Reforming or deforming the economy?
By Salisu Na’inna Dambatta
Whenever most analysts, alarmists and polical elite speak of extremists or extremism, they limit the notion of the terms to individuals whose conduct is generally guided by an undiluted respect and fear of the Almighty God and practicing the tenets of their faiths in full.
However, there are extremist leaders and technocrats in governance around the world who impose policies that are extremely far right or excessively far left. Invariably the extreme policies squeeze out millions of citizens of such countries from the economy..
Nigerian leaders of the First Republic chose a middle way for nurturing the economy. During the administration of Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa from 1954 when he first became Prime Minister to July 1966, Nigeria’s mixed economy was growing steadily. The leaders then leaned a little to the left and a little to the right.
It was so good: as the economy grew, government was truly serving happy citizens. Government borrowings were modest and tied to real projects for the well-being of all citizens.
What is the situation in Nigeria today? It is not a hate speech to describe the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu as lacking empathy with the citizens. It is totally out of touch with their feelings, or the economic and social pains inflicted on them by the economic deformation being hyped as economic reformation.
The supposed economic reform and the accompanying policies are literally killing citizens in silence as pointed out by former Head of State, General Abdulsalam Abubakar.
Everyone in town knows that the reform has deepened poverty in the citizenry throughout the country. The hyper hike in the consumer prices of essential foodstuff, transportation and fuels namely petrol, diesel, cooking gas, firewood and charcoal have pushed many Nigerians into penury.
The very high price of energy has forced members of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) to spend over N238 billion on alternative energy sources in the first six months of 2024. This has raised their cost of production, which is passed down to consumers thereby fueling inflation
Some public universities have been disconnected from grid electricity by the Electricity Distribution Companies (DISCOS) because of huge unpaid electricy bills. The same fate may, sadly, befall other Federal Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) owing the DISCOS huge electricity bills.
The Head of the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency (SMEDAN), Alhaji Badamasi Barau affirmed that over 130 million Nigerians have been pushed into poverty by the economic challenge.
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), and the World Bank jointly found out that food scarcity, insecurity and high prices have made over 65 per cent of households unable to afford healthy meals. Peasant farmers are selling farmlands to feed their families.
“There is a need to address the major economic challenge which has pushed over 130 million into poverty,” Barau pleaded in a paper he presented at the 21st Productivity Day in Kaduna.
One way of addressing the economic challenge is for the government to muster courage and political will to blunt the sharp edges of the IMF-inspired policies, or more usefully, terminate the policies altogether.
Instead of doing that, the administration has further devalued the Naira by pegging its exchange rate at N1,650 per USD in the 2025 draft budget. This will make the importation of all goods, services, industrial raw materials and equipment costlier, especially for the relatively tiny and tottering manufacturing sector.
The deeper devaluation of the Naira proved that the government has no empathy with the citizenry and is insensitive to their dire economic and social situation.
Even the far right operatives at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have admitted that the economy is stuck.
While presenting the IMF Annual Report in Lagos recently, Catherine Patillo, the IMF Deputy Director confessed that economic growth in Nigeria this year “is expected (or is it engineered?) to remain stagnant.”
Salisu Na’inna is an APC chieftain
