Soludo: We Are Not Financially Literate

By

Abdullah Musa

kigongabas@yahoo.com

Nigerians are different from the rest of the world. Others may vilify their leaders, but we vilify the nation. Others feel the burning desire to make their nations great, we only see ourselves, at best our tribe. We feel that we are distinguishable from the nation: that the nation may die while we prosper.

We have a healthy appetite for democratic and other forms of debate, this would have been an enviable achievement were it not for the fact that we may , in most cases not be driven by desire to know what the limits are; meaning not to break the glass while shining the cup.

To many Nigerians, life is static: yesterday, today and tomorrow should all look the same, no change. It might be that yesterday was hell. But to our way of living, we prefer known hell to a new paradise. And there is the mind-numbing herd- instinct when it comes to the interplay of government on the one hand, and the management of the economy on the other.

No any other group of people bought into colonialism like we did. The reader may feel exasperation that I am belittling the attainment and the contribution of those who fought for our independence. But there is an irony here. We worked for self government, but unfortunately, the self had died, and as such there was governance without the governed. Our case could be described as the similar to that of the heroine in one of James Hadley Chase’s novel. She was abducted by a gang, whose leader was a woman, and her deranged son was a killer. The heroine, a daughter to a multi-millionaire was kidnapped for ransom, but in the end was kept under sedation so that the deranged son could make love to her. By the time police caught up with the gang and killed the deranged son, the girl leaned and touched his cheek, telling her father: he is still with me; for she was pregnant by him.

What colonization did to us was to rob us of initiative. We first of all came to accept that we could be spectators in our own governance. We refuse to contribute to the common purse, and believe that we can only take where government is concerned. This mind- set to my understanding stems from the previous attitude where the white man was running the machinery of government, and our participation was only through compulsion.

This has come to be the dominant attitude; results are only obtainable if force is applied, for in the exercise of democratic freedom and respect for the rule of law, we go over the bar, right into the arena of the absurd. Though we should respect the process of law, it beats my mind to understand how a court would restore one to position of authority while he was caught stealing public funds! This looks like restoring a dangerous weapon back to the hands of a mad man just because the certificate describing him as such has not been signed! Our focus today is however not with the court process but with our understanding of our economic relations. You may note I refer to economic relations not economic management. I do not know why, but it seems extremely difficult for Nigerians to understand that we live in world with different countries and nationalities. I am being extremely absurd, isn’t it?

The average Nigerian seems to believe that it is ordained for him to go to foreign nations to buy goods for consumption in Nigeria, while his own country sells crude oil to get money to pay for those goods. If he is denied   official window to execute such trade, then he brings it in through smuggling! The men of Customs and Excise had made personal fortunes out of this desire of Nigerians to eat their cakes and have it.

Many Nigerians are ignorant of the workings of modern nations and international trade; talk less of understanding how the value of a currency is arrived at. Were it possible to believe that Chief Obasanjo was not driven by greed in some of his reforms, one would have said that he adopted the brazen attitude because you cannot convince the average Nigerian to believe in his own nation.

On the other hand, there are the educated elite. There are those who had prospered by cornering power, or access to those in power. With governments in charge of the commanding heights of the economy, they could rip-off corporations and treasuries, ensuring comfortable living for themselves and families. This group may understand the mechanics of how to run a modern vibrant nation. But they would refuse to understand because planning and the discipline associated with it does not tally with their care-free lifestyle. And in this, the masses are willing accomplices. And that is why Nigerians may be described as highly undisciplined people. This may explain the emergence and the attitude of the duo of Buhari/ Idiagbon of old.

Nigerians believe oil is forever. That being the so, all you need to do is to       just sell oil, finance consumption, pay no tax, and ensure that you sell refined petrol for N10 in current form within Nigeria, while it sells for N100 in Niger and other neighbors.

So the battle rages on in Nigeria between those who believe that the future has to be planned, and those that believe that the old order will subsist till kingdom come. We are under compulsion to understand the workings of international economics. Who drives international trade and why? What is our relationship with them: as at now, and what will it be in ten, twenty years from now? With global warming, search for alternative fuels, change in lifestyles, what is the fate of nations with bloated civil service, and rapacious politicians if economic fortunes nose-dive as a consequence? Nigerians would prefer not to know. The self-serving elites; those who made fortunes hoodwinking the masses, will always strive to counter rationality with sentiments: to cry wolf where there is none; to seek to chain us to one spot while even the earth moves as a result of earth quakes; to literally force us to slumber throughout our lifetimes.

Soludo has the un-enviable task of convincing the business class, dominated by illiterates and semi-literates that he means well for the nation. What of the chance however that Soludo being an employee of World Bank is enacting policies that would ruin us for the benefit of his bosses, the white men? That is a possibility, but who asked you to give him the job in the first instance? And like I hinted earlier, we have to define our relationship with Europe and America. Granted they colonized us earlier, but is that the relationship forever? India was also colonized, but are they carrying the same mentality as we do? While insisting that we can only do barter trade, we cannot train our kids to love sciences in order to be able to earn a living when oil becomes really the curse or is no more.

The past, so says one wise man, should be a springboard not a hammock. With us however, it is more than a hammock, it is a tomb; with us safely tucked inside, beyond challenge.