The recent LEADERSHIP awards lived up to its billing as a gathering of stars. It provided a platform for the cross-fertilization of ideas. As is to be expected, some of those ideas were dripping with controversy, resolution of which could provide answers to some of the nagging questions around policy formulation, execution and governance as a whole.
The keynote speaker, Professor Kingsley Moghalu, at the well-packaged event, roiled the hornet’s nest when he said that the nation’s economy was in distress. Erudite as ever, he interrogated the intellectual content of some of the key policies of the Ahmed Tinubu administration the lack of which made otherwise good decisions look not well-thought through. He cited the withdrawal of fuel subsidy, the floating of the nation’s currency, the late appointment of the Governor of Central Bank and the composition of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC).
In his opinion, the distress in the economy will take between three to five years to get out of. The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Alhaji Mohammed Idris, who represented the President at the event, could not wait to present what he called right of reply. First, he disagreed with Moghalu that the economy was in distress even as he agreed that the nation was passing through challenging times. In the opinion of the minister, all that will be through in the next one year as against the three to five years the keynote speaker gave as the exit time.
But, in the opinion of this newspaper, the disagreement between the two on an issue as serious and fundamental to the welfare of the people as the health of the economy, is not as important as the fact that they both accept that there is much work to be done if the nation must get itself out of the present hardship the citizens face.
Whether the economy is in distress or is passing through challenging times means nothing to the ordinary Nigerian in the street who, on a daily basis, goes through the rigour of coping with an economic system which price mechanism has been so frustratingly dollarized with all the socio-economic implications. The medium of exchange, the Naira, is almost rejected by the ruling class, a bad behaviour that is putting unbearable pressure on its value as a result of the preference for other currencies, especially the dollar. At an exchange rate of about N1,500 to the dollar the semantics of whether the economy is in distress or passing through challenging times is outrightly inconsequential, totally irrelevant.
It is on record that security of lives and property is becoming a matter that requires divine intervention. This is so because the authorities, that is to say, the ruling political elite and their counterparts in the security agencies seem to have run out of ideas on how to check effectively the level of criminality that has become a scandal, an affront to peace-loving Nigerians and an embarrassment as a result of the international odium it is attracting.
It is also on record that food insecurity is threatening the lives of many, pushing Nigeria, already classified as the poverty capital of the world, to the threshold of hopelessness, helplessness and despair. There is the argument that it is not just about food scarcity but also about the cost of it. Whichever is the case, the reality on ground is that most Nigerian families are finding it exceedingly difficult to feed themselves. They are not bothered about what the situation that gave rise to this is called – distress or challenge. What they expect is a return to normality in how they live.
We point out that the energy sector is floundering. And that is being charitable. Electricity is in short supply to put it mildly. Other sources of energy supply, like fossil fuel – diesel, kerosene, premium motor spirit and gas, have remained a huge stress on the lives of the people. They are not concerned about the title given to it – distress or challenge. Just make them available and at a pocket-friendly price.
The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), a key player in the nation’s economy, said that 335 of its members are in distress while 767 others shut down in 2023 alone. This is not statistic. It is real. Experts are still computing the implied job losses and the depreciation in the value of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) it is bringing about. They want something positive to be done to rectify the threat this poses to the wellbeing of the economy and the citizens as a whole. They don’t want to be bothered about whether it is a distress situation or a challenge.
We share Moghalu’s view that the Federal Executive Council (FEC) is hugely skewed in favour of political interest. This, in his opinion, should be rectified to make allowance for technocrats with the required expertise that will make the three-to-five-year exit time span he proposed a reality. The former Deputy Governor of Central Bank is convinced that the banks are not helping matters. Actually, he thinks they are part of the problem and should be called to order if the government can muster the political will to act.
In our considered opinion, the semantics of whether the economy is in distress or going through a bend that is challenging is not what Nigerians need at this time. All they want is, food on the table, security of life and property, efficient provision of other social amenities that make life worth living at a cost they can afford. That is the bottom line. The irreducible minimum.
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