NIGERIAN ECONOMIC CRISIS AND THE FUTILITY OF FOREIGN GROWN REMEDIES.

A SYNOPSIS.

There is something repugnant about the Nigerian economy and its leadership that defies commonsense - certain known peculiarities that make popular economic theories about spending, investment, and creation/expansion of market unfit for our situation. The truth is that when all the Adam Smith, Jeffrey Sachs, Marxists, Regulated Market, or Free Market Activists of our world were writing or postulating their economic and public policy theories, they do so under certain irrefutable assumptions. Unfortunately, those assumptions do not apply to Nigerian. So, before we start regurgitating or copying Western Influenced Economic Magic or IMF Sponsored solutions, we must first look inward to see if the fundamentals suit our realities. Those undermined assumptions are what this essay is about.

WHAT THEY DON'T TELL YOU IN BUSINESS SCHOOL.

One, that electricity is constant, to them, is irrefutable. In other words, there is nothing like NEPA or erratic power supply as the situation is in Nigeria when these foreign intellectuals and financial institutions were formulating their economic theories and bailout policies.

Two, though Old Boys Network is acceptable, however, 99% of the time, the job or appointment must go to the best-qualified candidate or those with relevant experience. They didn't anticipate nepotism, cronyism, federal character, quota system, or religious factors as it is the case in Nigeria.

Three, judicial notice is given to the fact that the movement of goods and services will not suffer avoidable delay. In other words, the availability of high-speed rail and motorable local and interstate highways that would facilitate commerce or the movement of goods and services is assumed correct.

But judicial notice cannot be taken of such in Nigeria. Adam Smith didn't know that. Professor Jeffrey Sachs, though very knowledgeable about the global economic situation doesn't know that about Nigeria. It is the same with the World Bank and IMF Economists as well as all the Marxists of Nigerian intelligentsia.

When last have you traveled by road between Benin City and Port-Harcourt, or between Benin City and Abuja, or between Badagry, Mile2, Apapa, and Obalende in Lagos State? And can you possibly count the number of Police Checkpoints between Lokoja/Okenne/Auchi/Benin Highway? Can you possibly put a price on the number of our loss due to incessant stop and go?

And four, the possibility or likelihood of Bandits or Kidnappers displacing State-Troopers on their Highways subjecting commuters to indecent assaults, killing, kidnapping for ransom was not part of their prognosis. But we can not enumerate the number of Nigerians who have died or lost millions of Naira in the hands of bandits and Fulani kidnappers.

These are some of our peculiarities that are not in Business School or in Economics Class or covered in most of the recommended textbooks in Business School. So, before you start proposing or embarking on bailout funds for small business, think again. There are underlying issues you must address and they've been addressed here.

SUMMARY

Nigerians, are by nature, entrepreneurial. They don't need your handouts. With basic infrastructural facilities on the ground, they will turn Nigeria around in no time. You can't formulate investment mechanisms when entrepreneurs and manufacturers cannot power their factory plants. Our youths, investors, and entrepreneurs are trooping to Nairobi and Accra because of the availability of basic infrastructural facilities. These cities have a stable power supply. In a similar vein, when farmers cannot move their harvested produce out of their farms to the nearest market or ready retailers, that doesn't augur well for purposeful investment. The result is a wastage of bankable time and the invested funds. It is the same story when the wholesalers cannot reach their distributors with their goods and services. In the end, the funds are never repaid, leading to massive indebtedness and economic stagnation.