There is no better time than now for a new philosophy and strategy of development for Nigeria than today. For over twenty years we have adopted a model of development that failed to meet our expectation. Today there is a new administration in place bubbling with the idea of change- qualitative change in the life of the nation and its citizens. However the fear is that it would not be able to achieve desired results without a change of the strategy of development of past administrations. It might be helpful to note that the old way of doing development in Nigeria is characterized by its resentment for active state participation in the development process. This has proved to be a costly mistake which largely explains most of the problems of the country today.
At the moment the times are hard, difficult and even frustrating. The national spirit is low needs to be vigorously lifted. The task is tedious and unless there is a change of vision, philosophy and strategy of development the chance of making our country a great and better society will be lost or simply remain a mere dream. The mountains of problems facing the country will remain unsolved. Poverty, unemployment, acute infrastructural deficiency-in short under-development and misery in the midst of abundant wealth will remain permanent features of our existence.
There is every cause for concern and discontent. Generally the socio-economic situation is grim and perilous. The problems are too deep and numerous for comfort: poverty is widespread across the states of the federation, unemployment is embarrassingly high-about 40million unemployed, unimaginable height of insecurity, mass illiteracy, poor infrastructure and stinking infrastructural decay, high debt burden, inequality, corruption, non payment of salaries to workers, high import bills, fuel scarcity, large scale food importation have become the dominant features of the economy.
This is truly desperate season in Nigeria. The development situation is simply appalling and unsatisfactory. It calls for review of past actions for a more fruitful and rewarding move forward. As a recent observer notes, ‘despite the country’s strong economic fundamentals, oil rich Nigeria has been hobbled by inadequate power supply, lack of infrastructure, delays in the passage of legislative reforms, inefficient property registration system, restrictive trade policies, inconsistent regulatory environment, a slow and ineffective judicial system, unreliable dispute mechanism, insecurity, pervasive corruption, large scale unemployment, etc.
In similar vein other writers have observed that Nigeria is a ‘’ wealthy nation of poor citizens and few rich people- a rich country of many poor people. It is a tragic case of ‘’poverty in a wealthy economy…in which over 50% of the population live in poverty’’ (www.poverty.org-Nigeria htmi, wp/02/111imf.org-Saji Thomas & co) What a frustrating and embarrassing contradiction?
According to Action Aid report 2014, Nigeria which is referred to as the ‘fastest growing economy in Africa and one of the ten fastest growing economies in the world ironically harbors some of the poorest people in the world with as many as69% of the population(about112.47 million Nigerians) living below the poverty line. It notes that’ existing alongside the high poverty in Nigeria is high rate of corruption.. a mega corruption’’ which made the country to be rated at various times among the most corrupt nations in the world’ .
The Bureau of statistics Nigeria alerts that the country was sinking deeper into the valley of poverty and unemployment was worsening with the march of time. So far we have failed to check the sad trend. According to the report people living in poverty increased from 27.2%in 1980to46.3% in 1985, dropped to 42.7% in 1992 and then increased to 65% in1996 and climbing to 69% in 2010, thereby allowing about112.47 people to live below the poverty line(NBS,2010) .
These are sufficient grounds for concern and discontent and we see a crippling inability to deal with the problems decisively. For political and ideological reasons we see a reluctance or even inability to change gear for the better. We have held tenaciously to the falsehood sold to us by the West that the market is the engine of development and best approach to national development and the state has little or no role to play here. This reflection seeks to change this view and approach to national development in Nigeria.
A SAD HISTORY OF INABILITY
It is amazing how unable we have proved ourselves with the task of national development. There had been many contradictions and very knotty dilemma to resolve. It has been a sad history of inability. An important observation in the Action Aid report is the failure of the many anti poverty programs to check poverty in the country thereby betraying some institutional, managerial and administrative shortcoming.
This and other have raised many questions: how did we come to this sorry pass? What went wrong? Are there things we can do right now using internal energies and resources to fix the country? Why are we the way we are and for how long shall we remain in this contradictory and conflicted wilderness?
While we shall attempt to answer these questions in the course of this essay, it suffices now to observe that we cannot continue to follow the old unfruitful way of the market which excluded majority citizens from economic activities, severely constrained the state with strange philosophy of development and ordained poverty, unemployment, inequality, corruption and related profane values as way of life in society. Thoughtfulness left our shores as ill – digested and unreasonable ideas took roots and hold of our economy.
