At a traffic junction along Ahmadu Bello Way in the Central Area of Abuja, there lies right beside the traffic police officer’s box a small notice board placed innocuously, yet visible enough to catch attention easily. On it is the message “APC – All Promises Cancelled”. Without much effort it is easy to see the tacit attempt to ridicule the ruling All Progressives Congress through lending its acronym APC to a dubious dispensation that represents all that the party never stood for. Whosoever placed it where it is, is not stupid, for while the message may seem an orphan, its impact is nevertheless telling. This is courtesy of its location which was also carefully selected to attract maximum attention from the alert members of the society, each of whom may read a different meaning to it, depending on individual political inclination. If there was ever a mischievous political pun, this was one.
Yet beyond the semantic trick lies a more significant factor which the government needs to identify with, as it grapples with the challenge of being on top of the economy, presently its Achilles Heel. For some weeks now the fate of the Nigerian economy has been at the centre of public discourse ostensibly for the fact that it is headed in the wrong direction. Several experts have posited that the economy is in a recession, with the indices recording exactly such a situation. A key indicator remains the fact that for two consecutive quarters the economy recorded consistent no growth but stagnation and possible decline. In which case it is contracting and not expanding as should be the case. Beyond the aforementioned indicator which may not be discernible to the non-numerate, are other everyday issues like rising unemployment, serial business failures and diminishing income of the masses. Andthe tell-tale signs of this syndrome are all over the land with many Nigerians wearing long faces.
Placed in context, the present state of affairs constitutes a sharp contrast to the euphoria that ushered President Muhammadu Buhari into office and power. Hence many Nigerians are now wondering over what is happening, and they have a point given the circumstances in which he came to power. Expectedly too,many Nigerians are belly-aching over the deluge of promises which featured in the political campaign that snowballed into a mass movement at the crest of which Buhari rode into power. This is just as the president himself has on several occasions appealed to Nigerians to be patient and await the response package of the government. And from all indications he too has a point and hopefully the wherewithal to redress the situation.
For instance he has mopped up huge reserves of funds that will make the funding of the 2016 budget realizable. This was simply by plugging some existing loop holes and drain pipes in the economy through various prudent housekeeping measures of which the Treasury Single Account (TSA) is the star feature. This is even as the TSA regime is yet to percolate to the states and local governments where exist a bigger challenge of reversing the haemorrhage of public funds. In any case that is a matter for another day.
In fairness to the administration this first year in office has found it running into some debilitating circumstances it clearly did not anticipate in its planning effort, and betrays its poor reading of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats which whoever manages the Nigerian economy must come to terms with. It is understandable that when a government comes on stream it needs to buoy up the hopes of the governed over the future and thereby engender optimism in the system. This is why Buhari’s promises during the campaign season are coming into relief at this time, as captured albeit erroneously by the earlier mentioned sign post.
Management scholars agree that a business enterprise starts failing not just when its collapse commences but as soon as it starts to miss targets. Granted the unforgiving nature of the foregoing condition, it spells out the imperatives for successful business management. Reading this condition along with the message on the signpost defines a critical agenda for the government with respect to meeting public expectations inspite of the shaky start-up of its interventionist initiatives.
In the present Nigerian situation, it is undeniable that the people expect more from the administration than what it is presently offering. As the government marks its first anniversary today, many Nigerians will review its performance in the past one year from many angles. While it is true that the administration has recorded significant progress in critical areas like containment of the insurgency in several parts of the country and recovery of looted public funds as well as tackling corruption headlong, these achievements fall outside the immediate concerns of the typical common man which revolve around the stomach. And in this regard many Nigerians are praying that they should not die before the promised goodies arrive, as such will be medicine after death. For in the eyes of most hard pressed Nigerians, the efforts of the government as far as ‘stomach infrastructure’ is concerned,are seen – rightly or wrongly,as nothing better than perpetuating the syndrome of arrested development, which has been the lot of the country through much of its history. And that does not call for chest thumping.
That is why the government should direct immediate attention to the process of putting money in the hands of street level Nigerians not just by doling out handouts to them but consolidating their income base. It is in this respect that the advocacy by labour for a new minimum wage enjoys merit. Also is the issue of payment of domestic debts which is owed local contractors by government. The poignance of this aspect is accentuated by a report by a Committee of the House of Representatives which notes that in the 2015 fiscal year, no significant implementation of capital projects was undertaken, leaving as many as 11,000 projects abandoned nationwide. It should therefore not be surprising that so much jobless ness and despair looms like an incubus over the country.
It is significant that the government has adopted the objective of diversifying the economy; a policy measure that has remained mainly a sing-song by all past administrations in the country since independence. However, in the light of the unique antecedents of the present leadership, specifically the acknowledged iron-cast will of the president, the policy may well be achievable under him. If that be the case, it means Nigerians in different areas of enterprise -artisans and craftsmen, as well as other professionals and entrepreneurs, shall enjoy the opportunity to service the economy with locally manufactured products and even engage in export trade. Nigerians are world beaters if allowed to manifest their enterprise as history has always shown that the problem of local enterprise is always the reluctance of government to match pace with the governed. Instructively China which Nigerians are gradually transforming the country into an off-shore province of, launched itself into the global market terrain by lifting the institutional shackles on local enterprise, through designated policy measures by government.
In the light of the on-going recession, the President will do well to be on the same page with Nigerian entrepreneurship which if effectively unleashed will return the country to winning ways.
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