State of the Nation
By
The state of the nation's economy is of grave concern to all patriotic souls in Nigeria. The country is virtually marginalised in the globalised world economy. The 1997 Budget declared that the economy was characterised by import dependence on a single economic sector, namely, oil; a weak private sector and dependence on foreign loans. In 2002 and three years in the fourth republic, the gloomy climate is still the same. The economy is still monocultural depending on crude oil. It is essentially import dependent and lacking in diversification. And the manufacturing sector is very weak. The value of the naira has fallen drastically from 1982 per US dollar in 1998 to N140 per dollar in 2002. The unemployment level, waste and corruption had peaked.
All these imply that Nigeria needs a radical and fundamental economic revival, failing which integration to the world economy becomes more difficult and
distant.
It would be recognised that the problem confronting the nation is much more than introducing economic policies. The economic environment must be immediately
conducive. With the rising tension and discontent in our environmentally ravaged Niger-Delta with the rising wave in violent homicidal crimes and incidents of
hired assassins with the growing discontent among the youths reinforced by violent ethnic militia groups, Nigeria scarcely presents an attractive investment
climate.
Further, domestically, all important economic agents must be carried along by the government. The days of economic policy dictation are over. It failed in
Eastern and Central Europe as well as in the former Soviet Union. The private sector operators, the intelligentsia, the trade union and the umbrella business
organisations must be carried along by the government, not only in policy design but in its implementation. It is a mistake for the public sector to see itself
as the only patriotic or knowledgeable section of the country.
A government that is determined to pull Nigeria out of economic marginalisation will have to do something radical and urgent about sanitizing the nation. It is
hard to know where to begin since the problems are overwhelming. But the government must begin from its sector by displaying integrity, accountability and
transparency.
The present Federal government has made privatisation the cornerstone of its strategy for economic growth, improved public services, job creation, and expanded
private and foreign investments. The Public- Enterprises (Privatisation and Commercialisation) Act 1999 has empowered the National Council on Privatization:
(NCP) to approve policies and the legal and regulatory framework for the privatisation or commercialisation of public enterprises. The Bureau of Public
Enterprises (BPE) is the secretariat of the NCP and is responsible for the implementation of the Council's policies on privatisation and commercilisation.
Already the Federal Government has scheduled certain very important public utilities such as NITEL and subsidiaries of NNPC in the down stream industry for
privatisation. These subsidiaries include four refineries; the Pipelines and Products Marketing Company Limited (PPMC); the Illeme Petrochemical Company Ltd;
and the Nigerian Gas Company (NGC).
The question on whether privatisation is appropriate at this stage of our social and economic development is a matter on which opinions are many. But they are
sharply divided. However credible opinion does not seem to be divided upon the fact that the privatisation exercise is lacking in adequate public participation
and transparency. There are serious allegations of insider dealings and participation. These are clearly capable of making the entire exercise void.
The rise in ethnic chauvinism since the coming into power of this PDP Government is a direct fall out for politics of exclusion and rejection. Tribalism feeds
on reprobate policy of my friends and cronies first and all others can follow if they can find the way. It is best epitomised in the style of Aso Rock as
glaringly shown in its Privatisation Policy especially in the case of NITEL.
Government cannot use political cleavages to kill these hitherto sufficiently efficient public utilities and companies only to turn around to accuse them of
sapping government funds through their uninspiring performances. Evidently the immediate implication of privatising the down stream oil and gas industry is the
Federal Government would now achieve astronomical increases in petroleum products in Nigeria. An exercise it cannot and may never achieve through the
representatives of the people of Nigeria in the National Assembly.
There are legion of economic strategies of broadening the nation's revenue base without crating further hardship on the already economically prostrate
Nigerians. Any government that comes into Aso Rock in 2003 owes itself and the International Community a duty to clean out the Augean stable of this
Privatisation ventriloquism.
In most developed economics, food production and technology had led to improved agriculture and food yield through the manufacture of state-of-the-art farm
implements, improve seedlings, chemicals and fertilizers. It has increased the efficiency of the preservation process and the general standard of living. But
unfortunately Nigeria has not applied herself dedicatedly to these things.
