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Nigeria and the New Global Economy By Victor E. Dike
The economic and financial crisis, which started in the United States in September 2008, has rattled markets and economies (developed, developing and underdeveloped) around the globe. And because the world is linked inextricably by globalization the crisis has continued to dominate global discussions on global economy. These days one would hardly flip on the television or browse through national and international newspapers and magazines without stumbling upon headline news of how political leaders are scrambling for strategies to mitigate the impact of the financial crisis on domestic and global economy. The article provides a critical analysis of the global financial crisis and its impact on the Nigerian economy. It focuses on the microeconomic implications (individuals, households and firms, labor, markets for goods and services, etc) and the macroeconomic impacts (national income, budget, growth, etc). Keeping abreast of the developments in the new global economy will enable nations to plan and prioritize better to develop their domestic economies and to deal with future challenges of the global economy. However, without effective intervention the crisis rocking the new global economy could transform Nigeria’s longstanding economic problems into a social crisis.
The New Global Economy
The new global economic and financial crisis has become a major concern for political leaders, economists, and managers of financial institutions around the globe. Addressing the global financial crisis would, however, require knowing the root causes of crisis. There are some disagreements as to ‘what constitute a crisis’, but as related to the issues in discourse Eichengreen and Portes (1987) have defined crisis ‘as a sharp change in asset prices that leads to distress among financial markets participants.’ But as Eichengreen (2004) has observed, it is not very ‘clear where to draw the line between sharp and moderate price changes or how to distinguish severe financial distress from financial pressure.’
Analysts and scholars have noted myriad causes of the global financial crisis including excessive and corrupt practices of ‘sub prime mortgage lending’ (that led to high mortgage default and delinquency rates in the United States), George W. Bush’s “hands-off approach to regulation” (greed and unregulated capitalism) and massive funding of the “war on terrorism” and the erroneous belief that “free market” principle is perfect, fair and efficient (The New York Times, November 20, 2008). It has, however, been noted in academic journals that financial instability is caused largely by inconsistent monetary and fiscal policy, politicians spending and borrowing excessively, inconsistent and unsustainable macroeconomic policy, weak financial systems and institutions and poor structure of international financial markets (Eichengreen 2004). The global financial crisis may have been caused by nature or regular economic boom-burst cycle.
The economic and social impact of the current global financial crisis is enormous. It has damaged global markets and economies around the world: the industrialized western economies, the newly industrializing economies of East Asia and China, Latin American, the Middle-East and African economies. It has affected business operations and investments by way of reducing domestic and international demand for goods and services and pushing up unemployment as many industries and organizations are shedding off workers. The global economic downturn has also affected national income and budgets, exchange rates and interest rates, and slowed down economic growth in societies around the globe.
As global economies are falling like dominoes political leaders and managers of international financial institutions are scrambling for strategies to mitigate the impact of the crisis. The United States took the first step in rolling out bailout plans of $700billion for its troubled financial institutions and recently China announced an estimated stimulus package of $586billion, Japan $270billion, and Germany $30billion. The British government has adopted mostly a fiscal (reduction in tax and interest rates) stimulus while the World Bank plans to provide up to $100billion in new aid to developing countries. However, the Federal Reserve chairman of the United States, Ben Bernanke, has warned that there would be no quick economic turnaround from the damages inflicted on the world economy even with the United States’ stimulus plans.
But as serious nations are adopting strategies to revamp their damaged economies the leaders of Nigeria who talk from the two sides of their mouth are still playing the Ostrich, despite the negative impact of the global financial crisis on oil prices, national income and budget. The leaders of Nigeria are always running away from the stack reality that each country, to a greater extent, is responsible for its prosperity or failure and backwardness or progress. As Milton Friedman has observed, “there is no such thing as a free lunch.” The effort every leader is making to spur its own domestic economy speaks volume of his or her concern for the welfare of the citizens, and determines the health of the nation.
Measuring the Nigerian Economy
Measuring the performance of the Nigerian economy is an up hill task because of ineffective institutions and paucity of data. The wide spread impact of the new global economic crisis has clearly demonstrated how interconnected the world has really become, as economic forces in a faraway country would affect nations thousands of miles away. There are, however, variations in living standards around the globe, as economic growth rates and productivity vary from nation to nation. Some countries are poor, some are fairly well off, and others are rich, just as some individuals are poor, some are fairly well off, and others are considered rich. But everything is relative, and that is certainly the case with poverty. For instance, although “millions of Americans can’t make a decent living” (Schwarz, October 1998), what most people in the United States today regard as “stark poverty…would seem like luxury in parts of Asia and Africa” (Mansfield 1977). Similarly, a poor person in Nigeria might not be perceived as such by people from other African countries in dire economic need.
