“Capitalism tries for a delicate balance: It attempts to work things out so that everyone gets just enough stuff to keep them from getting violent and trying to take other people’s stuff.”? George Carlin
Our attempt at using import substitution industrialization to jump start local economy/manufacturing has been thwarted by rent seeking capitalists who are more concern with economic gains and profit margins derivable from government waivers than the establishment of any reciprocal benefits for the larger society via industrialization that can create a sustainable wealth for the greatest good of the greatest number of citizenry.
I have read so many articles online with attention seeking headlines (argumentum ad populum) shouting about the economic direction (less) of the present administration in Nigeria, that one begins to wonder whether there is/are magic solution(s) to the myraid of economic disequilibrium we are experiencing in a mono-culture economy like ours that is contingent on a simple commodity “black gold”.
What we have presently are 170 million Nigerians and equal numbers of economic analysts within a dysfunctional economic paradigm post independence coupled with a coterie of self-aggrandizing pseudo experts claiming omniscient panacea to the economic doldrum we created for this nation because of the unbridled consumption cum planlessness tied to economic policy somersaults predicated soley on importation of disparate junks from different parts of our human universe.
The most disturbing is the condescending and uncouth mannerism in which adjectives are used to describe those handling or superintending the economic team of the present administration as if they are novice, unprofessional laymen not conversant with the fundamentals of economic management.
I beg to disagree with the above view point because the economic team as presently constituted are doing exactly what they should be doing to get the Nigerian economy out of the woods, there are no magic bullets anywhere within the stratosphere of economic management unless we are delving into the realm of mythology.
The concretization of epochal economic methodologies in influencing economic results are subject to vagaries from the production and non-production economic stratosphere coupled with the imperfections and uncertainty of human agents, that anyone claiming to have a panacea an absolutist solution that would deliver results in the shortest possible time-span must be a magician, such a person(s) deserves a Nobel Prize in Economics.
The economic conjectures presented by those with critique of the economic team as presently constituted and those critics aptitude to finding solution to our prevaling ecomonic problems in my opinion has no justifiable empirical grounding. Let them show us achievables or milestones that would be realize given their theorization within 6months of its applicability.
They need to manifest the materiality of their discourse because it is simplistic to theorise but the praxis of such theorization within an economic stratosphere that is filled with imperfection ceteris paribus shall reveal the folly of absolutists economic mythology.
“The laws you see today are a direct consequence of economic illiteracy in the general population. If every voter learned economics tonight, the laws would changetomorrow.”? Ben Mathew, Economics: The Remarkable Story of How the Economy Works
The world is in economic recession as we are all aware and Nigeria’s situation is not “peculiar” but what is particularistic about Nigeria are the facts that our economic fundamentals are derelict, absurd and bankrupt but these have nothing to do with this present administration rather more with a long history of neglect, economic mismanagement, corruption, policy failures and somersaults of previous administrations.
The situation in 1999-2007 cannot be juxtapositioned comparatively speaking with what we are experiencing presently economic phenomena wise given the bastardization of Nigeria economy by the Jonathan administration in the period 2007-2014.
I am not speaking for the @mbuhari administration but anyone who is a good watcher of Nigeria economy must understand that we cannot fix the economy in one ”big sweep” rather we must tread with caution in other to avoid ernomous dislocation in the economy.
“Great leap forwards in mankind do not take place because of the economic values we place on them. They happen because we strive to do better and to be better. The sooner we break away from the ‘if it makes money it must be good’ mentality the better off we all shall be.”? David Alejandro Fearnhead
Some people might argue that economic dislocation has already taken root but I disagree given the fact that most people who lost their jobs are mostly people without structurally stable employment history or rather unemployables without basic skills or outdated skill sets. Anyway this is not the subject of this piece it is a subject matter for another article.
Those expecting magic/people with unrealistic expectations must tarry a while because economic management of a prostrate economy is not for the faint hearted, this is a long winding road to Kilimanjaro.
No single individual or groups of individuals have an absolute knowledge or a panacea to the resolution of Nigeria’s economic problems, Let those who think they have something to contribute write or put their views in the public space, they don’t necessarily have to be in government to participate in the development of Nigeria economy and democracy.
“Oil may run out, liquidity may dry up, but as long as ink flows freely, the next chapter of Life will continue to be written.”? Alex Morritt, Impromptu Scribe
OTUNBA ADE ILEMOBADE is a philosopher
Twitter: @pearl2prince