This is not the first time I would be calling for state- led development strategy as opposed to market led approach of the last thirty years except the period of Abacha which incidentally had better economic impact than others. We have done this because of our conviction that the state properly handled and directed can serve the purpose of meaningful development better in Nigeria than the market. At least it has more resources at its disposal and stands to chance of attracting credits for development, it will generate opportunity for citizenry participation, patriotic sentiments, and tackle issues of unemployment and poverty as a moral obligation.
No matter how we look at it, the state was created for the purpose of meaningful development of society for the collective good of all citizens by doing those things which the individual cannot do alone or profitable to do cheaply. In spite of the desperate situation of the moment, with a state- led approach, creative thinking and political will, there are many things that can be done internally to begin to set the economy right and alleviate poverty. These include settlement of internal debt including payment of salaries, change of attitude to work, increased fight against corruption, fixing the naira, checking fuel shortage, planning a new strategy for unity, growth and development of the country sooner than latter to mention just few .
Let it be emphasized that we are where we are because we have chosen an inappropriate strategy of development and have been lacking the courage and ability to do the needful such as mobilizing the state to play its developmental role and tackling administrative and managerial problems swiftly. As indicated earlier the chosen path favored the market rather than the state- the unseen hand rather than reason to allocate resources of development. This might have worked for other countries but it has been most disappointing in Nigeria. And given its present stress, there should be no regret in bidding it bye bye today.
At times I wonder how could something be so wrong and yet be so accommodated for so long by us? There has been so much knowledge about our problems and even correct answers to some of the questions raised above but without positive action. We have lacked the wisdom and courage to do what is right in the interest of the country. For instance we know that low productivity exists in Nigeria and productivity therefore needs to be promoted, the state has a role which includes the promotion of the security and well-being of all citizens but the latter had been abandoned.
Also we have always known the danger of corruption and monocultural economy and the importance of values such as sacrifice in the national interest, patriotism, fair play, justice, equitable reward -in short good governance, but we have displayed a most lukewarm attitude to them. We have known the importance of storage, manufacturing and industrialization, improved agriculture for both domestic and external markets for long and we know too that many items on our high import bills could easily be produced at home and many more but we have done very little to improve the situation.
It is a pity that we know our problems but cannot solve them. Generally we have been lazy, unserious and lacking the courage, creativity and ability to do the correct thing or apply our knowledge to do good for everyone in society rather than for few elites. We have been weighed down and caged by a lame ideology. We seemed to have lost our sense of direction, the wisdom and spirit of public service from the time since we took the market way to national development.
As shall be shown, values and ideology matter much in the life of society. In a word, we are where we are not for lack of knowledge, but for lack of courage and wisdom and ability to do the needful for instance by using well our best weapons to fight poverty or wrought development for all instead of a few elites and their associates. We are constrained by the prevalent ideology of the day.
We have not followed the right path and administered the correct drug. We have not been creative enough in discharging the task of national development. No doubt, we know the problems but lack the correct answer and this explains the observed contradiction and unsatisfactory results of our development efforts-our embarrassing history of inabilityFor instance the Obasanjo administration knew what the problems were including high unemployment rate, but proffered a wrong solution through say privatization that worsened the unemployment situation in Nigeria. The administration drove the state further more into exile.
The nationwide nature of poverty and underdevelopment is very well-known. At least the Bureau of statistics has long alerted us that we were steadily sinking deeper into the valley of poverty, and unemployment is worsening with the march of time and policy measures were not working but we failed to change gear. For instance we failed to invest in infrastructure thereby making some organizations to leave the country for good. The general excuse was that the market abhors investment by government!!
The Action Aid report cited earlier linked ‘poverty in Nigeria’’ to high level of corruption as a result of the massive stealing of public resources that would have been invested in providing wealth – creating infrastructure and social services, thus reducing poverty’. Yet the consequence management machinery has remained weak and slow. The leakages were not blocked. These are some of the reasons for our great worry. The prolonged and crippling inability to tackle emerging development problems of the country offers no room for enthusiasm.
