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Nigeria: Reflections - Copy, Beg Not China
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Daily Trust (Abuja)
OPINION
3 March 2008
Posted to the web 3 March 2008
Issa Aremu
President Umaru Musa Yar' Adua has just concluded a four-day state visit to China. This visit has once again brought into sharp focus SINO/Nigeria relations with more eyes on Nigeria's balance sheet, (ever in the red!) than China's accounts (ever in surplus).
Development observers agree (and they now say so openly) that there are three global development challenges in the new millennium. The number one development challenge is China. The second development challenge is China. And the third development challenge is China. If China intrigues and confounds global development observers, it is certainly understandable why Nigeria has been striving to come to terms with China. No country has recorded remarkable rapid economic ascendancy in the past 25 years like China.
With 1.5 billion population and consistent 12% growth rate in the past 3 decades, China has shown that huge quality human resource is indeed an asset and not a liability. China shows that development process is NOT a zero-sum game in which growth is traded off for jobs and in which few are well-having and many lack basic well being. China shows that the issue is not extractive resources (China not an OPEC member) but value additions and manufacturing (China has more functioning oil refineries than Nigeria!).
China shows that growing the GDP does not mean pushing mass of people into the margin of mass poverty. On the contrary, China is perhaps the only country since the great Industrial Revolution that has combined consistent aggressive industrialisation drive with high growth rate side by side with full employment. China makes nonsense of neo-liberal/ textbook received wisdom about jobless growth. We can indeed have job-led growth, China proves that. China has shown that addressing production issues is not mutually exclusive from confronting poverty and coming to terms with distributional issues. While many sub-Saharan African countries, including Nigeria have pushed millions into poverty due to IMF inspired "reform" process, (SAP) China is the only country that has recorded the largest reduction in poverty in history in recent time. Indeed it has lifted as many as 250 million people (twice the population of Nigeria!) out of poverty.
In international trade, China's goods and services rule the world such that the new America's Cold War with China is about articles of trade rather than weapons of mass destruction.
Precisely because the challenge of China is about growth and development, no serious Head of government of a developing nation goes to Beijing without talking development. It is therefore not surprising that President Yar' Adua made major development pronouncements in Beijing (even though many observers would prefer such pronouncements on the floor of national assembly at Abuja if only to keep our legislators busy beyond "overseeing" oil revenue sharing, sorry, (budget debate)) .
Once again President Umaru Musa Yar' Adua has shown that energy is central to his 7-point agenda. In far away China, he disclosed that his administration plans to increase the country power generation by March next year. The government, the President stated, would make outages a thing of the past by the year 2011 to "successfully fast-track our economic growth". To this extent he welcomes the Chinese investors who want to partner "on the use of coal, as we explore all possible sources for additional power generation".
By the way, it is instructive that Yar' Adua's engagement with Hu Jintao was on development compared with his engagement with George Bush which was pointedly and one-sidedly about American strategic calculation on oil wells protection in Africa (remember Africom!). Also when compared to his predecessor's (President Obasanjo's) engagement with Switzerland on Abacha loot, it is self evident that the difference is clear with China which is not yet notorious for looted Africa's fund.
The critical question however, is how do we translate speech making about development in Beijing to practical developmentalist steps in Abuja? What should be the content of SINO-NIGERIA relations such that Nigeria will be one of the leading 20 economies of the world, which in any case China is?
Yours sincerely is excited that President Yar' Adua called for the setting up of "a mutually-beneficial strategic partnership with China". This is a radical departure from the slavish/unequal relationship with China during Abacha and Obasanjo's era and the attendant scam (remember fake Railways deals!) and rot (ask NAFDAC about Made-in-China fake drugs).
Beg Not China but copy China! Notwithstanding development gap, Nigeria has a lot in common with China and indeed could be another China, just as China used to be like Nigeria. Nigeria is the most populated country in Africa just as China is most populous country in Asia as well as in the world. In development parlance we are talking of two largest markets in the world. But while China is one huge working and productive house, Nigeria is yet to be unbundled to realise its potentials as it is weighed down by consumption and idle capacity.
Paradoxically the two countries are undergoing reforms. But while China's reforms are delivering on promise, Nigeria's reforms are far from the expectations. This is where Nigeria can creatively copy China. Yours sincerely recommends for President Yar' Adua Joseph Stiglitz book: Globalization and Its Discontents, (in particular chapter seven).
President Yar Adua should appreciate how China's reform has delivered prosperity compared to how Russia's reform (read: Nigeria) has promoted despair. Stiglitz, the Nobel Prize Winner in Economics shows that the strength of China lies in its home grown policy initiatives. China just like Poland ignored the so-called Washington Consensus (devaluation, uncritical privatization, trade liberalization, removal of subsidy etc) as promoted by IMF and the World Bank and went for creative alternative local policies that reflect national priorities. China employs "gradualist approach" to reforms compared to "shock therapy approach" of Russia which uncritically privatised public enterprises without addressing fundamental issues of goods and service delivery. China built democratic mass support for reform agenda not through election riggings, political thuggery and mass unemployment as in Nigeria OBJ's era.
