President Muhammadu Buhari

By M. Kay Oluwole

The root of most political problems is economic. If we do not get the economy right, it will be difficult to deal with most of our other national problems.  The economy is a necessary but not a sufficient condition to resolve all other national issues.  Economics ordinarily involves the generation, distribution and management of resources, mostly financial.  Politics, simply put, revolves around who gets what (resource), why, how, and when.  The combination of economics and politics is the central issue of leadership and management, and the yardstick mostly used in the assessment of success or failure of leadership. For a longtime, we have been mired in the cocktail of economic decline and political conflict. It is time we build the state and forge a nation. As we struggle to build bridges of cooperation and break down walls of division, equity should remain our guiding star.

The constant teetering on economic disaster, political unrest, ravaging insecurity, the erosion of nationhood and threats to balkanize the country are combined factors that lead to loss of national spirit.  Many people are living on the fringe of hand-to-mouth exigency. There is the fear of real economic collapse, loss of confidence, and loss of hope, which may ultimately lead to loss of patriotism.  Hope, and only robust hope will restore our lost innocence and rekindle our confidence in the polity. 

Nigeria has long been identified as a country with great potentials, and even as a diamond in the rough. We have superlative indices of economic potentials, and geopolitical power going for us. The country is the largest concentration of black people in the world with a population of about 207 million, the 7^th most populous country in the world with a median age of 18 years.

The human resources in Nigeria include a well-educated, talented, dynamic, ambitious and adventurous workforce, presenting an enviable pool of labor force waiting for opportunities to participate in moving the country to a designation economy of choice for foreign investors and a haven for her citizens.  One-in-6 black Africans is most likely to be a Nigerian. With a Gross Domestic Product, GDP, of $432.3 billion; and GDP/capita of $2,097.09, Nigeria is considered the biggest economy in Africa.

Despite the abundance of natural resources like oil, arable land and a willing, dynamic and motivated workforce, the country remains in the quagmire of economic difficulties and political turmoil.  After more than 60 years of political independence, the country has not become a nation in the real sense of the word.

Our problems include, insecurity restless separatist agitation, tribalism, corruption, a wobbly healthcare system, a torpid economy, and a crumbling foundation for a genuine nationhood.  The country remains an atomistic collection of tribes, states and zones which have never agreed irrevocably on the basis of her existence as a nation. There is the national question.  There is the leadership question.

Given these stressful conditions, it is time for Nigeria to have a rebirth or Renaissance (reboot, reawakening, renewal or reset) and seek new ways of moving forward to a more just and humane society where everyone has a shot at a fulfilling life with basic human needs and security. It is time to live like hopeful human beings and citizens of a hopeful society and not like yahoos fighting for carrions.  However difficult it may be, we have to move the economy from an unreliable rentier economy to a productive one that will respond to the needs of our bourgeoning population in a competitive world.

. The Renaissance was a period, between the 14^th and 17^th Centuries in Europe that was characterized by the rebirth of culture, the arts, science and economics. The Renaissance emphasized the creation of citizens who were able to join the civil life of their community. One of its major achievements was the invention of the PRINTING PRESS while a major banner bearer of the period was arguably the world’s most popular painting, the Mona Lisa, created by the inimitable Leonardo da Vinci.

For the country to embark on the search for a renaissance, The Leadership matters because it serves as the arrowhead of inspiration of any rebirth or reset. For the renaissance to succeed, the leadership must be visionary, competent, incorruptible, fair, just and almost sacrificial in a larger sense. Since the renaissance involves the change of culture, it is an enormous task that takes time to accomplish. Cultural change is the most difficult transformation to effect in a society. The renaissance will entail sacrifices, acceptance, and pain comparable to labor pains during a new birth of a baby.  The end result will be worth the pain and difficulties.

The discovery of petroleum in commercial quantity at Oloibiri, Bayelsa State in 1956 transformed the country from an Agro-Federation to a Petro-Republic with enduring consequences. Since then the country has suffered from two main ailments: The Dutch Disease and the Stockholm syndrome.  A possible third horseman, the two-year old Covid-19 pandemic, a more or less global political stress test that has exposed the soft underbelly of our healthcare sector and laid bare the Achille’s heels of a very unequal world.  However, we hope that the covid-19 pandemic is temporary and will be more manageable with time.