Today President Buhari and Vice President Osinbajo have diagnosed the ailment correctly but the worry remains because none is sure of whether they would chart a new path to progress or follow the old unfruitful way. Ours has been a complex history of knowing what is wrong but unable to do the right thing to fix things. Otherwise we ought to be glad with the correct analysis from the top.
For instance according to the vice president Professor Osinbajo about 110 million Nigerians live in extreme poverty which to him may explain the high illiteracy level and shocking infant and maternal mortality rate in Nigeria today (The Nation3-7-2015). And in recognition of the serious developmental challenges of the country, President Buhari identified in his inaugural speech identified the following areas for focus of his government: infrastructure , insecurity, youth employment, revival of agriculture, solid minerals, small and medium scale investment, corruption, fuel and power shortage.
Fine. But which way forward? How does the administration plan to reach its planned destiny? Which vehicle and approach? What is the official strategy? Would it be able to resist the influence and pressure of the old school as represented by those I call false prophets of development in Nigeria that sent the state on indefinite exile and made government redundant or mere on looker in the development process? Will the state remain in exile or be called home to play its developmental role?
These questions are important because as we observed though we have always known the problems of the nation, yet we have not been able to generate the appropriate response to bridge the gap between theory and action.
Against our current socio-economic problems which has almost attained the proportion of a disaster and given the sad and unsatisfactory development efforts in the last fifteen years, we have no hesitation in arguing for a shift of emphasis from a private sector led development efforts to state led strategy.
The contradictions and dilemmas of today can be better resolved through the rational actions of the state and not through the irrational and unseen hands of the market. It is the best way to end our sad history of inability to forge the meaningful development of the country today.
A NATION BLIND TO HISTORY OF DEVELOPMENT?
From all indications Nigeria appears to be blind to history of development. Otherwise it would have been obvious all along that the state stands in more vantage position to advance national development than the private sector in a developing or non-industrialized country such as Nigeria. The state is better placed to lead the way -to raise and mobilize necessary ingredients for growth and development for the benefits of all citizens.
The developmental purpose of the state has never been in doubt-to promote welfare of citizens, provide security and general condition for the peace and progress of society. It has the moral obligation to do those things that are beyond the private sector to provide- for instance eradication of poverty, security, unemployment, illiteracy, even development and many more.
Though debate has ranged over the extent of the role of the state in society-whether it should be big or small, history shows that in time of serious crisis people look unto the state for resolution. History also teaches that nations at the early stage of development often rely on the state to lead the way.
Nigeria is in near state of emergency and under such situation history shows that the state has often been resorted to help out by leading the way. However the private sector would be encouraged to play complementary role in the economy by creating a secure, equitable and friendly environment to operate. In short based on historical circumstances there is no doubt that a state led model of development is needed to drive the Nigerian economy to success today. This is because of the peculiar poor condition of the country which is akin to a state of emergency. In any case government is nothing without meaningful development of society and happiness of citizens.
Government must therefore be woken and strengthened and assisted to play its generic leadership and developmental role in society. So far the private sector -led approach has failed and disappointed expectation. Right now the state is better placed and a more reliable source of resources- the right tools to fix and transform the country for good today.
Our proposal here is not new. The only problem is that it has been scorned in Nigeria for ideological reasons either out of ignorance or fear of the west. Historically when a country or region is faced with such catastrophe as Nigeria’s today, the best resort has been the state. Roosevelt’s new deal during the great depression in the first quarter of the 20thC, the Marshal Plan for post war reconstruction of Europe after world war11, and recently the state intervention in 2008 financial crisis in the USA during the Bush administration and later Obama are relevant here.
Basically there has been a misconception of the role of the state in Nigeria and improper categorization or definition of the of the nature of the problems facing the country. For instance while most of the problems facing Nigeria are largely leadership, managerial and administrative in nature, they have often been reduced and presented as economic thereby leading to poor response.
The debate over the role of the state dates back to distant history but it has not been whether or not the state has a role but to what extent. How ever, since the advent of Margaret Thatcher in Britain as prime minister and Ronald Reagan as president of the USA in the1980s, and the fall of the USSR, the role of the state role in development activities has been urged to be severely reduced.