If one were to measure how a person in any society is doing economically and socially, one would first look at the person’s income as one with a high income could afford life’s necessities and luxuries. However, “inadequate income is a strong predisposing condition for an impoverished life” (Sen 1999). And when judging whether the economy of a nation is doing well, or poorly, it is common to compare the total income of everyone in the economy with another one or the global economy. The most common economic measuring tool is the Gross National Product (GNP) or the total income earned by a nation’s permanent residents [the nationalist] at a given period. The average income of a citizen of any country is the GNP per capita, calculated by dividing the GNP with the population. GNP, however, differs from Gross Domestic Product (GDP) or the market value of all final goods and services produced within a country in a given period of time (Mankiw 2001), by including income that a nation’s citizens earn abroad and excluding income that foreigners earn in the country. For instance, if a United States citizen works temporarily in Nigeria, his or her production is part of Nigeria’s GDP, but it is not part of the GNP (It is part of United States’ GNP.)
Given the indices currently used by international organizations, Nigeria’s current GNP per capita of about $260 is below that of less affluent countries such as Bangladesh with a per capita income of about $370. Nigeria’s low per capita income compares with those of smaller African countries with less endowment in natural resources, such as Tanzania with a per capita income of $260 and Mozambique of about $220. African countries that enjoy impressive standard of living are South Africa with a per capita income of about $3,170 and Botswana with a per capita income of $3,240. Nigeria’s poor per capita income becomes more frightening when compared with those of some western nations. For instance, in 2007, the GDP of the United States was about $13.8 trillion with per capita GDP of about $46,000, and the per capita GDP of Britain was put at about $23,590. This is not to mention the impressive economic performances of the four Asian Tigers of Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong that are said to have “had a stretch of sustained economic growth ranging from 6-10 per cent annually” (The Great Courses, October 2008) in the years before the impact of the global financial crisis. Nigeria’s GDP in 2007 was $166 billion in 2007.
The Central Bank of Nigeria could argue that has economy improved as it recently stated on its Website that the economy recorded an average annual growth rate of 6.6 per cent in the past five years, up from 5.5 per cent and that inflation declined briefly to single digit, but went up to 14 per cent in July 2008 (National Bureau of Statistics). Thus the CBN appears to have been having difficulties controlling inflation and mopping up excess liquidity in the system because of the irrational spending habits of the politicians and the monthly disbursement to the federal, states and local governments.’
One of the problems with managing the Nigerian economy is that the nation’s fiscal policies do not synchronize with its monetary policies. Economic principles are not working in Nigeria’s environment -the forces of demand and supply hardly determines prices in the society. For instance, while reduction in global demand for oil is forcing down oil prices globally, oil prices are not going down in Nigeria. The federal government, which controls the prices of petroleum products, has refused to reduce oil prices with the flimsy excuse that domestic prices are not deregulated (ThisDay, November 24, 2008). Weak institutions and poor infrastructure have combined with years of unreasoned monetary and fiscal policies to damage the economy and eroded productivity.
As Mankiw (2001) has observed, a nation’s standard of living is determined, among other things, by the economic condition of the nation and the productivity of her citizens or the quantity of the goods and services that a worker can produce for each hour of work. A country may prosper if her citizens (leaders and followers) are productive and do not possess many anti-growth behaviors, such as corruption and bad work ethic. The mention of work ethic takes us to the issues of values (the beliefs, standards, and principles held by a people about what is right or wrong and the extent to which they are accepted or respected), which are basic element in most organizations and societies. Although there are several aspects of the definition of values most people would agree that a value system of a society, an individual or organization plays an important part on its level of development and progress (see Rokeach 1973 and 1979). As related to social value, the “culture” of a society is also a significant determinant of a nation’s ability to prosper and “shapes individuals’ thoughts about risk, reward and opportunity” (Lindsay 2000).