The political landscape today is very hazy. This arises from the problem of transiting from on civilian rule to another; coupled with the not-infrequent
tendency of the incumbent to block every possibility of peaceful electoral change to reflect the general and widespread shift in outlook and demand of the
electorate.
The state of the nation can only be measured by the standard of rule and misrule exhibited by a President whom we see as a person in charge. The President with
malice aforethought manipulates the legislative arm of government to commit a crime over the Electoral Act 2001 and himself suggest a clever by half defence of
the crime as the work of the Printers Devil. All these misdeeds are described by Aso Rock apologists as simply, mistakes associated with "learning process."
What a defence! Does it take a leader in the position of President Obasanjo up to three years to know that the Executive and Legislative arms of government
ought to respect the principles of separation of powers?
It is therefore important at this stage to alert the public now that the sundry contrivances associated with the present federal government are not unconnected
with a deliberate tendency to perpetuate itself in office. This ignoble journey began with the doctoring or unwarranted state-backed mutilation of the Electoral
Act as highlighted above. An event that ought to have prompted resignation from all those involved in the illegal and unconstitutional act. Another contrivance
designed to kill healthy electoral competition is the recent state-backed guidelines issued by Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as conditions
for the registration and recognition of political parties by it.
It underscores the level of disrespect for fundamental rights of citizens. These may well be initial steps towards one party stateism and perhaps
life-presidency. The plotters of this undemocratic contrivances assume that Nigerians are fools and suffer from what Dr. Aurthur Nwankwo describes as
"collective amnesia".
In a recent interview, Chief Gani Fawehinmi S.A.N. stated the position thus:
"INIEC is acting a script. It is acting a script given to it by Aso Rock because the President does not want any competition. He wants to go to the election as
a consensus candidate. He does not want any political situation whereby the Nigerian people will have alternative to him. So the issue simply is that PDP has
become a monster that wants to devour the democratic process of Nigeria."
Given the recent political events in this country, I have no reason to doubt or modify the above view. The scenario that is being replicated is that of the
courtiers who surrounded Louis XVII1 who inspite of the gory spectacle and traumatic experience of the time forgot nothing and learned nothing. The recent
confusion and litigation's relative to the conduct of the forth-coming local government elections are clandestinely instigated by elements in government who
know that the election would expose their baselines or lack of electoral base.
There is no doubt that the crisis of our modern nation-state is the crisis of identity and consciousness. The nationality-question is as imperative today as it
was three hundred years ago. The appeal to non-ethnic ideologies can work but only for a time. The present generation of Nigerians have come to appreciate
nation building only in terms of constitutional engineering and leadership declarations.
What is needed in Nigeria today is the amelioration of decades of national alienation and exclusion in order that a new nation of equal, creative and
responsible partners will emerge. A nation that would have a viable and responsive central government whose power potential and resource accumulation will not
threaten the ability of the federating units to discharge their constitutional obligation. We are working for a nation in which the traditional values and
functions reposed in central and state authorities will be restored, respected and honoured. What Nigeria in fact needs now is a federal government that is
fundamentally tailored to meet the challenges and expectations of Nigerians in this 21st century.
The time has also arrived for multiple handshakes not only across River Niger but also across Rive Benue. The Ibo tribe, to which I belong, must now draw their
sustainable identity and consciousness from the specificities of the Nigerian condition. I must point out immediately that recent avowal of Ibo ethnic identity
is not and must not be interpreted as a disavowal of the Nigerian State. What is needed is the conditioning of that identity in a future Nigerian setting in
favour of an all round group participation, sustainable economic development and social progress.
The future of this country lies squarely in a democratic possibility. Democratic possibility that does not lay traps and obstacles to free competition within
the electoral process. A possibility that emphasizes and ensures sanctity, sustenance and survival of democratic institutions and processes together with
respect for electoral mandates, social consciousness, and development in human capital.
August 2002