Question: So, if we drastically reduce the machinery and cost of governance so that it eats up no more than 10% of each annual Budget, what do we do with the remaining 90%?
Answer: We do with it what the progressive nations of the world do with the bulk of their money. We use it for massive investments in the following fields:
• Security
• Infrastructure
• Industry
• Education
• Health
• Social Welfare
The first thing to understand is that the idea of “sharing the national cake” is totally false and misleading. “National cake” is dead!
The nation’s income is not for sharing but for investing and producing, for making Nigeria a good and decent place to be, and making it possible for all Nigerians to live a good and decent life.
That is the bottom line that every nation on earth is working for.
How do we achieve it?
As we have stated repeatedly, no matter what system a nation says it operates—capitalist, socialist, free trade, planned economy, mixed economy, etc.—its government has the same critical role to play in setting the national agenda and guiding its onward progress. There are duties and functions that only government can perform. Until government performs those duties, no private companies or individuals can perform theirs.
To repeat: Government must provide an enabling environment, with enabling laws, rules and regulations, a level playing field, incentives including direct financial investments, and close monitoring and enforcement—and then government must step aside and watch thousands of private enterprises bloom and flourish. That is what is required for development in this 21st century.
Government’s role in development, which demands massive investment of financial and human resources, may be viewed under the six categories listed above:
1. SECURITY:
Law and order, safety of property and of life, is first and foremost. Without it there can be no progress. Law enforcement requires:
• excellent intelligence services that will monitor, infiltrate and preempt criminal activities, complemented by sharp, dedicated criminal investigation units (CID)
• a well trained, well paid police force, fully equipped with patrol cars, motorcycles, tow trucks, helicopters and telecommunications
• a judiciary that works.
2. INFRASTRUCTURE:
• Electric power: Government has handed over the provision of electric power to private investors—a wise move. Now government must stay on them and help them (with incentives) in every possible way to see that this critical service is provided non-stop both to private homes and factories. Industrialization is possible only with sufficient and steady supply of electric power. Even after power generation and distribution are in private hands, government may retain a financial interest (investment for profit) in them while monitoring their operations.
• Urban planning: Cities should be laid out sensibly, zoned for residential, commercial, industrial, and recreational uses, with numerous, generous open spaces for parks and playgrounds. Zoning should be strictly enforced. Every structure violating the zoning laws and Master Plan must be bulldozed, and government officials who approved such violations should be so severely punished that the obnoxious practice will stop.
• Avenues, boulevards and streets must be wide, planned for motor vehicular traffic as well as pedestrians, not for cows and pushcarts, and all-season surfaced. Go to Beijing and see what they have for streets.
• A universal underground sewage disposal system that sucks in everything and carries it all out into the oceans is an absolute requirement. Surface open gutters, let alone gutters that don’t flow, constitute a national disgrace anywhere in the 21st century. We have to study and copy how the cities of the progressive world have structured their sewage systems.
• Roads: a solid network of all-season roads and bridges intended to carry the heaviest truck and trailer traffic. Study and copy the technical quality—the understructure, surfacing, layout and drainage of the best highway systems in the world in Germany, Japan, USA, China, etc. And maintain every inch of these roads on a daily basis, 365 days of every year.
• Railways: trains and railways preceded motor cars by a century; and despite the popularity and convenience of cars and trucks, rail is still cheaper, better for hauling freight, more energy-efficient, less polluting of the environment, and less accident-prone. The overwhelming majority of the world’s progressive nations rely more on rail. A dense and extensive rail network will serve Nigeria best.
• Urban Mass Transit: a light rail system for moving millions of people rapidly to and from work and leisure in the cities will complement the inter-city rail network.
3. INDUSTRY:
Government must be both an investor in industry, and a cheerleader and monitor. In the column “Nigeria Must Industrialize—Or Die” (31 Aug 2010), I enumerated and explained six essential items that must be part of our Industrialization Master Plan, namely: iron and steel complexes to feed heavy machine industries; oil refineries; a petro-chemical industry; large-scale agriculture; executive management training; and a system for indigenizing all the imported technology. Government must be responsible for all six items, whether alone or in collaboration with private investors.
• To be continued
Onwuchekwa Jemie