There are different views of what prosperity is and how to create it. Prosperity could be both a “flow” of income and a “stock” of capital. It is a “flow” of income, which is the ability of a person to purchase a set of goods, or capture value created by someone else; it is also a “stock” of capital, which is the enabling environment that improves productivity (Fairbanks 2000; Sen 1996). Prosperity, therefore, is the ability of an individual, group or nation to provide shelter, nutrition, employment and other material goods that enable the people to live a good life (Ray 1998). Additionally, prosperity helps to create space in the hearts and minds of a people so that they would develop a healthy emotional and spiritual life, and become “unfettered by the every day concern of the material goods they require to survive” (Fairbanks 2000).
Thus the life of any person burdened with the vices of poverty is miserable and short as he or she struggles daily for survival. This is, unfortunately, the case with many people in Nigeria. As the current global economic and financial crisis is expected to affect poor nations with weak economic base and visionless leaders (and individuals without sufficient material and financial resources) more (they could get less development assistance from the developed nations or reduce demand for their goods and services) the long-term effect might exacerbate Nigeria’s longstanding social and economic problems.
The Global Financial crisis and the Nigerian Economy
Although the global financial crisis has affected both poor and rich nations, the severity of the impact on individual countries will vary according to their economic, social, political and cultural settings. Sensing the panic mood in Nigeria shortly after the financial crisis erupted in the United States, and the widespread social and economic effects around the globe, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Charles Soludo, proclaimed that the Nigerian economy, because of its low integration into the global economy, would not suffer serious adverse impact (Vanguard, October 20, 2008). He has since been reassuring the public that “All Nigerian Banks are Safe” and promised that the CBN would do whatever that is necessary to keep the banks healthy (ThisDay, November 1, 2008).
Soludo’s early optimism was dictated by the theory that economies without or with rudimentary financial markets connected or linked with the global economy are less likely to have financial crises. However, everyone knows that he wanted to be positive because expressing doubt on the health of the banking sector would have triggered off serious national panic. The leaders have, however, started to sing a different song as they have realized that the society would not escape unharmed by the global financial crisis because Nigeria is part of the global economy. Gokhale (cato.org, October 14, 2008) has rightly noted that the global financial crisis could slow consumer demand, labor productivity, and trade growth and worsens the prospects of a mild recession.”
In fact, the impact of the global financial crisis has reached the shores of Nigeria as the fear of global economic recession has started to drive down oil prices. According to the Punch of November 21, 2008 oil prices have fallen below $50 a barrel from its peak of $147 a barrel in July 2008. As Nigeria depends precariously on oil revenues the political leaders are now shouting that Nigeria’s economy is “under threat” because $50 is below the $58 oil benchmark for the 2008 Budget. And pressures from the expectation that oil prices could slide further down have forced the federal government to reduce the 2009 budget benchmark to $45 (or lower?) per barrel (BusinessDay, November 24, 2008). And since more than 85 per cent of the monthly allocations to federal, state and local governments are derived from oil revenues the falling oil prices could reduce the amount of monthly allocation in the years ahead. Also the United States, whose ailing economy triggered off the financial global crisis, is among the main importers of Nigeria’s crude oil and any problem in the economies of the nations that trade with Nigeria will negatively affect Nigeria’s earnings. A reduction in demand for made in Nigeria goods and services could destroy the economy as the workers that produce the products will lose their jobs. In fact, the ‘global economic meltdown’ will become a good alibi for Yar’Ardua and his administration for not performing effectively. Also, as unemployment ratchets upwards in the troubled developed economies many Nigerians in Diaspora could be affected and the money they normally remit home for development purposes could be cut off.
While the majority of countries with massive oil wealth have been spending their surplus earning from the rising oil prices on domestic social programs and building infrastructure to improve their economy, Nigeria’s ‘democratic authoritarian government’ has been complaining that it has no money to repair the dilapidated infrastructure and to meet the demand of the people. For instance, public school teachers and medical doctors recently went on industrial strike to protest their poor working conditions and the Niger Delta crisis and the power supply problem persist. This is not to mention pervasive corruption and disrespect for rule of law and the fact that many small-scale businesses in the society have collapsed because of erratic electricity supply and their inability to power their private generators because of high costs of fuel. Yet in cities across the nation the politicians are enjoying their lives with looted public funds. A good number of them are said to be flying around the country on their private helicopters and have access to good hospitals abroad, while the masses drive on pot-holed roads, drink dirty water, and die of minor ailments in the poorly equipped local hospitals. Thus as the politicians have “squandered” (The International Herald Tribune, July 21, 2008) Nigeria’s oil wealth, most of the people whose businesses are affected by poor electricity ‘just sit and talk about Nigeria and pray and hope that God will improve their conditions.’
