In my previous article on the controversy between Mrs. Obiageli Ezekwesili and the reputation managers of the federal government over an offending sentence in Mrs. Ezekwesili’s UNN Convocation on January 24, 2013, I pointed out some errors or mistakes made by Mrs. Ezekewesili and then emphasized that they are not usual among economists and in public policy. I also noted that the offending sentence does not warrant the attack on the person of Mrs. Ezekwesili by Mr. Maku and Dr. Okupe.
In my previous article on the controversy between Mrs. Obiageli Ezekwesili and the reputation managers of the federal government over an offending sentence in Mrs. Ezekwesili’s UNN Convocation on January 24, 2013, I pointed out some errors or mistakes made by Mrs. Ezekewesili and then emphasized that they are not usual among economists and in public policy. I also noted that the offending sentence does not warrant the attack on the person of Mrs. Ezekwesili by Mr. Maku and Dr. Okupe. Clearly, the controversy has overshadowed the central messages of the lecture and the lessons the current administration and all Nigerians must take from it. In this follow up article, I will summarize these and how we can to use Nigeria’s oil wealth to reduce poverty and restore the country’s dignity.
Mrs. Ezekwesili’s lecture was on the topic “The Wealth and Poverty of a Nation: Who will restore the dignity of Nigeria”. From the penultimate paragraph of the lecture, it is clear that her goal was to motivate and empower the graduating class to leave the university with a determination to “walk and work as a part of the Turning Point Generation that courageously dares to restore the dignity of Nigeria”. The intermediate objectives of the lecture were: a) to stir up their collective effective angst at the indignity of their inheritance–massive oil wealth, profligacy and pervasive poverty; b) to raise their determination to free Nigeria from the oil trap and see tertiary education as a tool to move Nigeria up the economic development ladder; and c) to sensitize them to join in the crusade to redefine and build a New Nigeria. In other words, the lecture was not intended as an attack on the federal government but to appeal to our youths to stand for good governance. In order to achieve her goal and intermediate objectives, Mrs. Ezekewsili delivered some very important messages which have largely been ignored by the media. Therefore, in the interest of those who have not read and digested the rather lengthy lecture, I have summarized the key messages into 10 points which I have christened “Ezekwesili’s epistle on oil wealth, profligacy, poverty and restoration of Nigeria’s dignity”. They are as follows:
1. Nigeria’s oil wealth breeds poverty and Nigeria has become a “poster nation for poor governance wealth from natural resources”. In other words, Nigeria is an example of Bhagwati’s immiserising growth model and a victim of the Dutch disease syndrome or “resource curse” because the massive oil revenue over the past 50 years has failed to reduce the incidence, depth and severity of poverty in the country over time.
2. Oil wealth has reduced Nigeria to a parable of prodigality. Nigeria has spent and continues to spend the “free money from oil” like the biblical prodigal son, a tragic rentier and drunken sailor. Due to this profligacy or squandermania, Nigeria’s human development indicators are disappointingly low and dismal. The country holds the “world record” in the rank of countries that have worse human development scores when compared to countries without endowments.
3. The country has failed to take advantage of the cycles of oil boom to transform the economy and to reduce poverty. Ironically, each cycle of oil boom moves Nigeria further down the rungs of global economic ladder and ranking. The recent cycle of oil boom (from about April 2007 to date, excluding the period from October 2008 to September 2009 when oil prices declined) is particularly egregious.
4. Tropical geography, small or large population, area size, culture, multi-ethnicity and colonialism are not significant reasons for Nigeria’s poor economic performance. Poor governance and corruption are largely responsible for the poor development and pervasive poverty in Nigeria.
5. Nigeria lags behind most of her peers at independence in terms university enrollment and major human development indicators. For instance only 4.3% of Nigerian youth have opportunity for university education compared to 37.5% for Chile, 33.7% for Singapore and 16.5% for Brazil. The “crawling progress” in tertiary education in Nigeria is one of the key factors why most of her former peer nations have outpaced her in global economic performance and ranking, and it is a classic example of the cost of “imprudent choices” and profligacy.
6. A renter economy like that of Nigerian sows the seeds for its implosion if it fails to advance into a productive economy. Nigeria’s Big Problem is the failure of politics to deliver the right environment in which a productive economy can thrive outside of the extraction of natural resources that fuels the destructive choices of the ruling elite. If Nigeria is able to sort out its political mess, it can improve its chances of getting a productive economy that delivers the benefits of growth in the form of jobs and improved incomes to all its citizens.
7. The current generation of youth can change the trajectory of Nigeria’s development if they are “no longer prepared to be spectators watching the world go by, but want to be ‘players’, to make a difference…and begin to question and overturn the status quo and established new norms in the governance of the country.”
8. The generation of youth that decides to save Nigeria from its cycles of disastrous and destructive choices promoted by the older generations is the Turning Point Generation. This will happen when the youth generation realizes that politics is the root cause of the country’s repeated failures. The turning point is the point of restoration of Nigeria’s dignity.
9. For Nigeria’s dignity to be restored the youth generation must build a coalition of entrepreneurial minds ready to ask and respond to the question “What does it take for nations to become rich?”
10. The current youth generation can define a new character and quality of politics in Nigeria and the quality of governance outcomes. They can birth a New Nigeria devoid of all negatives that have inhibited the country’s greatness. To do this, the youth must understand and engage the stunted political context and turn the country around into a mature democracy by creating a new political context in which citizens’ demand for good governance and accountability begins to compel those who govern to persistently make choices that will more likely improve the outcomes of economic management for the larger number of Nigerians. The current youth generation must decide whether they are ready to play the role change agents or adopt the safer option of “siddon look.” There is no better time to make such life changing decisions than the day of graduation from a tertiary institution.
Whilst some people may chastise Mrs. Ezekwesili for the offending sentence in her lecture, I do not think that anybody who is knowledgeable about the political economy of Nigeria vis-à-vis those of her peers at independence and other oil exporting countries will question her epistle. However, while the current youth generation has a critical role to play in the restoration of Nigeria’s dignity, the task is for all Nigerians, particularly the political leaders who must improve governance, reduce corruption, promote accountability and transparency in the use of the country’s oil and other revenues, and invest prudently in areas that benefit the poor. This is how we can ensure a significant, sustainable and measurable reduction in the incidence, depth and severity of poverty in Nigeria within the next decade, and reverse the failures of the past five decades.
It is hearth-breaking and degrading that with its vast oil wealth, about 64% of Nigerian still live below the poverty line (on less than $1.25 or N200 a day) and the country is still list in the group of “low human development” countries and “failed” countries (i.e. those in “alert” group) - Nigeria ranks 31/187 in terms of human development and 14/177 in terms of degree of state failure. There is no doubt that our dignity in the international arena has plummeted over the past 30 years. The restoration of the lost dignity is a task that must be done. This is the essence of Mrs. Ezekwesili’s epistle.
Dr. Emmanuel Ojameruaye [email protected] 20th February, 2013
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of SaharaReporters
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