Nigeria’s general election as a variable in SMEs development equation

Nigeria holds general elections every four years, and before you say Jack, it is another election year. These elections are very important, at least for the political organization of the country. Besides, they create opportunity for the citizens to evaluate their leaders, with regard to their election promises, and to re-elect or reject them and elect new ones. That, at least in theory, is the ideal behind elections, and it is up to the electorate to maximize the gains of the opportunity or waste it. As to how well the Nigeria electorate have used the opportunity, we leave that to political analysts, and we have many of them.

Most election days are work free days in Nigeria, and that is the part that creeps near to the concerns of this column – implications of frequent work – preventing elections that compound the worsening condition of the poor. For some reasons, government bans anyone from engaging in their lawful socio-economic activities on election days. Nigeria is one of the few countries in the world where this is still being practiced for every election. Even state governors who, rule for eighth years without elected local government chairmen, now declare work-free days on the eve of their departure in order to hand-pick local government helmsmen, who will help them rig elections and become problems to the incoming government.

People are prevented from going to work or doing their legitimate businesses because they cannot be trusted to be of good behaviour on election days. Well, the authorities may be justified to take radical measures in a country where ballot boxes are still being carried away by thugs and criminals; where election umpires are so partisan that their members do the bidding of their chosen contestants by forging results in favour of some parties.The authorities believe that one sure way to rid the streets of criminals and overzealous party faithfuls, who might foment trouble, is to compel everyone to sit at home on election days.

The implication of the “no work” order is that the machinery of work, revenue creation and the making of livelihoods is put on hold. Contracts are freely breached and incomes are lost. The fact that people are forced to stay indoors becomes a good excuse for people to shirk their responsibilities. Without doubt, the loss to the nation is extensive. Unfortunately, the burden falls more on the poor and less privileged members of society, who go out each morning to write their own pay cheques. A day out of work means so much to them and their many dependants.

In a hand-to-mouth economy like Nigeria’s, with more than half of the over 180 million people living below the poverty line, it is callous to prevent daily paid workers from earning a living because government says they should do nothing but vote for politicians. Even more caring governments, like those in Europe and America, which pay unemployment allowance to their people, do not make such demands of them. Granted that so many things could go wrong if the no-work order is not implemented, the point is that the elections do not benefit everybody equally for all to pay a uniform personal price for it. For the politicians who win, a new day dawns in which public treasury will, in one sudden afternoon, transform and become private property for one man to dispense without recourse to anybody or law. That is worth everything imaginable. But for the poor voter, say an okada rider, a taxi operator, sellers of perishable goods in the local market and itinerant labourers, it is total loss. Many of these people actually do not come out to vote because they are busy managing their deteriorating wares that could have been sold on the election day. So it is not totally correct that compelling people to stay off work makes them come out to vote. Some are home licking their wounds.

Microenterprises in Nigeria, which according to the SMEDAN, make up 36.9 out of the total of 37million MSMEs in Nigeria as at 2013, and producing about 50 per cent of our Gross Domestic Product, are at the receiving end of almost everything wrong with Nigeria. The worst is that quite often, after all the sacrifices, the poor wake up to find that they never voted for the man that won. Some have actually argued that the no-work order is a ploy to free the roads, nooks and crannies of the country for politicians to freely rig elections. This may sound extreme but not completely outlandish. After all, those sitting in the comfort of their homes, even after voting, are not going to be around to make videos and take pictures of security operatives and INEC officials who have serially been implicated in election malfeasance.

We have signally overlooked the impact of elections on the welfare of our people. Not only are available resources moved away from MSME-related activities to politics thereby creating a draught in other sectors, governments often stop making payments to contactors, sometimes more than one year to the elections. All resources being saved for politicking and its attendant vices, including vote-buying, kidnapping and sundry violence.

Perhaps, we could find some creative ways of mitigating the losses suffered by the citizens each time they vote. Some have talked about the huge sums we expend in organizing elections and insist that these are monies that could be used to provide infrastructure but are wasted on elections that hardly bring mush change to their lives. Others think that the elections come too closely because of the four year terms. Over the past several months since political campaigns began, the most patronized business has been the art of begging. The number of calls, which local philanthropists receive have multiplied.

So much has been written about the challenges facing small business in Nigeria; lack of access to finance, hostile policies like multiple taxation, difficult operating environment bereft of functional facilities, fraud (sometimes official) and insecurity. So much has also been done to improve the environment though with minimal success. In considering setting up a small business in Nigeria, factors outside the control of the entrepreneur are overwhelming. How to incorporate the frequent election disruptions in Nigeria into the challenges facing small businesses and find mitigant is a community service we need not delay any further.

Emeka Osuji