Rather the market has been venerated to be the engine of growth and development of nations irrespective of stages of progress. This notion of development has been pushed to many countries such as Nigeria by western financial institution and the Mass media for ‘ideological and political reasons’ as the standard approach in all circumstances. It ignores the gap in the development between poor and rich countries. Little wonder that it has not helped the cause of meaningful development in Nigeria except for elites. What we have at hand is narrow idea of development and inappropriate response. A broader understanding of development and approach to it is needed here.
Essentially, this article is therefore about development as defined by Walter Rodney as a multi- dimensional activity covering economic, social cultural and political aspects of life. This broad based definition is necessary because of the mistaken tendency in the past to reduce development to mere economic affair as reflected in such creations as the Economic Team or making an Economist the coordinating minister of the economy? The danger here is one of narrow conception of development which may explain many of our wrong policies and attendant failures.
While a narrow economic view and poor management of resources had been a major part of the problem of our country, there is the need to rethink and rework our methods and review our prescriptions. It is needless to say that most of these problems are social and political in nature bordering on management and leadership deficiency far beyond the scope of economics and competence of the private sector in Nigeria.
One of the mistakes of the past was to rely on an infantile private sector as the engine of growth and driver of our development. It did not work because it was an inappropriate approach to the peculiar problem of the country More specifically, the private sector in Nigeria lacks the skills, the experience, power or financial resources as well as moral obligation and responsibility to lead the way in Nigeria. It needs assistance to be delivered out of its present shackles and limitations.
This is not to say that the private sector has no role but that it has to be led by the state. Truly how can a drowning man be relied on to save an epileptic patient or a child with convulsion in another sinking boat except by miracle Unfortunately development is more a practical action than otherwise and the country’s problems are far more endemic and life threatening beyond the resolution of a disinterested and ill-prepared private sector.
EXILE OF THE STATE &PREDOMINANCE OF WRONG PRESCRIPTIONS
There has been a predominance of wrong prescription and administration of wrong drugs over the years in the development scene of Nigeria as a result of wrong definition, deductions and conclusions. For too long the state was sent on unnecessary exile by the ruling elite who are adherents of the market driven economy. They have been prodded on by a group of people I call the false prophets of development in Nigeria.
Driven by external influence and propaganda they projected the state as a problem rather than being an important part of the solution. The group made the state idle and passive instead of being active participant in the development efforts of the country. Today we must forgive them and do the correct thing for they know not the history of their country and the nature of its problem- let alone the right way to go about them.
According to them the state is ineffective and inefficient in running enterprises as could be seen from the mass failure of public enterprises in Nigeria. However they failed to tackle the issues that made the enterprises a failure- issues of poor management, corruption, inappropriate staffing etc. They forgot that business failure happens in both the private and public sectors of the economy. Leadership and management skills are open to all seekers of relevant knowledge and they are by no means exclusive to the private sector. Those who doubt the ability of the state to run enterprises profitably are advised to look at China, Singapore, Dubai and even the USA for useful lessons in success.
The problem in Nigeria was largely with the recruitment and consequence management process. Instead of looking for professional and competent hands and punishing failure, we allowed politics to prevail. We celebrate corruption and incompetence instead of punishing them. Mass failure was the inevitable result of poor methods of operation. There had been attendant problems of inappropriate actions, wrong philosophy of development, ineffective leadership, poor management and inefficient administration of resources.
The resultant large army of unemployed tell a story of its own: there was little or no citizenry participation in socio-economic activities. It reflects some of the missteps and insensitivity of the time. For instance unemployment was already very high and the policy response was to close shops. Privatization was not only wrong at the time, also it was poorly executed without the real problem solved. Contrary to official opinion, public enterprises failed not because of the mantra that government has no business with doing business but because of poor leadership and ineffective management including the failure to punish those who ran the enterprises aground.
Able Leadership and effective management of resource are critical tools for nation building. Good governance deepens unity and accelerates progress for all. Leadership provides the vision and direction and mobilizes resources and motivates citizens to the zenith of their ability for the good of society. Management ensures that are available resources are put to the best use to achieve set goals. Here a development oriented elites are critical to support leadership and do effective management at the appropriate levels of operations. In all these, the importance of relevant leadership and management Education and Training cannot be over-stressed. This is true for both sectors of the economy.