Any discussion of the global financial crisis must include the impact of the political leader on the health of the economy. After more then one year in office Nigerians are yet to feel the positive impact of the Yar’Ardua administration. His Seven Point Agenda has remained a paper tiger and the condition of things appears worsening in the society despite the drumbeat the Vision 2020 program that is rising to a deafening pitch. And notwithstanding the fact that many university and secondary school graduates in Nigeria are roaming the streets in search of jobs that are not available (more than 80 per cent of the youths in Nigeria are unemployed –see below) Yar’Ardua could only decry the “high unemployment rate” (Punch 22, 2008) without offering a solution to the problem. And as leaders of the advanced economies are working tirelessly on strategies to deal with the global financial crisis Yar’Ardua is preoccupied with intimidating and harassing, arresting and detaining journalists who reported on his recent health problems. The latest case is the arrest of the Leadership editors; he is known for abridging the freedom of media with the closure of Channels Television and detention of Jonathan Elendu etc’ (Daily Trust, November 24, 2008). And the recent shameful episode of stopping Nuhu Ribadu (the former EFCC boss) from graduating from the National Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS) after completing the program is another pimple in the face of the administration. All these have exposed the hypocrisy of his administration that has been lauding its commitment to the rule of law (Vanguard, November 23, 2006). And instead of focusing its attention on rehabilitating the nation’s dilapidated infrastructure, the ruling PDP with Yar’Adua as its leader, in its fundraiser party recently, collected over N6billion just to build a new national secretariat in Abuja (ThisDay, November 15, 2008). What a misplacement of priority! As global financial crisis has damaged global economies (reduced demand for goods and services and growth), societies that are properly governed are expected to experience limited impact of the global financial crisis.
The Global Financial Crisis: To Mitigate the Impact on Nigeria
On November 13, 2008, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) warned that the world’s major industrial economies are headed for a major slowdown. Others have noted the world is currently gripped by “Fear of Deflation” (see Goodman, The New York Times, October 31, 2008). As the impact of the global financial crisis has gone wild like a computer virus (shrinking global demand for goods and services), serious nations are adopting pragmatic measures to limit the impact on their local economies. According to the World Bank, no country (poor or rich) is insulated from the impact of the global financial crisis. Currently, the financial crisis has claimed about 22 financial institutions in the United States as many people are having difficulties paying their bills. The society is also said to be experiencing a glut of products as orders for gas-gulping trucks have plummeted and investments in industrial equipment are declining; and it is “going to be struggling with how to put [its economy] back together again for several …years” to come (The New York Times, October 31, 2008).
The question is, if the nations that are militarily, technologically, economically and politically powerful are affected by the economic crisis how would one prevent the financial tsunami from reaching the shores of Nigeria? Nigeria could weather the new global economic and financial storm by adopting aggressive and effective pragmatic measures to stimulate the wobbling economy. Initiating a National Mobility Project-‘long-term investment in the nation’s infrastructure’ (Brooks, November 3, 2008) is among the main strategies. But policy makers could begin with short-term projects such as re-activating the abandoned projects (roads, bridges, etc) and resolving the longstanding electricity, fuel (energy) problems and the dwindling educational standards. A major infrastructural initiative could create employment for the less-educated citizens (and reduce the rising youth unemployment in the society) and generate huge investment demand. Nigeria’s hostile environment discourages business investment and leads to capital flight and other socioeconomic implications. As everyone knows, the political landscape of Nigeria is littered by myriad of abandoned projects and unreasoned policies - those that are hastily put together and poorly implemented. The political leaders do them, we hear and see them, and judge them every day; the gods that are involved in such activities appear to enjoy the nation’s underdeveloped status. But, a smell that one person enjoys gives another individual a headache.
Nigerians share a common belief that the society wants and deserves an effective and efficient government with a pragmatic problem-solver as leader. To improve investors’ confidence and attract local and foreign funds for economic development projects, Nigeria must improve public and corporate governance by seriously tackling corruption. State and local governments that are supposed to be the engine for economic growth and prosperity have failed because of pervasive corruption. Appropriate checks and balances should be instituted to tame corruption. Proper training and adequate motivation should be given to the law enforcement agents (police, etc) that constitute obstacles to effective enforcement of the laws of the land.
