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.
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