The President and His Economic Indicators
By
I read with incredible dismay, the story credited to President Olusegun Obasanjo in a national newspaper of March
13, 2001 titled "we won't fix exchange rate." In the said story, the president was quoted as saying that the naira is
"gaining strength" due to his administration's efforts to broaden the productive base of the economy.
Now, I wonder where the president got his own facts from. In as much as one may not need to have an economist professor as our president, one
however expects that the president of a nation with over 100 million people, should comprehend and appreciate the bases and indices of
economic interpretations.
For President Obasanjo to claim that the naira is gaining strength, when in fact, it has lost over 60 per cent of its value to major international
currencies like the pounds sterling and dollars in the last two years of his administration is incredible. This is a disturbing fact which even
the president cannot wish away, with optimistic propaganda.
In spite of the president's penchant for loquacity, he, having been greatly humbled by prison experience, should not be a man to unduly propagandise.
But after reading his comments on the naira and the state of the economy, I am truly convinced that the president is clearly ignorant of what is going on in
the economy. His audacious optimism, against the backdrop of the harsh economic realities Nigerians have had to endure since he assumed office, will
only be believed by a cabinet of fools and fraudulent advisers.
The president's expressed opinions about broadening the economic base is shamefully contradicted by the bare fact that the Nigerian economy thrives on
importation and therefore needs a stable currency, which is clearly not available in the declining nature of the naira.
Again, one wonders how the president can claim that the productive base of the economy is being broadened, when in fact, all the necessary vectors and
ingredients are lacking.
It is possible that the president's statements are echoes from the days that greeted his ascension into power and indeed, he is still basking in those warm
halcyon moments. The harsh realities of today, speak a different language and there is a gradual, if not overwhelming believe amongst the people, that
Nigerians have lost hope in President Obasanjo's ability to fulfill his electioneering promises and indeed achieve the so-called economic miracle which he
promised Nigerians in 1999.
To watch the president globe trotting and blaming the regime of the late General Sani Abacha for Nigeria's woes to anybody who cares to listen, is indeed
begging the issue. The very fact that the international currencies are almost 100 per cent higher than what they were when General Abacha was still
alive speaks volumes on its own.
At 17 per cent inflation today, President Olusegun Obasanjo must be employing hocus pocus economic indicators, to score
his regime high. This position is unacceptable to Nigerians and the earlier the government stops this deceitful propagandizing and settles down to the
business of shoring up the comatose economy, the better for Nigerians who have greatly been disappointed and disenchanted by this present regime.
December 2001