Nigeria’s economic malaise and the blame game

We believe the favourite sport of this administration – blaming of the previous government for Nigeria’s economic malaise post 2015 – has run its course. The government must now take the blame for Nigeria’s deteriorating economy and economic conditions in the country.

 True, things were bad in 2015 when this administration came on board, but we also note how the president missed the opportunity to capitalise on the positivity of the market that welcomed his coming to power, prevaricated and delayed unnecessarily in forming a cabinet or an economic team that will provide direction for the economy and negotiate with eager investors. This, coupled with the attempt at market controls led to the flight of foreign capital which, in turn, led to severe forex scarcity, inflation, depreciation of the naira and the first economic recession in Nigeria in more than 25 years.

 Much worse is the president’s lack of understanding of the workings of the economy and his dangerous preference for the dated ideology of state-controlled economy and a state-centric policy process. This can be seen in government’s retention of subsidy on petrol – which costs the country billions of dollars – the refusal to approve the privitasation of the nation’s dilapidated and perpetually non-functional refineries, the mopping up of funds from banks and their concentration in the Central Bank even when the economy needs revamping, and the attempt to set up a national carrier, national shipping line and other such relics of the 1970s and 1980s.

Interestingly, all these are happening at a time government revenues are rapidly declining. The result is that nothing gets done and debts keep piling as a result of government borrowing to fulfil its most basic responsibilities. The least the president should have done was to open up the economy, abandon his utter disdain for the private sector and private capital and aggressively pursue new investments to create jobs and expand wealth generation for the people.

This refusal to allow reforms and recognise the private sector as a worthy partner in development has cost and continues to cost the nation dearly in virtually all sectors of the economy. Three examples will suffice.

In the power sector, the president could have consolidated on the gains made by the privatisation of the industry by removing the arbitrary cap on tariffs, encourage gas companies to make the necessary investments needed to end the gas shortages with smart regulation, all of which will lead to higher power generation and availability to power economic activities. But no; despite its privatisation, the power sector is being bugged down by government over-regulation and tariff caps that discourages investment and continues to keep Nigerians in darkness.

 On roads, it was clear all along the government does not have the resources to fix all the roads in the country. The smartest thing to do on coming to power three years ago was to have identified key road networks across the country and build or fix them through concession. That would have ensured important roads in the country are all built with no cost to the government. But the government continues to discountenance the option of concessioning the roads while still being unable to do anything about them due to paucity of funds. The result is that most of the roads in the country are impassable and are at worst death traps that continue to claim the lives of hardworking and hapless citizens who have no option of flying like the president and his retinue of government officials.

Another key area that has continued to defy solution is the chaos at Apapa, which is suffering from the total lack of personal attention of a president who does not understand the importance of Apapa in Nigeria’s economic puzzle. The vice president has undertaken three helicopter shuttles over Apapa and each time has issued a raft of instructions to clear the roads. But, as usual, the problem remains and continues to worsen by the day. A serious president will personally supervise a 6-month rehabilitation of rail links to Apapa, which will mean that trucks do not have to come to a closed locale like Apapa if containers can be moved by rail to a remote place like Ogere where trucks can freely redistribute them.

It is unacceptable or even criminal for the government to continue to shift the blame for the dire state of the economy. It must fully accept responsibility for all the missed opportunities to reposition the country for growth and development.