Unfortunately instead of tackling these issues of poor leadership, mis-management and maladministration, we resorted to selling public enterprises as though it was a crime for government to invest. This is where due focus should be placed and no effort should be spared to get the best hands both at home and abroad to run public enterprises as a way of making money and promoting employment.
The omission here was a major reason for public enterprise failure in the past- ineffective management, poor leadership culture and the absence of effective consequence management system in the country. Generally, there has been poor governance galore that requires administrative or management fixing. For instance lack of citizenry participation, transparency, equitable distribution etc.
Evidence of poor management still abounds today Perhaps the easiest example is the oil sector which according to newspapers is characterized by sleaze, leakages, and various acts of corruption. Thus we cry of hard times today as though there was never good time before now. What did we do with the oil boom? No saving for the rainy day?
More specifically during the period of economic boom how many Nigerians were integrated to benefit from the benefits of development policy?-just few too few!!! How did we manage the vast resources at our disposal over the years which a review of the relevant literature shows to be about’’ us$200 billion between 1970&1990 from exports? According to scholarly sources it was poorly spent with little impact on the welfare of the people’’. In particular, the poor reportedly benefitted ‘little or not at all from the vast expansion of oil revenue’.
In any case why the cry so soon after the fall of of prices of oil in the global market? Did we not anticipate a time of slump or even its exhaustion? Simply put we cry and jilter because we are bad planners and poor mangers of resources. The leadership and management gap has been the leading problem for the past twenty years with Nigeria- the inability to do the right thing or get things right done. It is unfortunate that our system abandoned the leadership and management of the economy for too long in the name of market- based and private sector led economy. There is every need to get the state back on stage. It holds comparative advantage over the market in terms of more beneficial development of society.
LET’S RECALL THE STATE FROM EXILE
There are others reasons for a more active role of the state in Nigeria today. One of them is to straighten things in the development arena. Largely for ideological and political reasons there has been so much misinterpretation and mismatch in the system. In stead of calling a spade by its name, the problems were often presented as economic thereby leading to the wrong solution and many policy failures. The real trouble is that such economic approach as we have done most of the times especially since the 1980s proved inadequate in the past and would be inadequate now in dealing with problems at hand. A wrong drug can hardly result in effective cure.
Thus instead of improvement there has been a decline in the quality of life. As a recent study notes, about 62% of the country’s 170million live in extreme poverty and growth has not transformed into significant decline in poverty level. Rather,’ reckless spending’ has characterized the economy as though a permanent feature’. And thus everyone quivers as a result of a down turn in the economy due to fall in global oil prices because of no plan for the future (Economy watch www. Economy. com. world economy Nigeria).
There is the need for state intervention to fix things because it far better placed to do so than the market. It has been sad to observe that poverty in the country has been worsening by the year in spite of our wealth. This is largely so because reason was allowed to travel out of the Development scene of Nigeria and there had been the predominance of indiscipline, greed, and corruption in the system. As earlier hinted the state which exists for the welfare of the citizens has been on indefinite holiday in exile. It is yet to return. Some ideological forces are at work.
Nigeria has a Constitution that endorsed state-led economy but it has been hardly observed by the elites in terms of development. There is the need to consider the constitutional angle which had been neglected for too long since 1999. We believe that the Constitution provides sound principles and sane values of development for a non industrialized and poverty ridden country like Nigeria. Sound values are the bedrock of any meaningful development.
For instance according to Chapter 2 of the constitution, the state ‘’shall harness the resources of the nation and promote national prosperity and an efficient and a dynamic and self reliant economy….manage and operate the major sectors of the economy… Control the national economy in such manner as to secure the maximum welfare, freedom and happiness of every citizen on the basis of social justice and equality of status and opportunity” (16(1) a&b).
Unfortunately for ideological reasons and undue external influence the tenets of the constitution had not been respected by the ruling class over time. Instead there has been deep seated moral bankruptcy, greed, inequality and related warped values disrespect for rule of law, regulations of conduct in the country and unhelpful commitment to American type of capitalism. The consequence has been adverse. For instance many citizens have been excluded from economic activities contrary to the vision of the Constitution.
