THE CAUSES OF OUR NATIONAL MALADIES ARE ESSENTIALLY ECONOMIC; SOCIALISM AS PANACEA TO THE CURRENT PARAPHERNALIA: i feel lugubrious and exasperated when watching Nigerias capitalist elites donating cash at the PDP fund raising dinner in Abuja.these economic demons are the major problem we have in this country because whether or not we succeed in achieving our aim depend solely on the thoroughness with which we are able to remove the basic causes of our national ills and the extent to which we resolve from now on,to steer clear of those causes and tread a new path of national sanity and rationality.our national maladies our essentially economic.it is important that we find the right solutions for our economic problems or else we would not succeed in solving our political and social problems.In Nigeria Socialism is a much misunderstood,much misrepresent and much dreaded socio economic philosophy. I have heard it said in responsible quarters that socialism is a dangerous and pernicious foreign doctrine and ideology.it is time we realise that the supreme aim of socialism is social harmony via social justice.it is time we realise that socialism advocates equality among all men and women.it is time we realise that the most powerful, economically dominant class becomes also the politically dominant class and thus acquire new means of holding down and exploiting the oppressed masses.it is time we realise that socialism is the solution towards having a better and diversified economy.socialism is the solution to balancing the interest of the masses and elites and make Nigeria a social haven.it is time we realise that the critical size of the public sector necessary for effective planning is usually defined as a requirement of concentrating in the governments hands the so called commanding heights of the economy because the history of planned economic development cannot be successful unless and until the commanding heights, that is,basic industries,transport,communications, banking and finance,petroleum and power distribution sector are in the public hands.if a developing country wants to engage in effective economic planning its public sector has to embrace certain strategic spheres of economic activity.otherwise there is a serious danger that its planning remain mainly on paper.with the current situation in Nigeria where few capitalist elites exploit us to their private advantage and use their gargantuan revenue to expand their business and political agenda through the sponsoring and financing of candidates who later dance to their tune when elected.is this how we want to continue?we need to realise that unemployment breeds fraustration, resentment and anti-social tendencies;that poverty breeds envy and hatred of the affluent,antagonism to the society at large and rebellion;that disease breeds inertia,complete lack of enthusiasm,fatalism and dynamism;that ignorance breeds misunderstanding, promotes oppression and exploitation and eventually provokes, violent social clashes. Nigeria need to transform itself rapidly in to a modern economy.the world offers two kinds of solution for all economic problems.they are the capitalist and the socialist solution.capitalism which is our current economic system promote greediness,naked self interest,utter disregard for the interests and rights of others,destructive competition, opposition to any form of innovation,control or planning.It is generally agreed even by its most faithful advocates and devotees that the one and only motive force of capitalism is naked self interest and one of its essential characteristic is impersonal group loyalty.wherever there is capitalism then,unabashed group loyalty reign supreme;greed dominates the hearth of men whilst mutual and destructive antagonisms put on the cloak of orthodox business competition.the capitalist system extols the law of the jungle.we have all learnt that in the jungle only the most cunning,the most brutal and the most ruthless can exercise unfettered freedom and flourish.furthermore, in all its history, the capitalist system has never consistently redounded to the benefit of the common man.and in countries where it is practised,it continues to generate political instability,economic crisis,social upheaval,the rich becoming richer while the poor becoming poorer and it promotes the coexistence of extremes of affluence and poverty with all their attendant ugly repercussions.a system which has all these incurable evils is too bad and dangerous for Nigeria And Certainly does not deserve to be accomodated.i could now quite rightly take the validly logical position that by the elimination of the capitalist system,we are now inescapably left with the socialist type of solution.as i have said before,socialization or the public control of the commanding heights of the economy is a sine qua non of socialism but there are a number of practical problems of a technical and political nature which can beset socialization.in tackling this,the government need to mobilize a capital formation worth 68 billion dollars to pay compensation which will be due to foreign and local investors in the country,on the nationalization of their enterprises.it is my considered view that if we manage our fiscal and monetary affairs with prudence,honesty and due sense of patriotism,we can raise this amount of money within a reasonable period of time and the second is the efficient management of the nationalized enterprises.as regards nationalization,it must be the resolve of government to Nigerianize such enterprises completely and at the same time maintain and improve upon the existing standard of management and control.this is essential if we are to avoid the gross inefficiency which now characterises and plagues our statutory corporations and state owned companies.in this regard the first thing to do is to endeavour to ascertain the causes of failure in our public enterprises and remove them.in my view,there are two causes for the notorious performances of our public enterprises,all of which fortunately are curable and preventible. firstly,it is common knowledge that,as a result of nepotism, favouritism, extreme partisan politics,bribery and corruption,a good number of those who are appointed in to the senior category of high level employment in public enterprises and in the civil service have neither the academic nor professional competence,nor the experience nor the qualities,requisite for their assignments.it is well known that many of these people would not have been appointed in to equivalent posts under alien private management. the same evil forces which were responsible for wrong appointments in to the senior category of high level posts were also responsible for deliberate over capitalization of our public enterprises.these defects can be cured and prevented.there is the need for radical re-organization and improvement in our existing public corporations.the executives/managing Directors should be appointed based on their expertise and requisite qualifications.there is also need for re-education and re-orientation of all public servants.
Posted on: Sun, 21 Dec 2014 13:26:43 +0000
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