a good policy, but in order for that policy to work and produce a good result, there are many other things that you may also need to do simultaneously that will work in tandem with that policy that has been formulated. But, most of the time, we only do one thing and expect that it will be the magic wand that will produce the miracle. But it doesn’t work like that.
“It is not going to get any better except the people at the helm of affairs, the policy formulators, do all that is required for things to change.”
Inflation rates keep rising, and currently, they are close to 40 percent. What further measures would you suggest for monetary policymakers in order to stem it?
You know, doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result doesn’t work. We are not a producing economy, and when you are not producing, what do you have to back your money? When you talk of market forces, they are forces of demand and supply.
There is no way there won’t be inflation because, due to a potpourri of expenses, the cost of production locally is higher than imported goods. The solution is to come back home. Let us lock ourselves in and go local. Put high duty on anything imported, including food items.
When you say eat Nigeria, you will begin to see Nigerian products coming on. Then we need to cut the cost of governance. Many nations that have succeeded had to first lock themselves in and shut out the world so that they could focus on themselves and their strength. When they rediscover themselves, they can now open up and begin to welcome the world.
We have seen many nations that have done that. But as long as we are following all these IMF and World Bank colonisers and bowing to their colonial bondage, we will go nowhere. If we get just one single policy, then you will see the economic boom it will produce. Also, what are all these senators doing? If you want to be a senator, be a volunteer. No more payment, no more salary. If you truly love Nigeria, come and serve voluntarily. We need people who have made money in the secular world and the marketplace who will volunteer and who will give us just three of their days once a month. Whatever needs to be done, they will do it in those three days.
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With all that is going on in this country, how would you assess the economic policy of the current administration? Are they doing enough to address the issues?
Almost all the policies of this administration are right. But one answer does not fit all. They have the right policy, but for that policy to work, there would be other things that need to be in place. Ironically, those other things are not being done. Take, for instance, the Oronsaye Report on civil service reform; it is a good move. But while they are implementing that, they are also setting up new parastatals, thereby negating a good policy. Removal of subsidies is also good. But all those doing bunkering should be called to book. You are floating dollars and still buying cars in dollars. The implementation of the policies and other supporting policies is not being done.
How long is the gestation period for the government’s policies; when are they expected to start yielding results?
Normally, a policy, if well implemented, is supposed to give results within six months and two years maximum, depending on all other factors being equal. So, it is those ‘factors being equal’ that we are into right now. For instance, we know that we need to produce to bring in dollars, and the only thing that brings dollars to our economy is the crude. But we keep borrowing money in advance against our crude oil.
So, there is no income from there. Right now, we are borrowing money to pay salaries and to run the government. Well, we have seen one year of these policies, so let us still watch what happens in the next year. If you eat your tomorrow today, you are going to be dimensionally poor.
We have so many illegal refineries everywhere. In political leadership, there is what we call the psychology of leadership. Sometimes, it is not black or white but grey. So, the principles of amnesty, whistleblower, and plea-bargaining are all principles of grey-area leadership. Let us legalise modular refineries.
These modular refineries exist everywhere, especially in Port Harcourt, and that is the oil that many people are using for their cars and generators, and everything is working. When we legalise them, we will begin to collect taxes from them.
What steps would you suggest for the government to take to check the expected rise in commodity prices as a result of the new minimum wage?
Price control is a very dicey thing to do, especially when you are not giving any form of subsidy, palliative, or alleviation in the value chain.
In view of the challenges in the economy, what chances do Nigerians have to create wealth for themselves; what survival strategies can individuals evolve?
The principles are always the same. Why? Because crises create opportunities. But, most of the time, when people are in crises, they are in despair. They are not in a mental state to be able to see, seize, and maximise opportunities. The question should be, What value are you bringing to the market because money flows in exchange for value?
So, individuals can thrive if they just identify the source of value they can create for money to flow. No matter how terrible the economy is, money will continue to flow. Those who are solving problems will continue to make money. People enter into a state of despair, and they don’t offer any value and think that emotions and sentiments will attract money to them. But it doesn’t work that way.
At individual and organisational levels, how can financial growth be measured and sustained?
Everything begins with knowledge. If you know better, you will do better. Anyone who wants to change his life should start learning. Begin with financial education. Know what you need to know and then begin to apply it. Now, between the knowledge and application, something would have happened. You have become a different version of yourself because you must become rich to attract riches; you have to become wealthy to attract wealth. You also have to give it time because it is not a get-rich-quick thing.
Once you realise you know what you need to know and have become who you want to become, don’t be distracted by lack of results or physical progress because anything that will grow will first and foremost be planted. Everything you are doing, you are planting your efforts. Signs take time, but conviction must always be there. Just keep doing what you are doing; with time, it will show.
What advice do you have for Nigerians in respect of the country’s dire economic situation?
Don’t give up. It looks so simple, but when you see people committing or attempting suicide, it’s because of hopelessness. They cannot see light at the end of the tunnel. But there are many truths that life has made available to us that we don’t see. When there is life, there is hope. It takes a man that is alive to be tired. For you to be tired, you must be alive.
For you to be tired, you must not be mad; you must be able to understand that the situations are challenging. Those are already assets. For you to be tired, you should be able to compare your past and your present and be able to visualise that your future may not look like what you expect. It implies that there are a lot of faculties of success that are working for you. This is because to succeed, you need imagination, confession, and expectation. All these are intangibles that you already possess, but you are using them in the wrong direction.
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