As global competition and the use of technology are on the increase Nigeria should begin now to take very seriously investment in education and skill training as no nation can compete effectively in the emerging global market place with poorly educated and skilled graduates. The leading factors of production in the new world economy are said to be technology, knowledge, creativity and innovation. How much land or mineral resources a nation has no longer determines the wealth and progress of nations, but the quality of their human capital. Good education could help people thrive in difficult economic times, but that alone cannot change Nigeria. The policy makers should redesign and implement effective monetary and fiscal policies to provide good incentives to individuals and organizations to invest in the economy, and encourage proper competition to increase the quantity and quality of goods and services.
To avoid incurring huge loses banks and other financial institutions must, however, perform thorough risk assessments before giving out loans to individuals and organizations. The failure to repay loans is among the greatest obstacle to development in Nigeria. As the Vanguard of November 16, 2008 rightly observed, bad loans are hurting banks and other financial institutions in Nigeria because of high rate of loan defaults. It appears that Nigerians do not appreciate the importance of good credit. However, some of the problems confronting the financial institutions are lack credit bureau and reliable national identification card, and lack of verifiable information to authenticate people’s identity and their credit worthiness. Nigeria has for years been working on personal identification scheme; sadly, after gulping a huge sum of money Nigeria still lacks appropriate identification system. “What a Country”! The passage of Freedom of Information (FOI) Bill the corrupt politicians at the National Assembly distrust has the potential to change Nigeria’s cult of secrecy in governance and positively impact development in Nigeria. More important, freedom of information is among the fundamentals of human rights and key to building a stable and efficient democratic society.
Although nations should device strategies to tackle the challenges of the new global economy, no country can tackle the global financial crisis alone. It is a global crisis that requires a global solution. Accordingly, at the end of their Summit on the Financial Markets and the World Economy, in Washington on November 15, 2008, the leaders of the Group of 20 adopted some strategies to combat the global financial crisis, and to prevent it from happening again (Los Angeles Times, Nov 15, 2008). Some of the recommendations for ‘reforming the troubled global financial market’ include instituting a ‘high-quality global standard for accounting that would ensure and strengthen transparency and accountability.’ Yet other strategies include ‘enhancing financial sector regulation; the need for national and regional authorities to work together to enhance regulatory co-operation to ensure market stability; need for nations to adopt tax and interest reductions to stimulate domestic economies; and to reform the international financial institutions, such as the IMF, the World Bank and other multilateral development banks’ (The Washington Post, November 16, 2008). These suggested reforms can be effective only ‘if they are designed in a country-specific context’ with proper consideration given to ‘the domestic political system.’ But as everyone knows, ‘knowing what to do is not enough;’ effective ‘execution of your idea is what matters!’
Concluding Remarks
The new global financial and economic crisis is an added burden on poor nations as their economies are affected directly or indirectly. As Nigeria is among the nations that depend on foreign aid, remittance from abroad and trade with countries at the epicenter of the financial crisis the political leaders of Nigeria should not fold their hands and expect miracle to happen. They should reduce waste and improve social environment with rapid industry and service sector job creation to reduce the rising youth unemployment and underemployment in the society.
According to the Daily Trust of November 26, 2008, the federal government recently acknowledged that about 80 per cent of Nigeria’s youths are unemployed and 10 per cent underemployed. While the report did not state the present rate of unemployment in Nigeria, it noted that the statistics released by the National Planning Commission, show that the rate of unemployment “increased from 18.4 percent in 2000 to 3.2 per cent in 2005 with regional variations of 27.6 percent (urban) in 2000 to 3.4 percent (urban) in 2005 while the rural unemployment rate increased from 14.45 percent to 34 percent in the period under consideration.” Given the worsening conditions of things in the society a simple arithmetic calculation (using the same rate of 3.2 per cent) will show that the nation’s current unemployment rate must be more than 36.8 per cent.
The CBN should, however, improve its financial supervision and regulation to contain the impact of the global financial crisis on domestic financial institutions. The Nigerian economy, which has been comatose for years, needs stronger medicine to recover from coma. As the global financial crisis is expected to be hit harder on people without material and financial security, Nigeria should haste and introduce appropriate social safety nets to promote social stability and security. It must also seriously tackle corruption.
