Between economic inclusion and urban renewal in Imo state

Last week, we put out the first part of our thoughts on the factors militating against our evidently failing efforts to bring more socio-economically marginalised members of our society into the loop of economic prosperity. The technical and somewhat trendy term for that process is Economic Inclusion. To be economically excluded is to operate outside the life-sustaining circle of economic activities within one’s community, state or country. It is to lack the capacity to exploit economic opportunities around one. To be economically excluded is to be disempowered or disabled, such that one is incapable of participating in the economic mainstream of one’s environment. It is actually similar to being disinherited, whereby a child is prevented from participating in the assets of his parents, for reasons external to him.
A major source of economic exclusion is Financial Exclusion – the whole complex of people not having access to financial services. When people do not have services such as bank accounts, mobile money and POS services, loans, advances and such, they are financially excluded. It is difficult to escape economic exclusion if one is financially excluded. This is more so in the current digital economy where cashlessness has become the vogue. Many Nigerians are financially excluded because they do not use banking services. Lagos alone accounted for over 51 percent of all POS transaction in 2016. Some are too scared to use such services while others are not even aware of them.
The need to financially empower the poor has informed several policy measures on the part of the federal and state governments. One of such policies is the Microfinance Policy introduced in 2005 – the International Year of Microcredit. The objective of the policy was to find ways of canalizing financial resources to the economically active poor members of our society to combat poverty. Currently, there are over 1000 microfinance banks in Nigeria with this common objective. They were licensed to lend to the poor, especially those that have microenterprises in need of finance but have no collateral to secure the loans. Government has continued to promote and strengthen the industry by introducing reforms in both instruments and systems. A system of deposit insurance has been extended to them in order to boost depositors’ confidence while training, certification and environmental improvement policies have been implemented. However, the regulators, the CBN and the NDIC, waste no time in weeding off weak operators from the industry.
Unfortunately, many of the microfinance banks that failed did so because of the high rates of Nonperforming Loans (NPL) plaguing the industry. Bad loans deplete the capital of these institutions and make them unable to contribute to the financial and economic inclusion agenda of government. In that manner, they may end up contributing to the problem instead of providing solutions. And this is where the recent events that took place in Owerri and some other towns in Imo state come to focus.
The Imo State government recently demolished one of the biggest and, probably, most strategic markets in the state – the Eke-UkwuOwerri Market. This was said to be part of the plan of the state government to implement its urban renewal programme. The demolition of this market generated so much bad blood between the state government and the citizens, particularly the indigenes of Owerri, so much so that several legal actions were taken to prevent the demolition. Eventually, the market was demolished allegedly while a valid court order restraining the government from carrying out the demolition persisted. Owerri people were protesting the demolition while bulldozers went on rampage bringing down stalls. By the last count, a young boy was allegedly shot and killed by security operatives while protecting his mother’s shop. Indeed, it is said that several other strategic markets have either been bulldozed or slated for demolition, by the RochasOkorocha administration, to make way for the beautification of the cities, including Isinweke at Ihite/Uboma and the popular OrieAmaraku in IsialaMbano, said to have already been demolished.
Urban renewal is an important strategy to improve the living conditions in cities and permit the upgrade of infrastructure to meet the rising population and demand. Without attempting to compare Lagos and Imo, because they are light years apart in every circumstance – quality of leadership, finances and future expectations – urban renewal is an on-going activity. In its quest to create a mega city, Lagos is expanding its roads, building new cities and creating infrastructure. This has also led to the demolition of some markets, including theAlade Market. However, there is need for serious caution. Demolishing several markets at the same time in a state like Imo, where there is hardly any functional industry and unemployment is epical, will surely worsen the current high rates of poverty and insecurity in Imo – an economically fringe state like Imo whose finances are poor and poorly deployed.
But this mass market demolition is not exactly out of character with the current administration in the state. We recall that the Rochas Administration embarked on the construction of elaborate gates to decorate untarred streets in every major city on its arrival. Most of those gates were not completed as cronies took off with advance payments. Then several roads were bulldozed for dualization, leading to the demolition of houses allegedly belonging to political enemies. Most of those roads were never revisited after the bulldozers left. Sacking traders from several markets at a time like this can only be voodoo economics.
According to investigations, about four thousand traders were displaced in Eke-UkwuOwerri. If we estimate that each trader supports four other persons, we have 16,000 livelihoods destroyed. Imo state has been very unsafe lately. Kidnapping has been a challenge in the state lately. A reverend father who came to bury his father was recently kidnapped and murdered. Add Amaraku and Isinweke, with at least half the number displaced at Owerri, you have disaster conjured by government. To cap the disaster they face, the traders were shown some bush at Ohi in Akwakuma area to clear and build their shops if they can. In retail trade, shop relocation is often disastrous; it is one-way ticket to the village or the nearest teaching hospital for dialysis. If this is not terrorism tell me what is. It was in sympathy with these miserable traders that Nigeria’s acknowledged technology guru, Leostan Eke, donated N50m of his own money to the trader to see how they can rebuild.
Meanwhile the fate of the microfinance banks that have been funding the traders in these markets now demolished hangs in the balance. Some of them also had their outlets in the demolished markets. Already loud sounds of distress have been heard among them. Some of the traders are said to have run away while others are battling various health challenges, occasioned by this heart-rending experience. The financial inclusion programme, already beleaguered by insecurity and recession, is about to witness its final stress test as microfinance banks brace up for loan delinquency and depositor antagonism. Perhaps, the NDIC should be looking at its deposit insurance fund.
The level of heartlessness we see in governance in Nigeria can only produce the kind of peace we have now – peace of the grave yard. Whoever advised these demolitions in an economy whose exit from recession is still disputed; in a state from a zone second only to the North-east in the absence of federal projects must be an enemy of Nigeria. These two zones are the most deprived of federal attention and the hotbeds of national disquiet. If Gov. Okorocha had fulfilled his “Job, Job, Job and Factory, Factory, Factory” campaign rhetoric, these Imo IDPs would have had hope. It doesn’t appear that any factory is about to be commissioned as the administration winds down. Imo should be better!

Emeka Osuji