On the contrary China shows that stability, political unity of purpose and common wealth (as distinct from private aggrandisement and corruption) are indispensable to reform agenda. China also has negative (not just zero) tolerance to corruption (it engenders capital punishment in many instances). Lastly the point cannot be overstated that China appreciates the imperatives of labour-intensive industries for a populous nation. Nigeria is boastful with enclave sectors like Telecoms, banks and oil and gas but the labour absorption is therein insignificant. On the contrary China holds on to textile and agricultures where millions are employed.
What is good for China is good for Nigeria; macro economic stability and protection of domestic market. The issue is not to be romantic with China but to use the President's word, be "strategic" with China just as China has been strategic in its dealings with Africa. President Yar Adua seems on top of the challenges of China when he reportedly said; "Given their unique respective geo-political statures, Nigeria and China have a duty to mutually reinforce each others' growth and development.
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Our administration is greatly encouraged by the fast-tracked economy development that China has achieved, which has made her the world's fastest growing economy and greatly enhanced her influence and stature in the world". Good luck Nigeria.
Anyone who claims that there has not been a tremendous increase in the marginalization of poor in China, with disparities between rich and poor growing daily, has either never been to China, or when they went never left their hotel room. I found many statements in this article almost offensive--the development issues are vastly more complicated than this. But interesting comments overall.
The disparties between rich and poor are growing larger, but the poor in China is not marginalized. It is like the rich is doing better than the poor, but the poor is still doing better than the poor before. How dare do I make such a claim? It is because I grew up in China and my father is from a village in the countryside. I remember that there was no paved road to our village, no electricity, and no telephone when I was young. Now the village has them all. Young people now go to... [Read Full Text]
No matter who we as Nigerians copy or what we copy from them, the important factor in the growth of our nation will still lay in the hearts/hands of the people(Nigerians).
One cannot hope for growth and forward movement when majority of the people still believe that the only way to move forward or get ahead, is to cut corners.
Next, we need to realise that China's economic growth came at a very costly price. let us ask ourselves: 1. How many people lost thier farmlands to socalled development projects e.g Condominiums or shopping malls?
2... [Read Full Text]
My uncle has three sons but only one was willing to continue farming. Why? It is because one can earn much more in the factories. A lot of farmlands are idle because no young people are willing to farm. Also in China, no one owns land. Land belongs to the Nation. It is a socialistic country, remember? If people are not going to use the land, they get compensation and move on. What's wrong about it? Chinese people have collective minds so historically a lot of infrastructure can be built with collectively effort: Great Wall,... [Read Full Text]
Yes, I quite agree with you that a virulent form of apathy is rife in Nigeria and that it may be at the root of corruption and under-development.
What is equally true is that people are not coming together to share ideas and to find common solutions that will address their plight. Maybe the hunger pangs are too great and that most people can barely afford to look farther than the next meal. In which case, we will have to wait until the political ("thiefing") elite have had their fill and the crumbs start falling to the common man... [Read Full Text]
This is an excellent text Issa Aremu. These days the more I read and listen to comments on the Nigerian issue it strikes me that there is a mammoth crowd of Nigerian intellectuals both here in the diaspora and at home who have the answers to the Nigerian problem but what consistently bothers me is why they are not in the legislative houses or in govt. Why have these places been left to thugs and cake sharers? Why have those who have the answers chosen to legislate on the pages of newspapers and television screens? Who will do... [Read Full Text]
My broda dem go kill us if we come!
The comparison between nigeria and china is a fair. hoewever, it stops at love of a motherland. Nigeria citizens need to love this country of ours. you know, love of country will mobilize our citizens to resist the dishonest attitute to daily activities of life. REMENBER one thing. not matter how influential or rich one is, your children will some reap the fruit of your corrupt act. directly or indirectly.
People come to china for 4 days and depart with totally wrong views,Of wanting Electricity over a night,Transportation in the next an hour and the most worrisom SUBWAY over a blink,A country with not up to 10000 megawatts ability is dreaming of metro,A country that Government has no say in land distribution is dreaming of metro.You are just making we that we live here in china a laughing GOAT because everybody knows its impossible even in the next 30 years.Our president knew some of the reason he came to china for are just impossible because all of chinese business class... [Read Full Text]
Akin China, God bless you for your view. I know some of us are patriotic about Nigeria. Until we start Nigerian Technology, Nigerian fabrication and Nigerian engineering home made ones, we will forever rely on others. Civilisation is a product of technology. Some chinese are worse than some Nigerians, the only difference is technology. Also the thirst to see other countries respecting the Chinese made the government to spend almost all the avilable money on technology like the $56 billion military budget for 2008.There will be little left for corrupt guys in china because the government want all available money... [Read Full Text]
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