INCREASE IN LEVEL OF PRODUCTIVITY, THE ONLY WAY OUT OF NIGERIA'S ECONOMIC CRISIS David Adenekan
David Adenekan
#Iroyinominira
6th October, 2023
"Looking Inward To Increase Our Level Of Productivity Is The Remedial And Immediate Action To Fix Our Economy"
To start with, looking inward is the remedial and immediate action to fix the economy. I have said it in my previous article (Google it online, artificial fixing of the forex market will not last long: A rejoinder to NNPC secures $3Billions loan to stabilize the naira)
Suffice it to say, this is not the best time for "BLAME GAME" because, we are all in it together. The poverty level and suffering of the masses is unspeakable. This government must get to work and save the country from economic catastrophe.
In the eight years of Buhari's Jatijati administration, the flimsy excuse by the ruling party, APC (All Progressives Congress) was sixteen years of bad PDP (People Democratic Party) government.
Today, many in the ruling party has changed the narrative to Tinubu inherited a very bad government from his predecessor, Mohammadu Buhari as if both Tinubu and Buhari are not in the same ruling party and Tinubu was not the architect of Mohammadu Buhari's ascension to presidency in 2015.
Truth be told, it is called poor judgment and collective responsibility.
The so called "Say Buhari and the change mantra "by APC members has now changed to the slogan “Buhari is an abysmal failure” by former Buharist.
What a people!
THE RULING PARTY , APC SHOULD STOP THE "BLAME GAME" , GET SERIOUS AND FIX THE ECONOMY PROBLEM!
I. President Tinubu must take the bull by the horn to rescue our natural resources from the so called cabal and channel it to support and boost our forex market in order to grow our GDP for the betterment of the masses.
Apart from crude oil, we have other resources like natural gas, tin, columbite, uranium, precious stone, gold, coal, gemstone, iron ore, gypsum, bitumen, bentonite, coal and bartey, lead and zinc, kaolin, Talc, Rock Salt, platinum and diamonds that we can harness or exploit to increase our level of productivity and close the wide gap , as in the deficit in our balance of payment .
Most of these resources are not in the hands of government. A lot of illegal mining is going on in the country. Some of these illegal mining are being perpetrated by people in the current ruling party, APC. It cannot be business as usual if we truly want to grow the economy.
2. What is the group managing director of NNPCL, Mele Kolo Kyari that he inherited from Buhari still doing in his government. He is part of the cabal that plunged Nigeria into this terrible mess. He ought to have been fired; and hire a better hand to re-engineer the sector for better productivity. Preferably from the north for balance of power.
3. Almost forty percent of the volumes from our crude oil are being pilfered away through illegal bunkering and monumental corruption on daily basis. This illegal bunkering must stop. NNPCL already has a technology that can spot illegal refineries in the country but it was not put into use during the eight years of Buhari's jatijati regime. It is time to do the needful and give the military a marching order to clear every illegal activity in the oil sector without exception.
Also, the too many waste in our liquified natural gas need to be fixed. According to NNPC report of December 2022, Nigeria Flared as much as 10.027 billion standard cubit feet (SCF) of gas in December 2022 as against the 9.3 billion it burnt in the previous month. Can you imagine the enormous loss in the production of natural gas that would have translated into huge revenue for the government. This is fixable and it is not a rocket science to get it done. It is doable, if Tinubu wants to write his name on a marble stone as the one that puts Nigeria back on the right path of nation building.
4. Emergency food security summit to be attended by all stakeholders like farmers, captains of agro allied industries, cooperative societies, insurance companies, banking industries, technocrats (food scientists), state governors, local government chairmen and traditional rulers to brainstorm on how best to save our country from acute food shortage and turn our mass agrarian land to food basket for Sub Sahara Africa. This is another way to increase our foreign exchange earnings and support our forex market. This is also doable with determination and clear vision.
I am not under illusion that in Nigeria of today insecurity is the challenge, a layer that must be removed before we can begin to think about talking and tackling agricultural problems
because it's in itself the main stumbling block to achieving and attaining next level in agricultural sustainability.
5. The removal of oil subsidy is wrong timing. Why? There was no immediate palliative to cushion the effects. I would have waited for our refineries to be up and running before I remove the subsidy; and it will not be removed at once to avoid a wide inflationary gap that defies all logics. Methinks, this just comes across as one of a commonsense dimension.
Yes, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu goofed by removing the oil subsidy the way he did. It is time to learn from it and fix the problem.
As we speak have they not introduced another oil subsidy regime?
Do you know that, except the price of diesel, the current price of petroleum per litter is subsidized?
Do we not notice there is a wide disparity in price between per litter of petroleum and diesel?
Yes, Tinubu Administration has introduced another subsidy regime!!!
Hmmm, what has now changed?
Is Tinubu administration not robbing Peter to pay Paul?
Who is fooling who in Nigeria?
Moving forward, President Tinubu will need to fight the cabal (he is also part of the cabal and must let go) to rescue our natural resources from their hands.
Yes, we have enough resources to kick start the economy on a good footing.
In the final analysis, crushing the cabal and himself is a titanic battle and Tinubu must be ready for the worse.
Hmmm, will Tinubu be ready to lay down his life to save a sinking, almost ruined country called Nigeria and write his name on a marble stone???
Time will tell.
David Adenekan Is The Editor Of Shekinah International Magazine And A Media Expert. He Writes From Chicago, Illinois.
davidadenekan5**********
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- 6 Oct, 2023
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