Nigeria: How come the most populous nation is in recession? – By Emeka Chiakwelu

Posted by admin Articles, Columnists, Emeka Chiakwelu, NNP Columnists Saturday, September 24th, 2016

By Emeka Chiakwelu | NNP | Sept. 24, 2016 – Nigeria is officially in recession for there are now two consecutive negative growths and GDP contractions in two quarters. The economy shrinks
sequentially in first and second quarters by .36 and 2.06 percent
respectively.

Before the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and National Bureau of Statistics
(NBS) made the official recession pronouncement, Nigerians were already
feeling the chilliness of the ebbing economy. The economic decline came
with rising inflation and further deterioration of the purchasing power of
naira. The devaluation of naira is not making the situation any easier,
the floating naira has become superfluous but weak and subservient to the
dominant US Dollar. Nigeria might as well adopt US Dollar as its
indigenous currency. Why not? Nigeria’s wellbeing revolves around the
dollar and everything we do in Nigeria is decided by the dollar value and
its relationship to naira.

Worth of goods and services are predetermined by dollar value because
almost the whole country depends on foreign goods and technical support
for its operational functionality. This is slapdash and disjointed way to
survive as a country. What Nigeria does is ‘collect and spend’ – when oil
is lifted, Nigeria is paid and from there Nigeria runs her country.

So, without oil, Nigeria is not an economic functioning unit? I would like
to disentangle myself from such assertion but in the words of John Adams,
“facts are stubborn things.”

Nigeria can be called non-productive nation – How can the most populous
nation in Africa crashed into recession? To be conservative, the
population of the country can be estimated between 170 – 180 million
people. If ten percent of the population concentrates on trading with each
other, there is no way the country can be in recession.

Therefore the logical deduction is that a reasonable percentage of
Nigerians are not productive or do not engage in any meaningful endeavor
that can raise the level of productivity in the economic town square. Free
enterprise and capitalism are waning in the country and ills of socialism
may have replaced them. Social and economic orientations maybe the
greatest challenge the country must face. How long can Nigeria depend on
oil export for daily existence. The country must be more creative in
channeling the country’s vibrant energy into meaningful economic output.
Political bickering does not put food on the table nor grows the economy.
Hard work and good policy grow the wealth of a nation and not dizzying
dependence on one commodity.

Nigerian youths to rescue:

Nigerian youths are already known for their exceptional creative energy;
Nigeria policy makers must encourage them to be their best and stop
politicizing them. Look at what our youths have accomplished in creative
industry. Yes, their great achievements in Nollywood and entertainment
industry speak a volume of a people vying for opportunity to compete with
rest of the world.

Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook founder and CEO, validated the entrepreneurial
energy and creativity of Nigerian youths when he was in Lagos. Nigeria
should stop looking to IMF and World Bank for solutions, for the country
holds the key to her greatness. The country’s destiny is not in the galaxy
but in her hands. Change your mindset and attitude to productivity, and
then the greatness of Nigeria will emerge.

Emeka Chiakwelu, Principal Policy Strategist at AFRIPOL. His works have
appeared in Wall Street Journal, Huffington Post, Forbes and many other
important journals around the world. His writings have also been cited in
many economic books, publications and many institutions of higher learning
including tagteam Harvard Education. Africa Political & Economic Strategic
Center (AFRIPOL) is foremost a public policy center whose fundamental
objective is to broaden the parameters of public policy debates in Africa.
To advocate, promote and encourage free enterprise, democracy, sustainable
green environment, human rights, conflict resolutions, transparency and
probity in Africa. [email protected] www.afripol.orgwp_posts