Destination unknown

By

Kofo Awosika

A new concept has emerged in discourses on the nation's political economy problematic. It is called "democracy dividend". Like its over-used predecessor, poverty alleviation, it is used loosely in every seminar, sidewalk, canteen and mechanic workshop. It is used with the same level of intensity by politicians, unionists, patriots, smugglers, pick pockets and the never-do-wells. By expecting democracy dividend, those who attempt to ideologise the concept mean that they expect the gains of democracy to manifest in the lives of Nigerians. Ostensibly, they are not referring merely to human rights, but to development, poverty alleviation, provision of needed infrastructure and general quality life for all. The tragedy of these expectations is that they might have been misplaced, and end in frustration, because they are akin to dialling a wrong number. Democracy has never claimed to be, and can never claim to be the automatic propellant or catalyst to engender development. Only good governance can. Yes good governance! There are malevolent democracies as there are benevolent dictatorships. Russia under Boris Yeltsin was a democracy, but governance was appalling. It was anti-people. Quality of life of the citizenry was appalling. Corruption was as endemic as it was fashionable. The welfare of the vast majority was of no importance to the ruling elite and their cronies. Ditto for Indonesia under Suharto, and even Wahid. Nearer home, Togo is a democracy, as are Zimbabwe, Zambia, and Kenya and other places where democracy has failed to yield desired dividends. Meanwhile, good governance has improved the quality of life of the citizens of Botswana and Gabon (irrespective of their meagre resources), Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Saudi Arabia not to mention developed countries where citizenship means life abundant.

We drift in Nigeria, because there is no blueprint for development. Governance is not about making speeches and vowing to bring prosperity to all and sundry. Good governance entails planning and implementing pro-people projects, that will impact positively and add value to the lives of the people, majority of who suffer deprivation in one form or the other; not implementing the ideology of the ruling elite, and creating dynasties of past public figures and their children.

Good governance will improve the standard and quality of life of the citizenry. Public infrastructure must function to enhance the efficiency and productive capacities of all the sectors. The informal sector comprising the artisans and self-employed entrepreneurs constitute a major category in the economic landscape of this nation. The hairdresser must have light to ply her trade, as needs the welder, the barber and the tailor, the washman, the radio/television technician. These are crucial isolated pockets of family income generating potential. Their contribution to the country's GDP is vast; but the significance of this sector is underplayed in economic considerations, as is the plight of pensioners.

At the macro level, industrialisation is the powerhouse of growth. It is the foundation on which development must build, and from which it must rise. This nation has been in the throes of underdevelopment because of insincerity on the part of its rapacious previous rulers, inefficiency and massive distortions and inconsistencies in government policies. When we over-depended on commodity exports we were at the mercy of importers of our farm products, who convert the farm products into finished products and export them back to us. First, we had no control over the prices at which our commodities were bought from us, and secondly, we had no control over the prices at which the end products get sold to us. Suddenly, we became over-dependent on oil, with its attendant distortions and contradictions. We became a nation mired in "false consciousness." Dual economies emerged as did compradorisation, especially the tribal version. Much money was in flight, to import inanities, and all that came in was from oil. The nation began an economic drift to nowhere. In desperation, we turned to import substitution industrialisation with its attendant contradictions: complex, capital-intensive industries highly dependent on imported raw materials, at high costs; low to zero efficiency and little or no value added; import licence scams and the rest. The end result was that our products became expensive relative to international pricing. Add this to the influx of foreign, even sub-standard goods. With no protective tariffs, these industries could therefore not compete in the international markets. When foreign exchange became scarce, the first casualties were these industries. The next reaction was export-led industrialisation of semi-processed agricultural goods. Facilities made available to finance the establishment of these industries under MEXIM failed to yield the expected dividends, as cost overruns rendered most of them unviable. Funds diversion could also not be ruled out, and the high offshore components of the facilities rendered them unattractive. Many of the companies set up under the scheme died premature deaths.

Presently, we do not know what the industrial policy of the nation is. The last one we are aware of was published in 1988. Even then, these past efforts were reactive, rather than proactive, devoid of long lasting projections, monitoring, dedication and contingency plans. Neither do we have an economic policy or blueprint for these critical periods. It is inconceivable that we shall still be relying on the mono-product economy of oil. There is need for a comprehensive blueprint, in the manner of development plans, to chart the course of the nation's plan for a specified period of time. We are told that the Vision 2010 report is comprehensive and should form the bedrock of future plans to re-engineer Nigeria. It should however not come as a surprise if that report is discarded for another one invoking a future date. We moved from something by 1990 to housing and health for all by the year 2000, and now to Vision 2010. Nigeria's future would appear to rest permanently in the future.

There is no health policy, neither is there an education policy. All we know is that government and workers in these two key sectors are at loggerheads. It was unheard of in the past for teachers and doctors to embark on strike actions. This unfortunately is the extent to which we have drifted. The educational system has collapsed. University libraries lack books and journals, their laboratories lack equipment; research and teaching facilities are decayed, if not extinct. University lecturers who mould the future of nations get paid pittance, where illiterate councillors are paid jumbo salaries, well beyond their absorptive capacities and imagination.

