Ayo Akinola
24 July 2007
opinion
Lagos — Professor Charles Soludo's flawless rendition of Nigeria's quantum leap into global consciousness shows that if only Nigerians possessed the power of positive thinking the nation has the right fundamentals to leapfrog into one of the largest economies by 2020.
I do not have a problem with the power of positive thinking neither am I in doubt of Nigeria's capacity to emerge a front-line economy.
Indeed, if not for positive thinking, I would have been counted alongside the 17 million plus Diaspora-Nigerians that remitted the highest amount yet to their God-fearing, but poverty-stricken folks back home.
What I have a big problem with, are the right (I think he said strong) fundamentals Prof. Soludo spoke so eloquently about. That Nigeria has the fastest growing banking, telecoms & gas sectors, the most profitable capital market, recorded the highest forex reserves ever, sustained strong GDP growth and macro-economic stability, retained respectable country-ratings and is an expanding FDI-destination does not, in my humble opinion translate to the springboard that will propel Nigeria into the league of the largest global economies in 13 years time.
As these thoughts passed through my mind, I noticed Mr. President, who had just reiterated his core priority as the Economy to the power of three.
Previously, Mr. President had spoken about the private sector being the sole beneficiary of the current economic reforms and that as a payback, corporate Nigeria must invest in socially-responsible activities to pull-up the Critical Mass of Nigerians (CMNs). At another forum, Mr. President spoke about plans to institute a massive private sector-led micro-fund mechanism to trigger-off bottom-up socio-economic transformation. At yet another meeting, this time with NAPEP officials, he spoke on the need for a market-led approach to sustainably grow the agricultural sector. From these statements, I am not in doubt whatsoever about Mr. President's resolve to install a strong micro-economic strategy anchored on a virile power sector, revamped socio-infrastructure, pro-poor developmental goals, social welfare & economic security, food and health security, a proactive anti-corruption framework, due process and sustained peace in the Niger-Delta.
Herein lies my grouse with the Financial Systems Strategy 2020 or FSS-2020. This is also the problem I have with our world class rated banks and insurance companies that still cannot conquer their immediate environment; the problem I have with the endemic corruption in Nigeria, the copycat culture of corporate Nigeria and pervasive view that Research & Development is a drain on resources.
What Nigeria needs is a vision that would provide pro-poor solutions and the enabling framework to energise and propel the CMNs out of their current subsistence conditions. Perhaps this is what the National Think-Tank is all about but whilst we await the outcomes of their talk-shops, we need to go back to the fundamentals.
In addition to an all-encompassing pro-poor vision, we need to develop and deploy an all-embracing moral rearmament protocol to deal, with not only the disgusting level of moral decay, but also to commence a rational process of national value re-orientation and attitudinal change.
Coupled with the ongoing Heart-of-Africa project, the spin-off, I suspect would be the entrenchment of a new spirit of national consciousness to collectively re-dream Nigeria.
A Nigeria where there will be peace, harmony and equitable opportunities for growth and seamless access to developmental products and services, which would enable our younger generation, put their creative and entrepreneurial juices to work. To deepen the re-dream Nigeria project, activate the interest of Diaspora-Nigerians and sustain FDI inflows, Nigeria needs a culturally-driven carrot and stick governance mechanism that would reward or penalise public officer holders that surpass or fall short of electoral promises.
What derailed the implementation of NEEDS, which was roundly celebrated as an enduring homegrown solution? Yes there are pro-poor agencies; infact the problem is that, they are just too many.
The antecedents of pro-poor programs over the past 2 decades were that they failed, not due to the lack of content but largely because of incoherent objectives, defective implementation strategies, overlapping mandates, wrong customer targeting approaches and weak community ownership structures. At the last count, we had SMEEIS, SMEDAN, NAPEP, NDE, MFI-framework, Informal Economy Task-Team, Social Housing Scheme, NPC, BOI, NACRDB, Agric Credit Support Scheme, Agric Credit Guarantee Scheme, NEPC, NIPC, NISER etc.
As a matter of urgency, what we need is a coherent and holistic agenda with an accompanying framework for effective service delivery and robust ownership structures. The implementation should be driven by people-centered (or customer-led) visions, missions and goals to reach out to all segments (i.e. income brackets) of the CMNs-market for the payoff in enhanced CMNs-led loyalty, solidarity and electoral equity.
By the way, these are some of the key fundamentals that have sustained the growth trajectory of corporate Nigeria and in more ways than one, the impetus for the FSS 2020.
At any rate, to get to the Promised Land (in 2020), a good to place to start would be for the policy makers to truly appreciate the fears, concerns and understand the over-arching aspirations of the CMNs.
This can be achieved through a national Town Hall or Village Square Forum involving 4 representatives from the 774 LGAs. This should not viewed as an ALGON affair neither should we kid ourselves that the National Assembly (NASS) represents the collective voice of the people.
The composition of the delegates should be gender inclusive, apolitical and youth-driven comprising students, teachers, pensioners, okada and taxi operators, mechanics, artisans, market women, traders, farmers, nurses, unemployed graduates, Youth Corpers, physically challenged etc.
On the other side of the table, the public sector delegates should comprise Mr. President, Mr. Vice-President and executive council members. No kitchen cabinet, no state governors, no NASS members, no civil servants, no MDA-CEOs, no labor, no trade-network, no corporate Nigeria and especially no fanfare and frills. In the wake of renewed national values supported by the corruption deterrent mechanism, Nigeria may well be on the pathway not only to delivering on the yearnings of the business and credit 'hungry' CMNs; strengthening the foundational efforts of the past 8 years but also, building a robust economy that would ultimately foster the accomplishment of the shared objectives of FSS-2020 and Vision-2020.
Since government cannot be easily coerced by market influences, policy makers and managers of the economy need to be sensitive to the need to embrace and institutionalise sustainability, in all its ramifications. The establishment of a quasi-public agency to 'warehouse' all known and existing pro-poor MDAs would be a critical first-step to rationalising and perfecting the delivery framework.
With the right micro-economic and macro-economic fundamentals in place, Soludo may be right after all on Nigeria's trajectory into the league of the 20 largest economies by 2020.
Akinola, a consultant with Initiatives Consulting limited (ICL), wrote in from Ibadan, Oyo State
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