Is the economy in good shape? Permit me to air my views on the topic: Is the economy in good shape? Recently there has been an assertion that the economy is in good shape to which I wish to express my opinion. I wish to state categorically that the economy is not in good shape based on the following reasons as a layman. Firstly, this erroneous impression that a growth in GDP automatically means translation to national development does not hold and is therefore fallacious. Hence there may be a growth without development. This is because inequitable distribution of the national income impoverishes the larger part of the population to the advantage of the few privileged people at the helm of affairs as is the case of Nigeria. For instance government recently made public that it was going to start paying over 800 billion naira to a privileged few oil suppliers while not long ago it blatantly refused to fund its agreement with the university academia. Similarly, while the members of the national assembly and the executive enjoy a jumbo pay the rest of the citizenry is left with peanuts and what more to battle with the removal of minimum wage from the exclusive list of legislation. In the United States where the finance minister spent most of her life where there is a somewhat equitable distribution of income and as such, with $50, one can fill his refrigerator with sufficient food and keep himself filled for nearly a month. The same amount cannot be said to hold similar value here and that is while a measure of beans in Bodija market can skyrocket from 250 to 550 naira within a month attributable to security challenges in the north. Incidentally, those to which this inequitable distribution of income and resources favour do not feel the pinch of market forces as they are buoyed by sufficiency to withstand inflationary threats in the long run. More so, if there were to be a cursory look at ownership of houses in Abuja for instance; one would appreciate even better the lopsidedness the unfair distribution of income has bequeathed on us. Secondly, unemployment is still very high and the country is in for it for the worst. Yard sticks such as insurgency in the north, oil theft in the Niger Delta, internet scams popularly known as yahoo yahoo, kidnapping, armed robbery, prostitution, human trafficking amongst others are indicative of the parlous state of the economy. In addition, the army in the north east recently pleaded with the state governments there to offer the civilian JTF job opportunities for their patriotic roles in curbing insecurity, to which I also suggest the formation of a federal anti-terrorism agency to absorb them. These are signs that the job are not there nor is the economy in good shape. Thirdly, industries that should add value to our raw materials, generate employment and boost the value of the naira are not there to come by or rather scanty. Nigeria still imports refined petroleum products as well as other goods and services which create offshore jobs to the detriment of the economy. The agricultural sector requires more processing and packaging industries but what we have instead are cargo terminals being built to take our raw materials to other lands where the value will be added and returned to us as finished products as if the experience in the oil industry is not enough. Fourthly, inflation and interest rates are still high to the disadvantage of the ordinary man and small scale local investors. Medical tourism and student adventurism in foreign lands is the order of the day. This is because the health and educational sectors are poorly funded even as students who represent the future are not entrusted with study loans to be paid when they secure employment after graduating from college and universities. The rail system that should boost jobs, movement of people and heavy goods in a growing economy is struggling and slow. I conclude by sayings that ask the ordinary Nigerian how s/he is faring and the response would be that: ’’I am managing’’ or ‘’we are coping’’. These and many others are signs that the economy is anything but doing well. Therefore more needs to be done for the economy to thrive for all to be happy and not necessarily following theoretical standards sets by forces from outside the country. Emmanuel Tyokumbur. Department of Zoology, University of Ibadan. 07041466464 (Text only)
Posted on: Sat, 05 Oct 2013 17:40:32 +0000
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