The Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II, has described policy inconsistencies on the part of successive governments as utterly responsible for the nation's economic woes.
Mr. Sunusi added that Nigerians should blame themselves for their appalling predicaments.
He wondered why Nigerian governments should continue to borrow stupendous amounts of money to settle wage bills rather than focusing on projects that promote economic and human development, such as building hospitals and providing better support for the educational sector.
"If the present government continues to behave like the Jonathan government, we may end up getting ourselves in a classical Malthusian situation and eventually get trapped in a cul-de-sac," Mr. Sanusi said.
The Emir said with the war on corruption waged by the Buhari administration, the economic future of the country will be bright, stressing, however, that only a sustained and coherent economic blueprint will reduce the over-dependence on oil at a time when its influence is waning on the international market.
Speaking at a Joint Planning Board/National Council on Development Planning meeting held in Kano State on Wednesday, Mr. Sanusi said most of the economic policies introduced by successive administrations in the last few years have inflicted serious havoc on the nation.
He also affirmed that Nigeria's predicament was born out of endless policy inconsistencies.
The Emir pointed out that many of the wrong economic decisions taken by those who believed that they had the acumen to perform wonders had abysmally ruined the economic potential of the nation at the expense of the national interest, regretting that there was a glaring systemic failure in the way economic policies were being implemented.
“What is happening at present is like giving a driving license to a driver that does not have the knowledge to drive a car. One should only expect to bear the unpleasant consequences. As a matter of fact, Nigeria as a promising developing economy is on the brink,” Mr. Sanusi said.
He stated further that the shady deals perpetrated in the name of foreign exchange subsidy have only provided the elitist class the opportunity and leeway to reap huge profits while the attendant devaluation of the Naira has propped up a cabal to milk the treasury dry. He stressed that maintaining the subsidy regime has made some citizens billionaires over night.
Mr. Sanusi said commodity-based African economies have lost considerable leverage due to their over reliance on oil to survive and that non-commodity African economies were gradually becoming the fastest growing economies in the world.
He noted that colonialism has wreaked havoc on Nigeria as a nation-state after decades of pillage and systematic plunder by blatantly taking away the nation's treasure-troves and shipping them back into foreign countries for Nigerians to patronize.
The Emir revealed that with Nigeria's blossoming population increasing to astronomical heights, the level of excruciating poverty and misery would be hard to curtail if the right economic policies are not put in place.
He said economic misfortune bred terrorism among the disenfranchised class because people were artificially pauperized, citing the example of Boko Haram jihadists’ warfare and the activities of the recalcitrant Niger Delta militants as cases in point.