The same story of exclusion, extreme poverty and misery continued even as the economy has been rebased to make Nigeria the largest one in Africa. There has been no positive impact on the quality of life of ordinary Nigeria. How very sad we often miss the point by chasing the shadow But for how long would this unwholesome situation be? Recall for instance how the indiscriminate privatization of our public enterprises in a season of high rate of heightened unemployment compounded our under- development condition: it deepened unemployment, poverty and insecurity in the country. The present market model of development is paved with thorns and sorrows.
A state- led development approach informed by lessons of history of nation building and development across the world would be more helpful than an economic approach based on market forces. Basically economics is important but it is narrow and not all -embracing to cover all the demands of development. While corruption is more rampant, as Hampden-Turner & co observed, the discipline of Economics is ‘value-empty ‘and it only explains how wealth is created but not why- the underlying values which motivate development activities. Development is value-driven and as Nigerians we are engaged in national development for the good of all citizens and not few.
The market is not efficient in the allocation of resources for development as it tends to neglect some regions and individuals in the development efforts- for instance rural neglect as result of urban bias in the allocation of resources or the thriving business of hard drugs, human trafficking as result of economic demand etc. Many of the issues of development are better handled by the state than the market. Take corruption for instance: Which institution could fight corruption better than a strong and efficient government?
It is generally recognized that corruption and other forms of criminality thrive most in societies where the ability to detect and prosecute criminals is low. Thus one of the greatest check to crimes is the ability to discover and punish the criminal in accordance with the law. No criminal wants to be caught by the law. In Nigeria some of the profane values of the market has heightened corruption and other crimes to embarrassing level and the state in exile has been incapacitated to act decisively here.
Consequently, criminal walk free and some of them are even decorated with badge of honor on the altar of the market where only the’ fittest’ including the crooked survives. As observed earlier, instead of punishing those who failed our public enterprises and tackle the managerial and leadership problems that grounded them, we decided to throw away the baby with the bath water.
After many years of experimentation i have no doubt about the severe limitation of a market- led model of development in Nigeria. Take privatization- one of its leading planks for illustration. It has been barren unproductive and unrewarding. I had cause to laugh at our collective folly recently as I read Boyo an economist worrying aloud that he had not seen any improvement in power supply since the reforms in the power sector. Rather he had only seen a reported loss of N400billion? incurred from allowances and outstanding payments to contractors and the discovery that the buyers did not ‘have the money to run the companies efficiently’(Vanguard18-5-2015p36-7).
But how could it be otherwise when we lack the ability for creative thinking and learning from the lessons of history? That is what happens when you follow the path of unreason. Let us ‘awaken the giant in us’, let us use the strongest weapon in our arsenal to attack our enemies- poverty, underdevelopment and unemployment. That giant and weapon is the state. Today there is low productivity and scarcity of goods and services in our market-driven country. The immediate task is to stimulate the economy for high productivity. But resources are scarce or not easily accessible to private investors. Who else to intervene if not the state?
As we observed above, development is multifaceted affair far beyond economic realm. Issues of equality, justice, fair- play, democracy, respect for the rule of law and tenets of the constitution of the country especially chapter11 to harness the resources of the country for self reliance and the prosperity and welfare of citizens are critical to national development. Though we know this to be true, yet we have not been able to generate the appropriate response to bridge the gap between theory and action. Time is now for positive response and action.
As a student of development I know that there is the politics of development and economics of development and where too much focus is placed on the economics at the expense of the social, political and cultural aspects, result of development effort would be of very limited value. This is why in spite of growth recorded over the years Nigeria has remained poor because of the deficiency in the social and cultural areas. This is why even though it is the largest economy in Africa, the country is having a large percentage of poor people- more than half of the population.
I also know that development ideas have never been stagnant. It is marked by starts and shifts thereby making what was good the previous day obsolete and unworkable the next day. This has been so since days of the early man with his primitive to the scientific jet age of advanced technology. Man’s search for development and improvement and better methods to achieve knows no bounds. I know that the state has a role in society including the promotion of the security, socio-economic well- being of the citizens and many more. I know too that the state just like the market can successfully lead an economy to success. Modern Turkey under Ataturk, Singapore under Yew and Dubai are good examples here.
