Skip to main content

Nigeria’s economic recession: Matters arising


You will recall also that prior to the incursion of the military in to the governance of Nigeria; the south-east part of the country had the fastest growing economy in Africa, with the highest per capita income comparable to most developed economies of the world at that time. Igbo enterprise naturally stirred the hatred of the less endowed groups in the country. The Nzeogwu coup of January 15, 1966 would provide the perfect excuse for these mortal Igbo haters to label the coup an Igbo coup.

The outcome of this evil labeling was the implementation, especially in Northern Nigeria, of genocidal pogrom against the Igbo people. The resultant Nigerian-Biafran War was seen as the perfect opportunity to destroy the Igbo economy. The destruction of the Igbo economy was a major setback for the Nigerian economy. Irrespective of whatever anyone may say, the calculated decimation of Igbo economy created a gaping hole in Nigerian economy.

The conspiracy by the Nigerian state to implement the dubious indigenization decree immediately after the war was also intended to ensure the effective shutting out of Igbos from the commanding heights of the Nigerian economy. But as I have always said that any attempt to play ‘Things Fall Apart without Okonkwo’ is a futile attempt. The truth is that any attempt to build up the Nigerian economy, which excludes the Igbos will always end in failure. You can take this to the bank.

The relay-like liquidation of the Nigerian economy by the various military regimes up till 1999 would signal the final descent of the Nigerian economy into doom. In 1999, the PDP inherited an economy that was already gasping for breath and on life support. Apart from the manifest corruption which has defined leadership in Nigeria and from which the PDP cannot be absolved, we must give credit to the PDP for managing the economy to the point that the APC took over.

So the penchant by the APC to always blame the PDP for its numerous failures is untenable. I find it ridiculous that nobody around Buhari is courageous enough to call him to order. The problem actually is that many Nigerians have a mentality to indulge in the servile flattering, hero-worshiping and fawning of those in positions of leadership. For every person who emerges as Nigeria’s leader, irrespective of the person’s frailties and failings, there is always a ready army of sycophants, praise singers and political wheel-dealers. It is in this context that we can explain the dubious “Two-Million-Man” march of 1998 to “plead” with Abacha to transmute from military to civilian head of state. Today even with Buhari’s many foibles, stumbling and wobbling, we seem to learn nothing from history.

The tragedy of our existence today is that we have, for reasons of political expediency, installed a man who has no track record of managing an economy. And here, I want to submit that Nigeria’s economy is in recession basically because of the type of policies adopted by the Buhari administration. And I want to prophesy again, that if we continue as we are presently going, in the next couple of months, we will go into depression. The signs of depression are becoming more manifest now.

In truth, managing any economy requires visionary leadership. It requires a leader who is intellectually capacious and willing to take responsibility for the outcomes of his policies; a leader who is not vindictive and vengeful; a leader who is passionate; and not one who will declare his preference of “who gets what, when and how” on how people voted for him. We do not have to look far to cite examples of such leaders.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt of the United States of America came to power at a time the American economy was in depression. He had an idea of what to do to reverse the situation. Within the first 100 days of his presidency, he put together and passed through Congress an economic plan under the New Deal that included banking and financial reforms, civil and public work of roads, dams and other projects, and large-scale job and employment schemes.

President Barak Obama inherited an America with serious economic challenges. He came to power at a point the US economy was in a meltdown. His predecessor had gone into several wars costing the government billions of dollars. The industries were collapsing and recession loomed large. Obama did not sit idly by to blame George Bush. He got down to work. He injected stimulus into dying auto-industries, banking sectors, real sectors etc and introduced new economic regime that has come to be known as “Obamanomics”. Obama has been able to rescue the American economy and place it once again on the front seat of global economic giants.

To be continued
Dr. Nwankwo is Chancellor, Eastern Mandate Union (EMU), Enugu, Enugu State.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Home nations fined by Fifa over poppy displays

England have been fined 45,000 Swiss francs for several breaches of Fifa's rules about displaying political symbols, the sport's governing body have confirmed. The national team wore poppies on black armbands during their match with Scotland, despite being warned not to by Fifa, costing the Football Association just over £35,000. Prior to kick-off, both teams participated in a minute's silence and members of the armed forces lay wreaths. The Scottish Football Association and the Football Association of Wales have each been fined 20,000 Swiss francs (£15,692) and the Irish Football Association 15,000 Swiss francs (£11,769) for similar offences All of the associations were warned by to the World Cup qualifiers that they would be punished if they chose to ignore Fifa's regulations on the matter.     England has been fined CHF 45,000 for several incidents in the framework of the England v Scotland match, including the display by the host association, the English team and s...

Buhari confirms appointment of Niger Delta Power Holding’s CEO

President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the appointment of a substantive Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer and two Executive Directors for the Niger Delta Power Holding Company Limited (NDPHC). Joseph Chiedu Ugbowho was in an acting capacity is now the substantive Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the company. Others are Mallam Babayo Shehu, Executive Director (Finance and Administration) and Engr. Ife Oyedele, Executive Director (Engineering and Technical Services). A statement signed by Bolaji Adebiyi, Director (Press),Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, said Mr. Ugbo is a legal practitioner and infrastructure regulations specialist with extensive experience in electricity industry reform and privatization. “He has Bachelor and Master of Law Degrees from the University of Lagos and was admitted to practice Law in Nigeria in 1991. For over 15 years, he provided legal advisory services to public sector power entities including legal support t...

N’ Delta: How Adaka Boro was tried, convicted

Adaka Boro came into prominence in 1966 when proclaimed an Independent Niger Delta Peoples’ Republic with a flag and an emergency constitution. He paraded himself as the General Officer Commanding the Niger Delta Volunteer Force (DVS) and leader of the Liberation Government. Due to Boro’s intense agitation for resource control, it was learnt that he formed a band of fighters and allegedly trained them in the use of explosives and arms. Sometimes in March 1966, Boro, armed with a theory he called XYZ, declared Ijaw Republic thus: “Today is a great day, not only in your lives, but in the history of the Niger Delta. We are going to demonstrate to the world what and how we feel about oppression”. The activist and his followers also allegedly attacked a police station, blew up the armoury and took rifles and ammunition. They also reportedly blew up oil pipelines and engaged the police in a gun battle. Boro and two of his followers, Samuel Timipre Owonaru and Nottingham Dick were arrested ...