Policy makers in Nigeria have not been short of the right ideas and posture for the country’s development as the following snapshot of our national planning history bears out:
1917- Colonial Government promulgated the Township ordinance
(1st, 2nd & 3rd class townships continued till 1952 when local government councils were established in Western Nigeria).
1962-1968 – First National Development Plan
Capital Budget NGN1,353 million ; Focus assemblage of agricultural produce for export.
1970-1974 – Second National Development Plan
Post civil war; Capital Budget NGN2,051 million; Focus on rehabilitation of post war economic activities.
1975-1980 – Third National Development Plan
Capital Budget NGN32 billion; Focus on reduction of regional disparities, rural electrification, establishment of 9 River Basin Development Authorities.
1981-1985 – Fourth National Development Plan
Formulated by civilian government to balance development in different sectors of the economy and in different geographical parts, emphasized rural development, >12,000 km of feeder roads, 5,000 boreholes and wells, significant rural electrification, education etc.
1985 onwards – Post Fourth National development Plan
Promotion of productive activities, DFRRI, 90,000 km of feeder roads, more rural development etc.
This trend has continued till today’s ballyhoo of talk to become one of the top 20 economies in the world in the next few years (by the year 2020). However, it is obvious that it is not the sound bites or political posturing but our behaviour and implementation that will determine the actual outcome of the best-laid plans.
Page 3 of the National Development Plan 1962-8 (published by the Federal Ministry of Economic Development, Lagos) notes that: “The present plan recognizes explicitly the possibilities of using planning as a deliberate weapon of social change by correcting defects in existing social relations in various spheres of production, distribution and exchange..”
The Second National Development Plan 1970-8 published by the Federal Ministry of Information, Lagos, says on page 37 that: “The basic objective of planning in Nigeria is not merely to accelerate the rate of economic growth…it is also to give her an increasing measure of control over her own destiny…”
This means that to ultimately achieve a sustainable boost to our socio-economic fortunes, self-sufficiency and national pride we cannot shy away from protecting our vast resources from exploitative “development” partners because our destiny is controlled in part by how our natural resources, including human resources are utilized.
In spite of all these erudite plans, Nigeria appears to be stuck in the throes of a subsistent infrastructure system and is still unable to unlock its vast human and capital resources for the benefit and greater good for all. Having been in impotent existence for many decades, these plans have lost all meaning to our individual and collective consciousness. They have been massaged, word-smithed and jingled to no avail. Something else must be the problem then.
We can point at some obviously noticeable culprits such as weaknesses in our culture of policy implementation, contrived mediocrity, inadequate capital financing and corruption; but these plague other countries too and are likely to be just a part of the puzzle. So our thought process should be extended beyond the obvious to digging deeper in search of some more fundamental flaws.
Are our corporate ethos and value system as a country sufficient to deliver what we covet from other cultures? Why is our state of affairs, even within our economic peer group so embarrassingly vapid?
In “The Path to Economic Freedom” written by late Chief Obafemi Awolowo in 1968 the late sage advocated for “… the recognition that all the able-bodied citizens of the State are workers or labourers of various gradations and skills, and that this being so all such able-bodied citizens who work or render services to and in the country are entitled to remunerations, … ; the effective co-ordination of all economic activities and the direct control of economic forces and the sustained pursuit of a full employment policy (for Nigerians)…”
What we have today is the employment of foreigners, occasionally honing their skills here with experimentation, gaining valuable experience and doing work that Nigerians should be doing – because our country does not have the right infrastructure or incentives for maintaining professional discipline and standards across the board.
Questions must be asked about the lucidity, rationality and long-term sustainability of going to South Africa to hire an architect to design a home in Nigeria (population 150 million) that will be built by Ghanaians and Togolese (combined population less than 15 million) tradesmen who will be supported by Chinese labourers ! Why do foreign workers appear better and why are Nigerian professionals that are appreciated or even celebrated abroad unable to ply their trade satisfactorily at home?
