Should Nigerians Listen to Lester C Thurow?

By

Abdullah Musa

kigongabas@yahoo.com

 

 

Lester C Thurow is Lemelson Professor of Management and Economics at MIT, (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) where he has taught since 1968. From 1987 through 1993, he was dean of MIT’s Sloan School of Management. His books include Building Wealth, The Zero-Sum Society, and The Future of Capitalism. He lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

 

I do not know Lester C Thurow. The description I gave above is from the back cover of his book: Fortune Favors The Bold. I have read the book. I found it highly interesting. I want to share what I read with the readers, quoting extensively from the book: either because I am too lazy to make a deep analysis or because the author has been most articulate. Lester Thurow knows about Nigeria. This is what he said about it: For proof that aid without social organization does not work, look at Nigeria. It has received $250 billion in oil revenues since its independence, yet its per capita GDP is only one-third of what it was then. Outside aid is important, but it is not the starting point of economic development. The real starting point is found in social organization. So the first message from Lester to Nigerians is that we lack social organization.

 

We do not intend a systematic review of the book for the reader, so we will jump to and fro in order to bring the author’s lessons to the readers; who knows, perchance somewhere, one day, a Nigerian might take Lester’s lessons seriously, and in the end Nigerians will be the better for it.

 

Thurow says: no outside agency can force Africa or India to make the social changes necessary to make universal education a reality. If a country can run a good school system, it undoubtedly has the social organization to engage in economic development. India is classified together with Africa because India has a caste system that makes a significant percentage of its citizens ‘untouchables’; they are not to be educated. In Nigeria we do not run a good school system, nor do we have a universal education scheme. We can thus not be economically developed. Vision 20:2020 is thus simply wishful thinking.

 

The main thrust of this book is not about why places like Nigeria are underdeveloped. It is about globalization. Globalization is being rejected in many parts of the world, even more vehemently in some Western countries. This is because globalization brings in its wake loss of jobs; in certain industries permanently. So Lester says it is necessary to understand the dynamics of globalization so the forces of globalization can be used to change the course of globalization. He says that as businesses scan the world to find the most profitable places to sell and produce, national economies are slowly dissolving to be replaced by global economy. If it costs too much to produce a product in Nigeria due to insufficiency of power, the exorbitant cost of running generators, dilapidated roads, uneducated workforce, insecurity and unending sectarian and tribal conflicts, Nigeria will not be a good place to do business for multinational companies. Lester says that the firm that does not go global will be driven out of business by those that do. He further said that the sources of future economic success were to be found in developing new breakthrough technologies and having the social capabilities, culture, and mental attitudes to take advantage of these technologies. With our ‘voodoo’ culture within both black Muslims and black Christians, are we positioned to benefit from globalization? My view is that it is most unlikely. As a reminder, Lester tells us that intellectual conquest had replaced geographic conquest.

 

If we as Nigerians are hampered in our developmental efforts by unscrupulous politicians, civil servants, and security personnel, Lester has an advice for us: there are often evil people connected with economic disasters, but when evil people cause a lot of damage there is also something wrong with the system. It should have been designed to stop or limit the destruction caused by evil people.

 

Still selling globalization to those who wish to ‘purchase’, Lester opines: no one forces countries to participate in global supply chains and allow multinational firms to invest in their countries. No one has to have a McDonald’s. But those who participate become richer at much faster pace than they would have had they not participated. But in return they have to offer the factors global businesses demand- education, infrastructure, personal safety. If they don’t they are simply left out and left behind. A 340 page book contains a lot. But one observation of Lester’s should be studied deeply by Nigerians. He said: national economies of scale aren’t all that important in global economy. One can opt out and still succeed economically. Outsiders aren’t going to intervene to stop this ethnic splintering. As a result, countries like companies are merging to become dominant global players or splitting apart to become smaller more focused players. In Africa both are going to happen. Ten thousand different ethnic groups aren’t going to live forever in a handful of countries defined by the accidental meetings of British and French armies in the 19th Century.( So those who stick to the myth of ‘indivisible’ Nigeria because oil proceeds are there to finance their indiscipline are being put on notice. The reader is advised to make an acquaintance with the writings of Lester Thurow).