Nobel laureate, Prof Wole Soyinka raised the noise level of the economic crisis, when he recently called on the federal government to convene an emergency national economic conference on possible solutions. That was when he paid a courtesy call on the minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed in Abuja on Thursday, February 18. Reportedly President Muhammadu Buhari had agreed to the singular request of Soyinka with a tentative date of March 10 and 11 (as uncertain as today’s interbank rate value of the Naira!).
Another conference on the economy? Is Nigeria a debating society or expectedly a functioning productive economy? Don’t get me wrong please. It is certainly commendable that President Buhari plans a national dialogue on the state of the economy. There have been considerable murmurs on the free fall of the Naira, sharp drop in crude oil prices with feverish diverse calls for economic diversification as if it is just for the asking. However the point cannot be overstated; Nigeria and Nigerians seem to be conference-fatigue or better still another summit-weary. Many conferences with thousands of un-implemented recommendations have turned Nigeria into a huge debating society. 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic (as amended) envisages Nigeria as a functional productive economy NOT as a debating society. The Fundamental Objectives and directive Principles of State assert that the primary purpose of government shall be the security and welfare of the people. Nigeria has never been short of conferences, summits and debates. On the contrary, Nigeria parades bagful of summit reports.
Almost all the reports and their recommendations are gathering dusts in Allah-knows-where.
As desirable as the proposed dialogue is, the President must ensure it is all inclusive to include the working people, organized labour in particular. What Nigeria needs is a national consensus on the economy not another elite consensus that has proven to lead to nothing in the past but sheer corruption and persistent underdevelopment.
To this extent as demanded by the Nobel Prize winner, Wole Soyinka, this dialogue must involve all stakeholders with organized labour represented by the NLC and TUC, manufacturers association, MAN, NECA, women groups and youths among others.
The proposed dialogue should not be about reinventing new measures but on how to implement existing tons of policy measures already gathering dusts. It’s time to implement these reports and recommendations and move Nigeria from potentials to its actuals in terms of development and prosperity. President Buhari must also urgently send his economic teams to the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS) Kuru, Jos and draw on thousands of policy recommendations and implementable strategies on the economy. President Buhari should be encouraged to implement some of these reports and recommendations.
The key to Nigeria’s development lies in industrialisation. It is wrong to pitch oil and gas against non-oil sectors. We should get out of the unhelpful binary oil/non-oil sectors. Nigeria needs all sectors through value adding activities. Oil and gas must be run as manufacturing value adding sectors not as extractive enclave just as we must add value to cotton, cocoa and timber. It’s time to re-industrialize Nigeria. And there cannot be industrialisation without electrification! I remain ever excited by President Buhari’s commitment to revive the textile industry. All the administration needs is to immediately implement the Robust Recommendations of the 2015 Cotton, Textile and Garment (CTG) policy. Some of the Key recommendations include the followings; Energy Supply – Between 30% and 35% of Textile and garment manufacturing costs are energy related expenses; therefore, without addressing the industry’s energy needs, the Nigeria CTG sector simply cannot develop.
Secondly let’s stop the mass smuggling: Nigeria needs a presidential task-force made up of Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment (MITI), Budget Office of the Federation (BOF), Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Standard Organization of Nigeria (SON), and Manufactures Association of Nigeria (MAN) to confiscate goods Smuggled into the country. Fourthly, let’s patronize locally produced. All military and Para-military agencies and Government schools are to purchase only Nigerian made textile and garments for their uniforms once the requisite standards are met. In addition, the private sector (schools in particular) should be encouraged to source their materials locally.
Lastly let the President’s investment campaign tours start at home. In a globalized world, Nigerian President cannot afford to be insular. President Buhari’s globaltours are certainly understandable. However while appreciating the foreign trips, the President must see foreign trips as complimentary to the much needed governance/investment tours at home. While eyeing foreign investments, lest we forget that we have a lot of idle domestic investments at home. Seeing is believing; the President, governors and ministers of trade and industry must see the exiting idle investments in all the industrial estates in major industrial cities like Kano, Kaduna, Lagos and Port Harcourt with a view of reviving the closed industries and creating mass jobs for millions of unemployed youths.