Sadly, by subscribing to the belief that only foreign factors of production can serve our “cultured” taste, the private and public sector support the scandalous atrophy of the Nigerian worker’s competences. When public and private sector sponsors prefer to deal with foreigners or those who have foreign partners, the much-needed professional development, vocational dignity and business discipline of the Nigerian worker cannot develop. Hence we should consider much more seriously whether or not our individual and corporate complicity in denying the Nigerian worker valuable experience aligns with our desire to assert an independent socio-economic future.
I will argue with emphasis that the “sophisticated” minority truly cannot rise above the professional, moral and socio-cultural squalor that draws them to foreign thrills? That we will sooner than later rue the day we acquired the taste for private jets, Champaign and Dubai frolics. To save us from ourselves, we must focus on correcting the causes of our decadence urgently so that we can create our own Dubai here and turn palm wine into a global, high demand commodity.
Foreign workers are more attractive in part because of the perceived superior quality of their learning institutions and professional discipline. These are integral parts and a reflection of their home culture. Not because they have two heads but because of enforced professional, moral and legal standards in their homelands. How long will it take us to figure out that it is because we choose not to enhance or enforce our laws and standards that our sense of self worth has waned and that the true yield on our vast natural resources and human capital will continue to be decimated if the bulk of the value added effort is not carried out indigenously?
In this regard, could it be that our tendency to allow the decay of our educational institutions, leave companies that have “big men” backers off the hook when they abandon contracts and the “ejo sir” mentality of the smaller ones that botch little jobs be contributing more to the anarchic situation than we are able to see or willing to admit? Could our tendencies to ignore theft and fraud in high places be causing more harm than just missing funds?
Are the consequences of not enforcing ethical, moral, professional standards and statutes (including who can practice certain trades and professions in Nigeria), as vigorously as other countries do be hurting us more than estimated? By ignoring the need to protect certain societal values in tort, have we unwittingly furthered our own tolerance for indigenous mediocrity, lack of self-belief and damning neo-colonial mentality?
Nigerians have been mesmerized into such a stupor of self-doubt that any idea contrary to the belief that only imported capital and labour can take us out of the woods is heresy. Republic of Benin with a population 40 times less than ours now provides us with brick layers and plumbers! Other countries have found clever ways of dumping their unemployment problems on us while our citizens suffer professional degeneration and our authorities slumber. Yet the simple determination to let the existing laws and statutes work is probably the single most important step needed. “Giant of Africa?”
There is nothing new in highlighting the need for self-sufficiency. What is confounding is that in spite of several national plans espousing this since independence, we have done the contrary over and over in different guises. Can we intelligibly expect different results?
It seems that if the flow of information, knowledge and ideas had been frozen right after the First National Development plan (1968) and all we have been doing since then is to implement and guard the spirit of that plan and the laws of the land, Nigeria would be a more advanced country today, than it is. So of what use have subsequent plans and legislative effort subsequent to 1968 been?
Unfortunately, “Nigeria is not on track to meet its Millennium Development Goals because of a lack of policy coordination between the federal, state, and local governments, a lack of funding commitments at the state and local levels; and a lack of available staff to implement and monitor projects on health, poverty, and education.” US Department of State (2009)
This politically (diplomatically?) correct summary of our condition should not be news to many who will bother to read this article.
“Safe and convenient water supplies save time and arrest the spread of a range of serious diseases… a leading cause of infant mortality and malnutrition. Electricity powers health and education services, and boosts the productivity of small businesses. Road networks provide links to global and local markets. Information and communications technologies democratize access to information and reduce transport costs by allowing people to conduct transactions remotely” – Africa Infrastructure Country Diagnostic, (2009).
These bits of observation contain all the buzzwords and promises that even the most despotic government in Nigeria has made. We cannot plead ignorance, so why have the gaps between our ability to independently provide these basic services relative to the rest of the world widened steadily since the 60s? We know a lot of things and are not short of ideas but finding the ethical, moral or legal strength to do what is right and required appears to be the challenge.
Tunde Sodade
