Wanted: a ‘one-handed’ economic vision for Nigeria

OYINKAN MEDUBI

 

 

The fault of course would have lain in our failure to put the interests of the country ahead of our personal greed or regional selfishness. So, if this Chinese loan goes through, then the country might indeed be through, I hear.

 

I am sure I have told this story before but, since I unashamedly repeat my stories so that even the deaf can hear, I will tell it again. Once, in a faraway country, the CEO of a company placed an advertisement in a news organ that he wanted a one-handed economist. Not sure how to interpret that, most of those who applied did not quite know what to do with their God-given second hand at the interview. Finally, someone was picked for the job and he had only one question: why was a one-handed economist advertised for? The boss explained that he was tired of economists who, when asked to give an opinion on a topic, would go, ‘On the one hand …, and yet, on the other hand …’

I have come to the firm conclusion that everything in this life boils down to economics, yet I know so little about it. I do know though that human actions and inactions are invariably prompted by the all-important question: what will it profit someone who decides not to report for work? Thus, it is for economic reasons that I feed my children, greet my neighbor and generally obey traffic laws. It is also for economic reasons that floods happen, murderers and Nigerian politicians commit atrocities, and ants usually pull loads that are bigger than their weight.

Sadly, it is for economic reasons that Nigerian leaders have been mentally dividing up the country since independence because they have all not been speaking about the country with ‘one mouth’. Most, indeed, have been ‘two-handed about it’. ‘On the one hand, Nigeria’s good is our good, but on the other hand, the prosperity of the people I share language and culture with is more desirable.’ So, rather than speak for the entire people of this country, most leaders have been making weak pronouncements about the country in general and stronger ones about their separate regions. Thus it is that for long now, we have been hearing clearly these leaders tell the world how their regions are not benefitting sufficiently from the national largesse. These days, such pronouncements have even come to mean the individual’s desire for a greedy share.

For a very long time, the many voices coming from the north, south-east, and south-west (not to mention all the other norths and souths), have regaled our ears with how the interests of their regions have not been catered for. Occasionally, we have also heard them crying softly and moaning on and on about the teething problems their regions are having. Very occasionally, we have even heard them chastising their errant offspring for some un-filial behavior that is running counter to the interests of their beloved region. Yet, every day, many of us are engaged in actions that are simply not profitable to the country, and no one is chastising us because it’s the business of the nation, not the region!

This is why it is possible, I hear, for the political class (made up of politicians, governors, assembly members, and all other elites who can) to dip their long hands into the state treasury, scoop up large sums and transport them out of the country for investment purposes. Unfortunately, they are not investing for you, nor are they investing for your offspring or mine. No, dear, they actually have themselves in mind when they are investing in houses, hospitals, girls, and a little powder to sniff for relaxation now and then. Sadly, when things are sniffed, visions become misty and Jonny Nash’s song can be heard clearly: ‘I can see cloudily now…’

This is also why it was possible, according to a story (I have many of them), for some state executives in Nigeria to have established state structures – radio, TV station, etc. – with state funds and registered them in their own un-stately names. You see, they were and are that clouded in vision.

Clearly, people, we are looking into the dark glass where the truth is hidden in the black gloom. It can see us but we are so busy admiring our individual and regional images that we cannot really see who the prettiest figure in the room is. Let me tell you, the prettiest figure is a viable Nigeria where you and I and our offspring can grow. This is possible only if the people who should begin to speak for her instead of themselves or their regions. Believe me, no region can be healthy if the entire system is diseased.

There have been attempts, I know, to revamp the diseased system, but you will agree they have been half-hearted. Sometime ago, there was Vision 2010 when 2010 seemed like an eternity and would never really come. Sadly, it came, and the vision died with it. Then came Vision 2020. Perhaps, because it rhymed a little better, it dangled around like a carrot stick in front of a horse. Since the year of the horse is drawing to a close now, that vision has proved to be the gnat that will not be swallowed, only nibbled. Then came the seven-or-ten-point agenda that only the visioner could see mistily. And now, no one quite knows what to make of its existence: is it dead, or is it alive?

Visionless, the country marches on, hoping for some kind word from a tongue that cares for it. Unfortunately, that tongue does not seem to be coming from you or from me. Each of us seems to be more ranged to partake of the booty spewing from the innards of this country. The story goes of someone who was desperately critical of his boss for doing nothing but embezzling the funds meant for the running of the office. When our great critic got to the office, however, he proved to be worse than his former boss whom he had ridiculed out.

He embezzled more. That, unfortunately, is the story of this country: the story of economics. Every action can be weighed on the profit and loss scales.

I will end this piece as I started it. I need a one-handed agronomist who will deal with the termites and ants eating up my lawn, getting into everything, and even making away with my sugar. But what Nigeria needs is a one-handed patriot who will speak for the entire country, not just his region; who will take actions that will benefit the entire country, not just his region and who will please, in the name of decency, tell everyone of us to shape up or ship out.

Just this morning, I heard a discussion on the subject of a loan that our leaders are trying to take from China but which would involve them signing away the sovereignty of Nigeria. My immediate reaction was, are we still sane in this country? Is it because these present leaders were not involved in the fight for independence?

Most political leaders are expected to find solutions to the problems of their country that would guarantee the prosperity and most of all the sovereignty of their country. Our leaders since independence till now have done nothing but take actions or loans that sink the country more and more into the quagmire. They have cared nothing for the fate of present generations or generations to come.

The result is that many would-be great Nigerians have gone to their graves in despair, and unfortunately, millions more will be consigned to lives of grave poverty and great hopelessness. The fault of course would have lain in our failure to put the interests of the country ahead of our personal greed or regional selfishness. So, if this Chinese loan goes through, then this country might indeed be through.

 

• This July, 2011 article has been updated due to its continued relevance today, sadly.