Before Nigeria slips into another recession

Despite abundant resources Nigeria is endowed with, ours remain one of the unfortunate generations on the surface of the earth. The country’s political and economic stability was just taking shape after Nigeria was amalgamated into one country in 1914, when suddenly World War 2 broke out in 1942, a tragic event that eventually climaxed in the bombing of the city of Horoshima and the takeover of Japan by the Americans in 1945.

The damaging effect of this, coupled with the devastating impact of Nigeria’s 1967-70 civil war, as well as series of 70’, 80’ and 90’s military interventions in the nation’s polity, wreaked monumental havoc on our country’s developmental efforts on economy, political and socio-cultural spheres. Most importantly, the psyche and emotional state of the average Nigerian has also been battered by the decades of instability in polity, on account of combined effects of the aforementioned.

The same Nigeria is home to endemic corruption and sleaze of un-imaginable scale in all facets; $2.1Billion Jonathan’s Arms deal, $16Billion approved and pulled out of the treasury for driving the power sector during Obasanjo/Yar’Adua disappeared into private treasuries, $1.1Billion Malabu oil deal, the Halliburton deal, culture of serial mismanagement of foreign reserves etc.

Before Jonathan administration, excess crude account was built up to about $5 Billion; the same account has been depleted to paltry $72 millions. In Nigeria, its decades of squander mania of riches, as the country battles with these multiple challenges, as well as striving to maintain momentum in the political sphere after 20 years of re-embracing democratic orders, a monstrous plague-Covid-19, walked into the four corners of our homes, businesses and continents across the globe with its fangs and fury, as well as destructive capacity, condemning thousands of world citizens to early graves and forcefully entering into the abdominal systems of several thousands, placing them inbetween life and death, as well as creating tension, panic and pandemonium amongst billions of citizens, government establishments, corporate entities around the world. More than 40,000 global citizens have been dispatched to the world beyond, with 1.8 million presently carrying the virus about and still counting. The plague has made nonsense of global economy, as well as Nigeria’s Appropriation Bill.

However, it’s not in doubt Nigeria’s 36 states must tinker significantly with their respective budgets when the Covid-19 cloud eventually settles. It’s then the exact picture of where the nation stands would be ascertained. It’s instructive that the pandemic would create uncommon shift in paradigm in global politics, economies and socio-cultural orders. Empire would have collapsed. Businesses would have gone into extinction. Families would have been dismembered. Certainly, the world would never be the same again.

This is the auspicious time for Nigeria to learn from an event like this. It’s suicidal for a nation of 200 million people to continually remain a monoculture economy. Covid-19 has revealed in eloquent terms the vulnerability and fragility of our economy. Just within few weeks of the pandemic, the nation is already on her knees. It’s time to explore other economic options to drive the nation’s growth and development. Although, the Federal Government has initiated efforts geared at diversifying the economy, the fact remains that this has been surface scratching and with no significant effect on the nation’s treasury. Moving forward, the Federal Government must make conscious and deliberate efforts, as well as display uncommon will, in constituting tax, agricultural produce, solid minerals, ICT and tourism as fulcrum of the nation’s treasure base.

Kola Amzat (FCA)

Lagos

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