Nigeria: Economy Monopolization

By

Ismail Alfa Abdulrahim

Ismail_alfa@yahoo.com

 

Affluence,        is not a function of the availability of resources at one’s disposal, rather, an effectiveness inn utilization of the so - called “resources” to meet the social and psychological needs of individuals, persons or nation in general. However, historically, agriculture provided the resources for financing economic development in Nigeria; long before crude oil became the major source of revenue and foreign exchange – earnings.

 

Before the discovery of oil in 1956, Nigeria was famous for her agrarian economy through which, cash crops like; palm produce (oil and Kernel), cocoa, rubber, timber. Groundnut e.t.c were exported, thus making Nigeria a major exporter in that respect. Indeed, agriculture is the bedrock of every economic development, and it is doubtful to attain a meaningful level of economic progress without developing the agricultural sector. This sector offers vast opportunities and employs over seventy percent (70%) of the Nigerian labour force, added to it; is the provision of the basic food requirements for the country with it over one hundred and thirty million (130 million) people, as well as providing raw materials for local industries. The exportation of the agricultural products mentioned above, helped Nigerian in taking gigantic strides towards her economic growth thereby culminating in development of sites and structures particularly in the health and educational sector; instances can be given to the likes of some first generation Universities being constructed before the oil discovery.

 

Going down memory lane; upon the discovery of crude oil and its subsequent exportation, there was a boom on the economy of Nigeria as it accounted for over eighty percent (80%) of the country’s foreign exchange earnings. The discovery to some extent assisted the country’s economic prosperity, but has now become the bane of Nigeria’s economic growth. The fact being that, the money earned by a country with less or little effort; through petroleum, resulted in the abandoning of the agricultural sector.

 

In addition to the above, the country’s situation is persistently precarious. The economy remains in dire need of reflection to boost consumer aggregate demand and overall productivity. The labour market remains a serious threat. Simply put, the external debt service remained high and unsustainable; save for the recent “debt relief”, (equally a ‘wait and see’ situation). All these have emerged as a result of negligence to agricultural sector via the advent of oil. Like the proverbial saying; “Nigerian government killed the goose that was laying the golden eggs”. Infact, the agricultural sector was into total state of neglect; sustained at the peasant level, due to huge revenue generated from exportation of crude oil. Obviously agriculture ranks second; as Nigeria’s most important earner of foreign exchange after petroleum, and contributes about thirty eight percent (38%) to Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

 

Very sad to note however, the decision of Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to fix high price per barrel, as that was the beginning of Nigeria’s economy metamorphosis into monopolistic economy. This development resulted into a contributory factor to neglect of agricultural sector. There should be no physical reason why development should not occur. For instance, from the semi – arid north to the tropical south of the country, each region offers some comparative agricultural advantage. The variety of corps grown is immense; ranging form sorghum, rice, Cassava, sweet potato, cocoa, Palm oil, Cashews, cotton, rubber etc. Fish products such as shrimps are also becoming increasing important. In spite of this abundance, however, there are problems in productivity that reflect the small – scale nature of farming methods and techniques; inadequacy of facilities of agricultural processes is equally a bane.

 

For some decades now, the World Bank has provided about two billion dollars ($2bn) for Nigerian agricultural – development – projects, essentially to raise production among small – scale farmers and to improve standard of living in rural areas. The question therefore remains “why is Nigeria yet to attain the level of food self – sufficiency? Rather than making a wise investment of the revenue accrued from the downstream sector, Nigeria’s leaders indulged din the profligacy attitude and expenditure - oriented programmes motivated by  “ Money – is – no – problem “ syndrome; embarking on numerous economical unwise projects, thereby costing the nation several millions of hard- earned currencies. Then the romance with corruption began and it soars higher and higher as those who have access to the corridors of power scrambled for a piece of the “national cake", without the interest of the nation and its people at heart (Selfishness and overzealousness).

 

Affluence as mentioned earlier, is not created by the very presence of resources but lies in the effective utilization of such, to provide necessities and to [improve the standard of living. If that is case, it is really quite pathetic for a country like Nigeria; that is endowed with vast, fertile and available land coupled with good climatic conditions, turns from being a producer and exporter to one of the largest importers of food products, “what a shame, what an insult”. As long as we decline to utilize our lands and materials as means for our agricultural and industrial production, then the socio – political option left to us would be to depend on the IMF stringent modalities of giving soft – loans indefinitely. Meanwhile, Nigeria being the sixth largest oil exporting nation; in the classification of the organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), has distracted the nation from making more discoveries and exploration of other resources that nature has endowed the nation with. A typical example of such was, when the likes of countries from the continent of Asia namely; Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and even countries in Africa, especially, Cote D’ivoire purchases oil palm seedlings from Nigeria years ago are now leaders in the export of these produce. “What a reflection; a sad tale indeed”. Need we want to know? Malaysia, presently, is the world’s largest producer of this same palm oil. How? Through simple logical reasoning and the answer to it is, simply, “diversification and resource(s) utilization”. Yet, in Nigeria the opposite is always the case; economy monopolitarism has washed away any chance for a positive and liberal approach to a sustainable and reliable economy. Nigeria as a nation is in an urgent need of responsive leaders that are well – focused to the yearnings and aspirations of its citizenry and who are optimistic about the future of the nation called “Nigeria”.

 

It is pertinent to note that, as long as it refers to agriculture, the Nigerian nation’s boast of all ecological necessities to provide for both domestic and external needs of its citizens and even provide at surplus to requirements (to cushion the effects of long years of dependency on oil revenue) cannot be called to question. A tip of the iceberg for you: do you know that wheat yields in Northern Nigeria is said to be as good as in other parts of the developing world? While in the area of rice production, Nigeria accounts for half the entire of West Africa? But, the irony of all, is that, in 2003 alone, Nigeria was rated second largest importer of rice; spending well over eight – hundred million dollars ($800m). What a real life drama, (abracadabra; the more you look the less you see) Nevertheless, for Nigeria to experience meaningful and effective development, it must adopt an efficient ways of utilizing its resources and pursue excellence in management at all levels of operationalization as well as “swapping and dropping off of non – responsive and irresponsible elements among the operators again, government has to observe the problems of productivity that reflects the small – scale nature of farming in Nigeria, such as, deterioration of soil due to over cropping, tree – felling; climate change that, causes loss of valuable topsoil, as well as provision of a modern day farming equipment to tally with modern ways of farming.

 

This should be through a deliberate, conscious and continuous effort; to support, advise and carry along, the small – scale farmers on how to increase productivity. Trying this assiduously can attract foreign investors for their own within our land. More so, governments’ at all levels in the country should and most restructure other sectors like industries, tourism among others, and fully utilize and harness available resources to meet the demand of the present time. No amount of lip – services or gimmicky will save from this looming disaster that is about to befall us; the earlier we face the reality, the better and easier to tackle the impediments squarely. “There is no other land to belong to and call yours than the fatherland”. Forget that the world saw us as ‘counted before’; we still possessed (at our disposal) what it takes to be ‘counted again’. Many have rise from the ‘dead’. Why can’t we arise Nigeria and Nigerians? This is a candid opinion from a concerned citizen of Nigeria. Thank you and God bless us all as we push through to make Nigeria a nation of pride and abundance in this millennium.  

 

Ismail Alfa Abdulrahim.

Dept. of Mass communication

University of Maiduguri.