The wealth of nation is in their human capital. The world has shifted attention to the tragedy of underdevelopment in Africa, and one of the key parameters of development is the human development index. Africa is home to the highest number of poor people in the world. The world's largest number of non-literate peoples live in Africa. It is the continent with the highest number of AIDS afflicted people in the world. Africa's refugee population is the highest in the world. When human capital is left undeveloped, like millions of students agonising and wasting away in the face-off between government and their teachers, or left to die off in the face-off between government and doctors, such a society cannot be said to benefit from good governance. Where is the joy of service when pensioners who spent their youths in the service of their fatherland are treated like dogs? It is little wonder therefore that, following the principles of hedonism, the pleasure-pain principle, people want to ensure that their future and those of their offspring are secure. If in the past, the average civil servant could live comfortably well, educate his children, build a house and buy a car, all from his remuneration, while today's civil servant cannot hope to have one satisfying meal from his salary, the next best option is to engage in irregular and unorthodox survival strategies.

The very rich people in our society are very selfish and less generous than the very poor. Where Bill Gates is donating millions of dollars to relief, development purposes and combat diseases, our own very rich compatriots are busy, engaged in useless, ego boosting ventures that add no value to the life of the disadvantaged. Neither wealth nor influence is as important as service to mankind. The joy of existence should be in adding value to the lives of the helpless and vulnerable in the society. Nigerians are now scavenging dustbins, but there is nothing in the bins, because nobody is leaving any leftover from their tables. We are particularly irked by uncomplimentary developments in the country today. Instead of allocating funds to revive our health sector from its present state of stupor, allocate funds to the education sector to keep the restive youths adequately busy and free from mischief, allocate funds for science, research and development, improve the physical structure of our cities, fight violent crime to a standstill, what we see are obscene, like the construction of a stadium in Abuja, when the existing ones in Lagos, Ibadan, Kano, Port Harcourt and Benin are neither fully utilised, nor maintained. Some have found alternative uses as churches and meeting places for social undesirables. We note with dismay, the arrogant display of positions by office holders, from local government supervisory councillors, to officials of the legislative houses, ministers and sundry position holders, the most obscene of which is being played out in Ekiti and Ondo states, where the wives of local government councillors and legislators are respectively spending public funds on obscene "courses" abroad, when we are witnessing retrenchments, hunger and a general decline in the quality of life. The over N150 million involved in the obscenity would have been enough to set up a couple of resource-based cottage industries in some local governments in the states, and not less than 100 people would have been gainfully employed, with the attendant multiplier effect on each beneficiary household. To spend N10 on a public project and N20 to advertise it is an attempt to zombify the populace, with the active connivance of some significant others.

One begins to wonder whether public office holders know the import of good governance. It is very doubtful if they have learned or forgotten anything from the past. Nigerians may be slow to react, but they are not stupid. Please legislators and office holders, this is a plea to be sensible. Frustration-aggression theory states that delayed gratification causes frustration and frustration causes aggression. There is apathy on environmental degradation. Tinubu Square used to be our own Trafalgar Square, with the water fountains and pigeons. Today, it is a refuse bowl square. Abuja, meant to be a model city is fast turning into a ghetto of sorts, and nothing is being done to arrest the decay. Our currency notes, the most visible symbol of the nation, after the national flag live a tattered existence. Dirty and mutilated, they harbour millions of pathogen, which they spread to the populace. Scientific findings show that our currency notes contain tuberculosis, and diarrhoea germs, fecal and typhoid bacteria among other disease causing agents. The admonition for banks to sort their currency notes appear to be ignored, as millions of the dirty and disease ridden notes are still in circulation. Otherwise healthy individuals contract diseases from the currency notes. No good government will allow its citizenry to suffer debilitating health on account of avoidable circumstances. Leadership and follower-ship complement each other.

Research findings confirm that the Asian countries enjoy development in part, because multinational companies site industries in the zone, because it has a repertoire of cheap labour. Labour is equally cheap in Nigeria, but no multinational organisation will come here, because people die daily from violence. Children are orphaned, wives are widowed, and brilliant and promising lives cut short, for no reason, except that they are Nigerians living in their fatherland, working to make their nation grow. Those who are not killed surrender to the stress and trauma of such violent attacks for a long time, if not forever. Their health become damaged from the resultant phobia and fear induced hypertension. It remains a puzzle why the Nigerian government is unable to protect the people it governs. Very soon, there may be no one left to govern, after a substantial part of the populace might have been eliminated in violent circumstances. Those alive, and who could flee are fleeing; many more will still flee, while those who cannot afford to leave will continue to live in fear. How long shall we have to suffer these uncertainties and indignities? People were elected to form government that will cater for the needs of everyone of us; but who benefits? Definitely not the people. There is anomie in the land.

There is fear on the part of government and the citizenry. There is uncertainty. We wonder where we are headed for. We thought we would be moving forward. It is however very clear now that we are not sure how we are moving. Our destination is unknown. Future?... Probably short.