There’s Still Hope For Nigeria

Joseph Ushigiale

At independence in 1960, Nigerians looked into the future with great hope and optimism. The British colonialist had just granted them the right to self rule and they were determined to make the best use of their new found freedom and opportunities.

Populated by ethnic nationities drawn from the predominant Hausa/Fulani in the North, Igbo in the East and Yoruba in the West, these nationalities agreed to come together in 1914 to form what is called Nigeria today.

Nonetheless, it adopted the parliamentary system bequeathed her by the British and to manage the affairs of the new country, Alhani Tafawa Balewa was elected Prime Minister and head of the government while Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe became President of the Senate and later ceremonial President when the country became a Republic in 1963.

Although it adopted the parliamentary system of government, the country was structured into autonomous regions with a weak centre supported by the regions as enunciated by the constitution.

Nigeria started out largely as an export oriented country with each of the regions maximizing its areas of comparative advantage. For instance, while the North with it large land mass concentrated on cultivating groundnut leading to its famed groundnut pyramids, the East and West, had timber, cocoa, palm oil, palm kernel, rubber etc were major exports from which they earned revenue.

No one queued in Abuja for hand outs as is the case today where every month, the regions, which are now 36 states all march on Abuja for federation account allocation.

Apart from being an export oriented country with its numerous products,  Nigeria was also a production hub and self reliant. It had the capacity to feed itself and not rely on food imports.

At Nigeria’s apogee, cars were assembled in Nigeria by Volkswagen, which was established with less than N12m in Alakija along Badagry expressway, Peugeot was in Kaduna producing both commercial and private vehicles, Steyr was in Bauchi producing tractors and heavy duty trucks.

Others were Leyland in Ibadan producing commercial buses. In Lagos, apart from Volkswagen, the were ScoAssembly on Creek Road assembling utility pick up trucks and oiling the engine of Nigeria’s growth. No second hand cars were imported then everyone drove brand new cars.

In Kaduna, the textile mills boomed employing people in their numbers. The same scenario played out along the Oshodi expressway industrial corridor where Aswani textiles and other viable textile factories occupies every available space along the road.

There was free education from primary to secondary schools and university students were entitled to scholarships and bursaries. Teachers/lecturers were paid as at when due and schools and universities were equipped with state of the art materials.

In addition, living standards were high, Nigerians never contemplated jakpaing or fleeing abroad away from severe hardship and pains as is the case today.

Then, once you graduated, a job was ready and the young graduate will automatically qualify for a vehicle loan etc. Life was good and Nigerians traveled abroad effortlessly. As a commonwealth country, Nigerians didn’t need a visa to visit London. Travel to several countries then was visa free and the Nigerian passport was a symbol of pride and patriotism. It was good to be a Nigerian and Nigeria’s image loomed large across the globe and that was when Nigeria was called the giant of Africa.

What made Nigeria strong? Nigeria maintained its own national carrier with fleets of the latest aircraft flying Nigerians across the world. It had its own shipping line, freighting its imports and exports and employing predominantly Nigerians.

Food was in abundance with multinationals like UAC, Lever Brothers, Leventis, GB Ollivant etc cultivating swathes of land to produce foods.

In addition, Nigeria ate what it produced, it was a net exporter of refined petroleum products because its refineries were working optimally and no petroleum products were imported.

In the end, Nigeria enjoyed balance of trade with many countries, its currency was strong and exchanged at 80k to a $. There was a middle class, inflation and unemployment were under check and Nigerians had disposable income to play around with.

So when did the rain start pelting Nigeria?

The problems are traceable to the 1965 political crisis in the west during the struggle for supremacy by the Action Group led by late Chief Obafemi Awolowo and the Northern Peoples Congress over who controlled the Western Region.

As the crisis lingered threatening to engulf the whole country, the five majors led by Major Kaduna Nzeogwu seized power in a bloody coup the following year killing Tafewa Balewa, Sarduana of Sokoto, a host of northern top ranked military officers. Few months later, a counter coup toppled Gen. Aguiyi Ironsi to permanently scuttle the first republic and democracy.

Thereafter, Nigeria has not been the same since as it’s been from one roller coasting to another without any clear direction. Nigeria’s woes escalated following the Yom Kippur war between Israel and Arab states in 1973 which in turn drove crude oil prices off the roof.

Nigeria, just recovering from a brutal civil war with Biafra suddenly found new wealth. Oil revenue took over from the traditional cash crops that were cultivated and exported.

Suddenly, no one went to the farms anymore as easy money rolled in. Every road led to Lagos then and  rather than investing strategically and diversifying the economy the leaders went on spending spree with the petrol dollars.

It hosted Festac 77, was father Christmas to many countries to whom it dished millions of dollars as gifts. Back home, it increased salaries of civil servants in what is today called Udoji award.

The turning point was in 1986 when military president Ibrahim Babangida adopted the IMF-World bank recommended Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) which led to devaluing the naira with the sole aim of diversifying the economy to make it attractive to investors and exporters.

The return to civil rule in 1979 didnt last long as the politicians once again showed their unrestrained profligacy by running Nigeria aground. After just a term, the military sent President Shehu Shagari parking and his cohorts back to their villages.

Today, Nigeria has come full circle and things are actually getting worse with the naira exchanging for over 1600 to a dollar. Boko Haram and other insurgents are holding the country in a vice grip as the safety of lives and properties is no longer guaranteed.

Nationally, there is pain, anguish and hunger following the removal of fuel subsidy and flotation of the naira. Twin policies that have caused prices of essentials like foodstuff to skyrocket and above the reach of the common man.

Today, Nigerians are groaning under the yoke of high food prices, transport cost, high rent charges, medicare, school fees etc. Even the miserly N70,000 negotiated and agreed with labour can hardly foot these bills.

But there is hope if only the present administration will listen. Nigeria needs to go back to the grassroots and produce. It must cultivate enough to achieve food security. If the country can feed its growing population, it will save money from food importation.

Nigeria has to revamp its textile sector because of the huge benefits inherent in the value chain. Apart from providing raw materials for local businesses it has capacity to absorb an army of unemployed youths.

There is a need to deflate the economy, Nigeria needs to build mega infrastructures. The 700km coastal highway is not ambitious enough, what is needed is in the threshold of about 10,000km of roads and rail with touchpoint across the 774 Council areas.

How about financing? This is where financial ingenuity comes to the core. Nigeria ought not borrow to finance infractructure, it is about time government takes it foot off the economy pedal and allow the private sector take over.

The private sector can be mobilized to bring in its money and government will create a Private Public Partnership agreement for a Build Operate and Transfer (BOT). If the private sector can mobilise $100b into the economy, we will not be looking for the green back today.

There must be a deliberate attempt to conserve our foreign exchange through diversification. All companies operating locally should source their raw materials locally to conserve forex and deliberate efforts should be made to create companies specially to produce for export.

The biggest elephant in the room are the refineries. If the Tinubu administration can only put these refineries back to work optimally, it can go home in the blaze of glory. Nigeria will be back on its feet. There is still hope if we can cover these grounds.