Simply put, the Dutch disease happened with the discovery of oil. The new-found oil wealth led to a near-abandonment of agriculture, hitherto the mainstay of the economy, leading to excessive importation of food, and the concomitant depletion of hard-earned foreign currencies, deindustrialization and subsequent massive underemployment and unemployment.  Stagflation (slow economic growth with high unemployment) creeped in and it is now becoming a permanent feature of the economy in the face of a growing population. And yes, it is the economy stupid, always.

The second ailment, the Stockholm syndrome is more of an emotional response that is typified by developing trust and a positive feeling towards our abusers and captors, mostly the political/leadership elites, the stewards of our economic resources.  This response is usually done intentionally or inadvertently by enabling and celebrating the greed of the leadership elite, rationalizing their mismanagement, insincerity, rent-seeking behavior and calculated generosity with all the attendant bravado and flamboyance.

NIGERIA is a country of immense potentials in terms of her natural endowments and her human capital. Despite our potentials, we have not manifested our national destiny in the comity of nations. The country cannot remain a perennial Peter Pan in development.  We need to grow up and occupy our rightful at the table of advanced (functioning) nations. It is time to ask, why, our progress is slow, lagging behind that of our contemporaries.

We cannot continue with business as usual and expect a different outcome. It is time to take the bull by the horns, tackle our problems and make the necessary sacrifices.  The leadership must sacrifice.  The followership must sacrifice.  It has become customary to lay our blames on the traditional leadership- the president, elected members and the unelected bureaucratic elites. Both the leadership, and the followership are us.  They come from our common pool.  Our collective leadership is nothing but a mirror-image of our society.

To improve our current state of affairs, we need a change that positively impacts our culture. Everyone has a stake in the game of building a united, prosperous nation, regardless of the many obstacles that we face.

The RENAISSANCE would be instigated by the leadership at the apex of which is the elected national president. The leadership type will not matter as much as the leadership character.  One of the reasons we are lagging behind our peers is that the country has never recognized a widely accepted champion of the national cause, who represents the collective aspirations of the nation.  Our original sin is the lack of intertribal trust which led to tribalism which in turn led to our fissiparous tendencies and the inability to become a nation.

The circuitous motion of the country did not start today.  It started a long time ago and we have not been able to get on a forward-looking path to place us on the course to our desired destination of unity and progress.  We tried the Westminster parliamentary style of democracy, it did not work. We were under military dictatorships for over twenty years, it did not liberate us from want and deprivation. We currently operate the presidential system of democracy, so far, it has not delivered the expected results, but we are determined.  It goes without saying that the problem is not the type of government, but with us, the practitioners of the system. Certainly, if the issue is not in our stars, it must be in the way we manage our affairs, that is our political culture.  The Renaissance will attempt a rebirth, a retool or a reset of our political culture and that will become the cornerstone of leadership.

Whether the leader of our Renaissance be a technocrat, philosopher-king, dotcom wizard, political guru, an economic rainmaker, or a mixture of all, he/she must be able to relate a workable vision to both bin-men and CEOs and to peons and big deals.  The common man must understand and buy into the national vision.

The leadership must combine competence with integrity as one without the other will lead to further frustration and anger. Possession of either of these two characteristics alone is a necessary, but not a sufficient condition for a successful leadership.  Every leader of our renaissance should strive to maintain the reputation of a statesman without forfeiting that of a saint.

The original intertribal distrust led us to all sorts of missteps and retardation. In a world that is becoming a global village, competition in every aspect has become the watchword for progress. However, due to our distrust, we have chosen the easy way out while abandoning competitive strategies in our economic struggles, that put us in a sorry state of waiting or looking for crumbs from the advanced nations, occasionally bordering on mendicancy.   However, we can be both competitive and inclusive at the same time.

Our renaissance cannot be swift.  It is not a revolution; it is a process that will take time.  Our renaissance will gradually drain the swamp and reseed the field by a gradual process of regeneration and renewal.  It is not the work of a moment, or the work a two-term leader. It should be an on-going process.  It must be a sustainable cause, at times slow, at times sizzling, but never ceasing.

To be on the path to competitive progress in science, technology and economy, our renaissance leadership must display vision, competence and integrity.  Enough of political logjam.  It is time for an economic breakthrough.

* M. Kay Oluwole writes from the United States. Email: [email protected]