The way out is creative thinking to work out plans and strategies that would make community better. Now is the time to correct our past mistake through a paradigm shift. The first step here is to recall the state from its long exile and empower it through relevant training and orientation of the public service for development. This is the demand of the moment. Common sense and history recommend the move.
The mistake of the past was to rely on an infantile private sector as the engine of growth and driver of our development. It did not work because it was an inappropriate approach to the peculiar problems of the country. More specifically, the private sector lacks the skills, the experience, power or financial resources as well as moral obligation and responsibility to lead the way to meaningful development of our country for all the citizens.
WHY NATIONS FAIL? LET’S DO REAL DEVELOPMENT
There are many reasons nations fail. One of them is the failure of the ruling elite to do real development for everybody. Others include the insincere acts of the elites who make and manipulate policies to suit their selfish interest, inability of the state to harness and mobilize resources for development, the absence of leadership and management competence for good governance- incompetence of the state.
In other words, nations fail not because development efforts are led by either the state or the market but because of elites failure to do the needful in the development of society. With the right set of elites the market and the state can work in harmony but in the case of Nigeria today the state has to lead the way.
Perhaps the most serious factor for failure is poor governance or ‘failure of government’. According to Sachs (2005p59) a former Special Advisor to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and internationally renowned Professor of Sustainable Development, ‘’economic development requires a government oriented towards development’’. To him the government’ has many roles’ and among others, it ‘must identify and finance the high-priority infrastructure projects and make the needed infrastructure and social services available to the whole population not select few’. He stressed that failure comes when the government fails to play its role decisively such as meeting basic needs of man including security.
In similar vein, Joseph Stiglitz ( 2002) – a Professor of Finance and Economics, winner of Nobel prize for Economics and former Chief Economist World Bank believes that “ governments need to adopt policies that help countries grow and to ensure that growth is shared equitably’’ and government and the market can complement each other in a meaningful relationship. He observed that the USA grew through state involvement in development activities.
While it often beats my imagination how come the Nigerian elites had missed this obvious fact or reality of nation building it should be observed that the two authors just cited are faithfuls of the capitalist system but concerned with how to promote development and eradicate poverty on the surface of the earth. Both see a developmental role of the state. In fact Professor Sachs saw it as way of ending’ poverty in our lie time’.
It might be helpful here to realize that development is more a product of imagination, hard work and commitment than chance or decree. Going by the experience of Israel which had survived inspite of being without ‘natural resources and in constant state of war’…. a nation has to be innovative, entrepreneurial and creative with development ideas and committed to the idea of collective good otherwise it would go under.
Again government has to be involved. No nation develops when the state is aloof, apathetic or unconcerned with issues of development and well being of society. This is where the idea of a public -spirited and development- oriented elites is important in nation building. According to Daron Acemoglu & co (2013) nations fail because of the greed and selfish attitude of the elites who establish ‘extractive institutions’ to promote their own interest only, instead of the common good of every one in society.
I agree. For me any society where there are only self centered ruling elites without a sense of public responsibility and due orientation for collective good and a consciousness for national development, will fall apart sooner than later with time. The elites form the bedrock for leadership recruitment in any society and this writer believes that a great part of Nigeria’s problem has been with the acute dearth of development- oriented and public spirited elites. For sure a nation needs good and sincere people who believe in real development to drive its economy.
There is no doubt that no nation can develop fruitfully when the state is in exile and the government is aloof, the citizens are idle, jobless and no opportunity for positive participation in the development process and society is starved of infrastructure. This is largely the case of Nigeria today which has even been worsened by the high incidence of insecurity.
As we have tried to show the administrative and managerial nature of the problems here makes state intervention very appropriate. For instance corruption, high debt rate put atN7 trillion (Sunday Trust), poor infrastructure, scarcity of petroleum products, corruption etc require strong political will, administrative and managerial competence to deal with them effectively.
Perhaps the most compelling reason for recalling the state from exile is the infantile nature of the private sector. In fact the private sector needs a lift itself. There has been evident lack of financial muscles. This could be seen from the inability of the private organizations to set up refineries even though licenses were issued to 23 investors since the 1990s to do so
The last foundational point for state intervention is about morality and values. No nation develops well in a state of monumental profanity. But this has been the case of Nigeria under the market led system. There has been deep seated moral bankruptcy in the country and unhelpful commitment to American type of capitalism. The spirit of nationalism and patriotism had seriously waned over time since Independence. We are weak spiritually and thus prone to manipulation and temptation. The fatherly and protective soothing role of the state now in exile is needed for stability today.
