In the face of the recent report by the National Bureau of Statistics
that the economy is in recession, Senior Special Assistant to the
President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, wrote this article
explaining what President Buhari is doing with the economy. Read below:
LET me start by asking an important question: who
wants to kill racy introspection?xxx
There is a cacophony of voices telling the Muhammadu Buhari
administration to close its eyes to the past; that given the enormous
tasks that lie ahead, history and its consequences for our nation should
be the least of the government’s preoccupation at this juncture.
I disagree. Let us keep a fiery memory of the past so that we don’t
repeat its mistakes. Look back, look ahead. The future must of necessity
be built on the foundations of the past.xx
The Conservative Party took power in Britain six years ago from Labour.
Check the British press, they are talking about Labour 24/7, is anyone
complaining?
Japheth Omojuwa, one of Nigeria’s top three influencers seemed tasked in
his patience reacting to calls that we must stop talking about the
immediate past administration in this country.
“People are still talking about who ran governments in 1865 you want us
to forget those who left government last year? (Expletive)”
Music icon, Fela Anikulapo Kuti, who many agree was a philosopher
disguised as Afro-musician taught in one of his songs that without
knowing where you are coming from, you won’t know where you are going.
Wise men say that the empty can doesn’t disappear by simply kicking it
down the road.
To avoid repeating the past mistakes, Nigerians must come to terms with
what went wrong with the past, how bad were things, what was done
wrongly, what the past government should have done, before we come to
what needs to be done to right those wrongs. Believe me, episodes from
the Jonathan era can fill books, and other possibilities such as
courtroom drama thriller.
Against this backdrop, I sought to hear our erudite Finance Minister
Kemi Adeosun on where we are coming from, vis-a-vis the administration’s
chosen path to recovery and accelerated growth. What is the
administration doing to revitalize the economy? She spoke at length on
the many measures being put in place, many of which are not glamorous.
They of necessity come with pain. Why should Nigerians be asked to
endure pains? Why should they be asked to make adjustments?
The simple explanation is that the economy was broken, and just as they
do the broken leg, you must bear the pain of fixing it. The current
situation was caused by years of mismanagement and corruption.
As explained by President Buhari again and again, trumpeted by Madam
Adeosun and other senior officials, we solely relied on oil, the price
of which was as high as US$140 per barrel. Government simply reticulated
oil revenue through personal spending by corrupt leaders, wasteful
expenses and salaries. This was done rather than investing in what would
grow the economy. Economies grow due to capital investment in assets
like seaports, airports, power plants, railways, roads and housing.
Nigeria has not recorded a single major infrastructural project in the
last 10 years. In short the money was mismanaged.
In addition to failing to spend money on what was needed, no savings
were made by Government unlike other countries like Qatar, Saudi Arabia
and Norway.
To compound the problem, the previous government was borrowing heavily
and owed contractors, and international oil companies. When this
government took over we had accumulated debt back to the level it was
before the Paris Club Debt Forgiveness.
All these factors were building up to Nigeria heading for a major crisis
if the price of oil fell. Nigeria did not have fiscal buffers to
withstand an oil shock.
The oil shock should and could have been foreseen. These are matters
that both the Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II and Professor Chukwuma
Soludo, both of them eminent former Central Bank Governors had occasions
to warn the government of the day about, but they were clobbered. The
dire warning was written all over the wall, but they were ignored by
Nigeria’s economic managers.
What should they have done?
They should have had the courage and vision to do as the present
administration is doing through the Economic Team, the Ministry of
Finance under Madam Adeosun and the various agencies of the state to
envision a better future by first of all fighting corruption. Look at
what a civilian administration is today doing to the military,
investigating their finance and accounts that the military could not do
to themselves.
See what the current administration is doing sanitize the huge salary
bill by eliminating payroll fraud. So far, the federal payroll has been
rid of about 40,000 ghost workers. More than eight billion Naira stolen
monthly has been saved.
We are also saving on wasteful expenses like First Class Travel and Private jets for official trips.
The federal government is not limiting the reforms to the centre but
forcing State Governments to reform their spending and build savings or
investments.
Government is also increasing spending on capital projects especially on
infrastructure needed to make Nigerian businesses competitive and
create jobs. The administration is at the same time blocking leakages
that allowed government revenues to be siphoned into private hands.
Currently, there is focus on key sectors (apart from oil) that can
create jobs and or generate revenue such as Agriculture, Solid Minerals
and Manufacturing. If these things had been done when the oil price was
as high as US$140 per barrel, Nigeria would not be in the current
predicament. We would not be suffering now if we had no cash reserves
but we had regular supply of power, a good rail system, good roads and
good housing.
Now that the oil has fallen as low as US$28 per barrel, it is very
difficult to do what is needed but they must be done to save Nigeria.
There is no other way if we want to be honest.