Nigeria cannot achieve greatness without addressing its fundamental problems. With all the twists and turns in the new global economy Nigeria needs leaders committed to tackling the sociopolitical and economic problems facing the nation. There should be massive investment in the non-oil and agricultural sector of the economy, commitment to sustainable monetary and fiscal policies, and sufficient highly skilled personnel to supervise the needed reforms and manage the affairs of the nation. As a nation with weak institutions and poor infrastructure, there will be high economic and human toll on Nigeria if the crisis in the new global economy is not resolved soon; as the economy worsens the level of public discontent is expected to increase. However, the rising insecurity in Nigeria (the rampant bank robberies and kidnapping for ransom in the Niger Delta region) and the cloud of uncertainty surrounding the Yar’Adua administration appear a much bigger threat to Nigerian economy than the global financial crisis. Without proper planning and effective intervention the crisis rocking the new global economy could transform Nigeria’s longstanding economic problems into a social crisis.
References
Amartya Sen, Development as Freedom (New York: Anchor Books, 1999), pp. 87-110.
Barry Eichengreen and Richard Portes, “The Anatomy of Financial Crises,” in R. Portes and A. Swoboda (eds.), Threats to International Financial Stability, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1987, pp.10-57
Barry Eichengreen, “Financial Instability,” in Global Crises, Global Solutions (Bjorn Lomborg, edited), Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2004, pp.251-272
BusinessDay, “Oil Prices and Budget 2009,” November 24, 2008; Punch, “Yar’Ardua Laments high Unemployment rate,” November 22, 2008; also see Punch, “Nigeria’s Economy under Threat as oil falls below $50,”November 21, 2008.
David Brooks, see Article on “Infrastructure…,” Sacramento Bee, November 3, 2008, A15.
Debraj Ray, Development Economics; Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press, 1998, p.9.
Edwin Mansfield, Economics: Principles, Problems, Decisions (2nd Edition); New York:W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1977
Jagadeesh Gokhale, “Long-Term Implications of the Financial Crisis,” (cato.org, October 14, 2008).
John E. Schwarz, “The Hidden Side of the Clinton Economy;” The Atlantic Monthly, October 1998.
M. Rokeach, The Nature of Human Values, New York: Free Press; also see M. Rokeach, Understanding Human Values: Individual and Societal, New York: Free Press, 1979.
Michael Fairbanks, “Changing the Mind of a Nation: Elements in a Process for Creating Prosperity,” in Culture Matters, Lawrence E. Harrison and Samuel P. Huntington, editors, (New York: Basic Books), 2000, pp.270-281.
N. Gregory Mankiw, Principles of Economics (2nd edition), Fort Worth: Harcourt College Pub, 2001), pp. 530-552.
Peter Goodman, “Fear of Deflation Lurks as Global Demand Drops,” The New York Times, October 31, 2008.
Stace Lindsay, “Culture, Mental Models, and National Prosperity,” in Culture Matters, Lawrence E. Harrison and Samuel P. Huntington, editors, (New York: Basic Books), 2000, pp. 282-295.
Susan Brink, “Can a troubled economy actually improve public health?” Los Angeles Times, August 25, 2008.
Sheryl Gay Stolberg, “Developing Nations Get Ringside Seats,” The New York Times, November 15, 2008.
The New York Times, “Credit Crisis: The Essentials,” November 20, 2008; Los Angeles Times, “G-20 economic summit brings pledges of teamwork,” November 16, 2008; also see Washington Post, “World Leaders Agree to Seek Major Reform - Group Pledges Cooperation to Restore Growth;” Glenn Kessler and Anthony Faiola, November 16, 2008.
ThisDay, see Ijeoma Nwogwugwu, “Hogwash about Fuel Prices,” November 24, 2008.
Vanguard, “Drama at NIPSS: Ribadu denied graduation, arrested,” November 23, 2008; Daily Trust, “Ribadu, Okiro set for clash tomorrow,” November 24, 2008; also see Daily Trust, “80% of Nigerian Youths Unemployed-FG,” November 26, 2008.
Victor E. Dike, “The Global Economy and Poverty in Nigeria;” on-line publication (accessed -November 23, 2008) http://www.nigerdeltacongress.com/garticles/global_economy_and_poverty_in_ni.htm
Victor E. Dike is the author of Leadership without Moral Purpose: A Critical Analysis of the Obasanjo Administration, 2003-2007 (forthcoming).
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