Ours is a country that has been importing even toothpick since 1960 and all of a sudden, we want magic or some Presidential proclamation that miraculously transforms us into an Eldorado!
For emphasis, economic changes take the longest time to materialize, it's not magic.
One major problem we have had and are still having is the idea that economic issues/challenges can be fixed overnight, if it is that easy,PDP won't spend 16 whole years,spend billions and still unable to fix only the power sector.
The questions before us are;
• What sector was working before that PMB destroyed?
• What sector of our economy was home-grown before PMB?
• How far has PMB grown the local economy, what point were we, where are we now and where are we heading to?
Using the Rice sub-sector, we can see growth of local Rice brands unlike before,though the prices are still a bit high, competition will drive it down in the long run, that is what basic economics say.
• Take the Petroleum Industry for example, what was been done before, what is been been done now,how successful are the steps of today and what could be done to permanently resolve the issue?
Before now, Petroleum was imported with our Refineries not working, today Petroleum is still been imported but with the Refineries operating at about 30% capacity, with a possibility of greater capacity soon.
The idea of Modular Refinery is also been standardized for operations, all of these will take sometime.
More so, the Steel Industry is been looked at again for a fast resolution of the Ajaokuta Steel Company,the Minerals and Mines Industries are also being looked to provide alternative sources of funding against Oil
The Agro sector is receiving massive funding from the Govt too with the Anchor Borrowers Program.
All of these won't materialize fully in four years, it would definitely take more time
Nigerians should realize that it's running a country or building an economy is different from the miracles that happen in our Churches/Mosques. It is because of our urgency attitude that previous Govts successfully defrauded us.
We wanted to see quick bread, Akinwumi Adesina,then Agriculture Minister packaged what he called Cassava bread,advertized it on TV few days and walked away with 50B appropriated for it.
He also packaged Solar Stove project he said would help address the Green environment for which 20B was appropriated.
Today both the Cassava Bread and Solar Stove have gone into extinction with the billions gone forever yet we still want cosmetic growth.
Let's learn from our mistakes as a country,we can't get by miracle or instantly what other countries toiled for years to have.
Wake up Nigeria,stop expecting wonders!
Written by Ikenda Clinton Elechi
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