Poverty generators and the challenge of microfinance in Nigeria (3): Poor national strategy
In keeping with its enduring interest in the welfare of the less privileged in our society, and the active poor in particular, this column continues to search for solutions to the challenge of poverty in Nigeria through different means. Recently, we began a process to clearly identify and isolate the forces, institutions and phenomena that we consider highly culpable in pushing the people of Nigeria into poverty. The idea is that those who do not know “who or what is doing them” as they say in local Nigerian parlance, will always wrongly blame the gods and their innocent ancestors, while the real enemy coasts to victory. And we had made the point that fighting poverty without addressing the root causes is a waste of time and resources.
A certain bird, in Igbo mythology, appealed to hunters from a certain community in that part of Nigeria, who regularly begin their day with the hunt for birds and animals for food, and who had graciously excluded this bird from the list of edible birds and animals. He told them to be kind enough to always name the creature they are pursuing in order to save him from the life threatening race for life (Osondu), which he runs whenever the villagers shout “catch him catch him”. According to the bird, it is foolhardy to stand and watch when one hears the sound of death, which has no friend in town. Identifying the creature in pursuit of which the hunter is engaged will not only ensure that the only creature on the run are the edible ones, it will also sharpen the hunter’s focus and killer instincts. So it is for poverty reduction strategies like microfinancing.
Our first finger-pointing was at the political system or form of government adopted by Nigeria. We posited that the current form of government, which ensures that those who win political office become unaccountable emperors, focused either on their re-election, political survival and how to perpetuate themselves in office, will deliver nothing to the people other than poverty and misery. A political system based on first world superstructure but anchored on the substructure of a “fourth world” is bound to deliver nothing except failure, poverty and enhanced inequality. And such a system can never improve as those who are supposed to improve it are the core beneficiaries of its failings and the main culprits of its failures. The national and state assemblies are perfect examples. These institutions will and have never made or repealed any law in the interest of the people except those from which they currently benefit or hope to do so in future. The examples of this failure are legendary.
We also note that the present Presidential system of government does not fit our level of political development. It does not fit our low national financial capacity and it cannot deliver with our present preponderance of strong men and absolute lack of strong institutions. An environment in which the body language of individuals, rather than the spirit of the law, determine whether laws are implemented or left in the law books, is contrary to the original idea of the presidential system, with the enormous powers it gives to individuals. Its inherent assumptions that those in whom power inheres will be forthright, knowledgeable, fair and just,are completely at variance with the character and expectations of those that often emerge as leaders in developing countries like ours.
And those features are not a Nigerian thing that one could say do not exist elsewhere. Far from it, even in the United States, from which we copied,but wrongly pasted, that system of government, people are still characterised by the evils of selfishness, greed and other vices we have here today. However, in the presence of a functional criminal justice system that guarantees justice to all, and strong institutions that control office-holders (not the other way round) and ensures that social justice is done to all, intractable challenges arise. We do not have such a system yet and so there is plenty of opportunities for the advancement of personal rather than national interest. This is why all the bad laws in Nigeria will never be repealed as long as the interest of the lawmakers are served by the laws as they are. That is why no single political officeholder can be recalled by his constituency, governors can impeach their deputies in a matter of minutes and it stays, and such.
Another poverty generator in Nigeria, which we finger today, is the absence of an implementable national growth strategy that harbours a true desire to ensure that the developmentplans we drive are rooted firmly in our own grounds. We may have developed very smart Economic Recovery and Growth Plans (ERGPs). I think the present one has garnered so much accolade from many quarters (including economic experts from quarters where the language of economics is not fluently spoken), with only very few and lonely dissenting voices like that of Bill Gates (who by the way knows much more than all the crowd of self-appointed political economists we consult here). We may as well and therefore desist from whining over what is wrong with any plan, whatsoever, and make meaningful suggestions about their success.
However, what beats many observers, including friends and foes of Nigeria, is that we still do not realize that this economy cannot grow on the basis of officially sanctioned Consumerism and unbridled appetite for foreign goods. It is sad that we do not see anything wrong with unrestrained adoption of free trade as a development strategy when we have nothing to sell. Even those that drive the selling end of international trade now speak in terms of the defence of country a la Donald Trump and his well-received America First philosophy.
The hopes of many for a quick return to national pride (after all the lost years of Ajaokuta and the Russian fraudof a Still (for Steel) Manufacturing Plant), and the promotion of domestic productivity, which is no longer a thing to be ashamed of given what America and the Europeans, Chinese and Russians are currently doing, were recently dashed. This happened when the present leadership, arrow-headed by a highly conservative man, continued the promotion of frivolous importation against domestic production, while at the same time launching SME Clinics around the country.It looks like the government was cowed by the massive criticism of its erroneous ban of certain imports from FX allocation at the start of its life.
Our trade policy and spending profile ensures that nobody takes Nigeria seriously abroad. For starters, how do we explain the resort to the purchase of astronomically expensive and exotic cars, such as Range Rovers, Lexus SUVs, Land Cruisers and Cadillac Escalades, mostly armoured, for the officials of all governments in Nigeria, including those owing one year salaries to workers. This is even more inexplicable when we realize that Peugeot Automobile and Innoson Motors, among others, are being encouraged to pursue a National Automotive policy to develop a Nigerian car. Perhaps, this tells one where the ERPG is likely to be headed. It’s sad and most unexpected that a country that can easily fall in and out of depression because of minor shocks in the oil industry does not realize the economic implications of national financial strategy that is practically bereft of thrift. Nigeria’ Sovereign Wealth saving is now about $2billion compared to over $1trillion saved by Norway. Stock fish has suddenly become a bigger money spinner than oil! Recall the attitude of the governors to this savings scheme. Consumerism will always strip a country naked and leave its people poor.
Emeka Osuji