No more denial

Last week, the chairman of the All Progressive Congress (APC) finally admitted what Nigerians had known for a long time. John Odigie-Oyegun, speaking while receiving those who defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Delta State branch to APC, said, “Economically, things are difficult, there is no question about it.”

As psychologists will tell us, a stage after the loss of a beloved person is denial of reality. Those in mourning pretend that their loved ones are not truly dead thereby nursing the hope that the dead could just spring up and come back to life again. But gradually, the reality dawns and the bereaved come to terms with the exit of their beloved.

So, our ruling party has come full circle. With about 22 months left to the end of the administration, Mr. Odigie-Oyegun’s glasses now see clearly and agreed with what majority of Nigerians had been saying. Indeed, the newspaper that reported the APC chairman’s statement did it tongue-in-cheek. Or how else do we describe, “The All Progressives Congress has joined Nigerians to admit that things are economically difficult in Nigeria”? We have moved from blaming the past government to sabotage by those who do not want Nigeria to move ahead, and now truly, things are difficult.

Of course with the daily revelations coming forth on how our commonwealth was plundered, or more appropriately pillaged, even though we were not at war, there is culpability on the part of the immediate past government. But there is a level the present government ought to get serious and focus on the business at hand. Repeatedly, this column has said that while the APC was prepared for victory at the 2015 polls it was not prepared to govern. The long inertia period the government claimed it was searching for extra human beings to serve as ministers before it later settled for the usual gang of buccaneers,part of those who led us to the sorry state we are in, and the absence of a coherent economic plan in dealing with our myriad challenges exemplified in the foreign exchange crisis and flip flop monetary policies, the party did not bargain for what she met.

Too often we are told of exportation as though with increased export our economic woes are over. Truly, if one listens to the narratives of some economic experts, export is the sine qua non of how we can become reliant. Recently too on CNN, a DHL executive spoke of how seven planes land in Nigeria daily and return empty after dropping their cargo. He expressed the company’s desire to take goods back and thereby maximize the trips. Probably, our exports are through the sea and not air. Keeping in tune with this theme, Odigie-Oyegun at the event under reference, spoke of how we will soon become a rice exporter and how we are exporting yam already just as our agriculture minister will brag about how our yam tubers were going through Ghana before and thereby labelled as ‘Product of Ghana’, a situation he was quick to remind us has changed.

Good initiatives, no doubt. But the APC seemed to have forgotten that the exports they speak glowingly of are still raw food materials. Probably, that of rice is a little bit better if we can get our neighbours to buy, but how could we still be glorifying export of raw food these days without adding value? Just imagine exporting cocoa beans in 2017 which countries like Cote D’Ivoire and Ghana are already adding value to before they export? We can, and should do better, than what we have currently.

By the way, the magic wand is innovation and not necessarily export. Technological innovation remains a viable way out of the economic morass we are and this brings up the critical question of power generation once more. Two weeks ago, our government sent a supplementary budget to the National Assembly, which would be financed again through loans. Two months ago, our current debt profile was $64 billion,according to figures from the Debt Management Office and we are going to add to it. Funnily, the government hopes to make more money through aggressive tax collection that is not yet tested and might not work out.

The absence of President MuhammaduBuhari too has not helped our recovery economically. Away now for three months, there is a lethargy surrounding government activities even with an acting president in place. The politics of Buhari’s sickness has been tackled sufficiently by other columnists but it is necessary to add that Nigeria is the ultimate loser economically. Thanks that Odigie-Oyegun finally admitted what we knew, but the real question is, what exactly is the APC doing to ameliorate citizens’ pains?