For ideological and political reasons, the Nigerian elites have been so timid to look other ways for the progress of the country. They suffer a kind of amnesia of the mental slavery grade. Wrongly they believe and project the view that American form of capitalism is the only type of capitalism and thus the best for the country.
This is unfortunate because as Hampden-Turner & co (1993) have shown there are at least’ seven cultures of capitalism’ and ‘wealth or values creation is in essence a moral act’. To them, the cultures reflect ‘the value systems for creating wealth in the United states, Britain, Japan, German, France, Sweden and The Netherlands’- the ‘different approaches that each country takes to achieve economic success’. They made it clear that ‘culturally distilled values and customs not only affect the way countries conduct business but also determine economic success’.
I have introduced the findings of these authors in order to dispel the tendency to stick to American form of capitalism with its value of individualism and to urge for a more creative and suitable approach such as the Japanese model that is rooted in communalism-a value orientation that is akin to ours in Nigeria. What Nigerians value most today is meaningful development and security for all through good governance. Here fair play, justice and equity are essentially cherished values which among others are reflected in our constitution.
Essentially development is value-driven. As the authors observed ‘ behind every economic transaction are people making decisions, choices based on their values and beliefs’ and in any society ‘a deep structure of beliefs is the invisible hands that regulate economic activity and these cultural preferences or values are the bedrock of national identity and the source of economic strengths-weaknesses’.
While from all indications, the Nigerian elite appear timid to create a Nigerian system there is no doubt as reflected in the constitution that Nigerians need real development to take place in all corners of the country for the benefits of all citizens rather than just few. However the trouble today is the the brain- washing of the Nigerian ruling elites by western Institutions that American capitalism is the best for us. This has made us to be slavish to unworkable ideas preached by the watchmen of global capitalism.
There is nothing therefore wrong with getting the state truly on board the development train to lead the way, to mobilize all resources including the private sector for the meaningful development of all parts of the country for the well being of all citizens. Here I would recommend a modified version of the Chinese model. Unlike China where there are still some restriction, there should be no official barriers in Nigeria. Anyone willing and able should be free to do so.
Towards this end the state should be well equipped with leadership, management and administrative skills for good governance including the management of public enterprises. Here we could take advantage of globalization to get the best hands from any part of the world to do the job of making the country work better for the good of all.
We do not need to go far for lessons. A review our development history within the last twenty or so years you will suffice. It shows the Abacha years as the most successful period. According to relevant literature survey Abacha recorded “unprecedented economic achievements”. Amongst others the country’s foreign reserve increased from $494 million in 1993 to$9.6 billion by middle of 1997,reduced external debt from$36 billion in1993 to$27 billion in1997, reduced inflation from 54% to8.5% between 1993&98, stabilized the Naira, moderated privatization through what was called guided deregulation of the economy(Wikipedia/Abacha). The state led the way.
For the immediate purpose of our analysis, Let us forget for awhile Abacha’s sins as brute, loathsome dictator, who reportedly stole about £5 billion and was once rated as the 4th most corrupt leader in the world….and ask how he achieved the feat? He did it through active state involvement in the development process. He got good hands with relevant skills and experience led by the well- known Economist Prof Sam Aluko to manage and monitor the economy. Luckily the group of elites saw the task of national development as morally obligatory.
However his corrupt and non democratic or dictatorial disposition stained his record of achievement and ruined the chance of collective harmony that is so vital to the success of nations. While we must fight corruption, misgovernment and related evils, deepen our leadership culture and sharpen our management and administrative skills, we should call the state back from exile to the centre stage of meaningful development of the country for the benefit of all citizens and sections of the society.
Let’s get more serious with doing real development of our dear country- Nigeria. Let the music of development play on with both the government and private sector actively dancing in fruitful partnership in which the state leads the way to do development for the benefit of ALL CITIZENS and not only for a few elite and their associates as presently the case in Nigeria. It is the best way to meet the development challenge of today.
