During the recent official visit to China by President Bola Tinubu, he addressed Nigerians living in China (on the sideline). Speaking about a country of his dreams, he painted a picture of a stable and predictable environment that is conducive to both domestic and foreign investment.
Addressing Nigerians, he spoke about how Nigeria can leverage some aspects of China’s development model to nurture its growth.
China’s discipline, rigorous adherence to laws, strong work ethic, discipline and commitment to national service are fundamental factors and qualities that Nigeria (citizens, businesses, and government institutions) should copy in order to achieve rapid economic transformation and progress. As good and as highly motivating the message from Mr President was, one needs to ponder how the Chinese could come about these glowing qualities and why it is difficult for Nigerians to build or seem not interested in cultivating the same attitude and patriotism.
Nigeria is currently estimated to have a population of over 228 million people and one can safely say that only the Abuja politicians are mouthing patriotism. Not a few Nigerians had been disappointed about the country’s situation and circumstance. The situation is so terrible to the extent that the national assembly was thinking about a bill to enforce a patriotic disposition before the bill was killed or stepped down. But for Mr President to make a move towards making his economic vision a reality, he needs a trip back to when and where things go bad with Nigeria’s economy.
Before the curse of military intervention in 1966 and the crude oil yoke that came heavily upon Nigeria in 1973, the regional governments were building their respective economies and moving at their respective developmental paces toward making life more meaningful for their people. Every region was making good use of the resources that God had blessed it with and no one was relying on the federal government for handouts. As the military truncated the working arrangement for a pluralist country, the oil boom and sequence of global oil price increases in 1973 led to the abandonment of productive activities in the hinterlands and influx of rural people into the urban centres. The rural-urban migration and stagnation of agricultural production and the country’s inability to export commodities as it should.
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By 1975, Nigeria had started importing rice and other basic commodities to meet domestic consumption needs. Even attempts to stimulate domestic production, such as Operation Feed the Nation (OFN) introduced by the government of General Obasanjo failed. Everybody wanted a cut, anyhow, from the oil money from the centre. The military incursion and destruction of regional governance marked the beginning of anyhow governance in Nigeria.
In a true federal system, decisions that bear direct effects on day-to-day life and living must be made much closer to home. It is not possible to improve the economy without first improving democracy. The probability is very high that economic reform will fail if political reform is not first taken into consideration before embarking on economic reform. You cannot separate the economy from the political, the two cannot be separated from each other. Politics is the foundation on which the economy is built upon. Re-introduction of civil rule in Nigeria failed to recognise the plurality of the people and the return of the country to status quo ante. This has caused a decayed economy, a monumental disappointment and a serious let-down.
Since 1999 when the fourth republic started, what Abuja failed to acknowledge is that the economy cannot work so far it holds the yam and the knife, an aberration in a truly federal system. This is a military way of doing things that they refused to throw away. In the clime where Nigeria copied the federal system of governance, there is a way the political economy operates. In the US, each level of government provides many direct services.
The federal government is responsible for national defence, research that often leads to the development of new products and spending that have significant direct effect on local and regional economies. The state governments, on their part, are responsible for the construction and maintenance of most highways, playing leading role in financing and operating public schools; while the local governments are responsible for police and fire protection and the states and local governments embark on activities that affect and stimulate their local and regional economies.
USA keeps urging their governments to remain true to this original system of federalism where the states and localities play a prominent role in setting policies that affect the economy more broadly. If this is the case, one should ask where Nigeria got her own type of federalism or what manner of system of governance is she practising? China, where President Tinubu just returned and spoke glowingly about, operates a system that recognises the need to decentralise by having local administrative regions for economic growth and effective governance. The Chinese government mobilises, organises and manages its national economy through both central planning and decentralised intra-national competition among local administrative regions.
The examples of the USA and China above lend credence to the fact that economic reform cannot work without first the political restructuring. President Tinubu should face this fact and initiate immediate political restructuring of the country in a way that will return the economic development to the people. Though democracy is being mouthed, the politicians that had seen how the military’s unitary system ran roughshod, through their very remote, top-down and centralised activities are not willing and are not ready to let go the resources that were hijacked to the centre. But for as long as this aberration is sustained, whatever economic reform being carried out remains a mirage. President Tinubu needs to limit his messianic reforms, most importantly political restructuring, to this four years. The future is dotted with uncertainties.
. Emmanuel is a business planning consultant and founder of Leacent Incorporated Trustee, a network of entrepreneurs and group of cooperatives. He works with a team of international consultants to conceptualize and plan agribusiness and housing projects. As a certified trainer authorized to use the International Labour Organization’s enterprise development modules, he trains entrepreneurs and organizes workshops and seminars for potential and practicing entrepreneurs as well as business managers and cooperatives. He also speaks and facilitates at leadership and management workshops on invitation. His book, Business Planning Made Easy: Step by Step Guide on How to Turn Your Idea to Profitable Business’ is the latest of the books authored by him. Telephone: +234(0)9068602954 (call and sms), +234(0)8023257707 (WhatsApp only).
