Patience Is Not In Our DNA

Capt. Daniel Omale
 Mar 12, 2016
These are the hardest of times; there has never been a time like this when Nigerians confront harsh austerity measures as economic realities surface at almost everyone’s doorsteps.

During the period of bounty, we wasted all available resources: excess crude oil account became Automatic Teller Machine for the ruling party (the PDP); in the name of fighting the orchestrated insecurity, we recklessly drained our foreign reserves; and for seven months, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation remitted no funds to the federation account. Our economy profusely bled to death. We are yet to recover from the consistent hemorrhage, despite President Mohammed Buhari’s (PMB) Treasury Single Account (TSA) policy.

Now is the time of reckoning and, we simply cannot face it. It’s getting harder every day; the vanishing middle class, the low class, and even the rich are crying loud against the administration. This type of change, some claim, is not what they voted for. While others moan and groan in pure anger, few are hopeful that the inevitable prosperity will happen later.

No matter how one looks at this administration, from whatever angle, there is no other “quick fix” solution that will usher immediate relief. We must follow the course of repercussion that could eventually absorb our plight.

PMB has reduced the level of insecurity by more than 80%. Life is becoming fairly normal in a country that, one year ago, was caged with scores and scores of Boko Haram insurgencies. The fight against corruption has yielded very little results, except the exposure of names of those who looted the national treasury. And without prosecution, and possible sentencing of the guilty to some time in jail, no amount of media coverage will reduce the ever-rising level of corruption in Nigeria.

Crime and punishment must go hand in hand to foster deterrence. Judges are corrupt, and the justice system is as porous and vulnerable as other institutions in the country.

The challenge before this administration is how to cautiously manage the economy. Nigerians are tolerant, but highly impatient. Very few elite control how everyone should benefit from the system. They decide how much to steal, and what should be left in the nation’s account.

The Central bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) fiscal and monetary policies must favour the rich or the system has failed. The critical factors in this time are scarcity of foreign currency, crystallized by low oil prices, and importers’ apathy towards business as the US dollars has become too strong for the declining value of the Naira.

The fact that Nigerians have easily forgotten the rudiment of their economic woes is a testimony to how we pay little attention to savings at the time of plenty. Maybe we collectively suffer from amnesia or memory loss; being impatient against this government will not resolve the precarious position of the nation.

PMB’s administration has one crucial drawback: its inability to set up a sound economic team right from the beginning. The most important aspects of governance are safety and security of life and property of citizens, and the effective management of the economy of the state.

Restoration of security has led to relative calm, while the economy has remained in a downward spiral in ten months. There is no magical solution to economic recovery than the involvement of sound minds in the country. Autocracy or legislation against viable economic policies will further weaken an already bad situation.

There is no defined logic that will improve Nigeria’s economy soon, if we do not reduce expenditure and minimize waste. In addition, corruption in public offices must be brought down to its lowest ebb. Although it is easier said than done, a positive effort in all directions must, first, ensue.

If Nigerians are really serious about economic revival, why is everyone impatient? The answer is simple: we have never been patient enough to wrestle corruption to the ground. Buhari’s first arrival on the scene from 1983 to 1985 was truncated because of impatience. And when Babangida introduced a form of laissez -faire economy, we embraced it without caution.

Even in our daily lives we exhibit impatience: driving through all the cities in Nigeria, the culture of impatience is visible. No one can potentially wait for traffic lights to change to green before driving through. Traffic warders, who are usually ill-equipped, find it hard to instill traffic discipline because the majority of motorists on our streets can’t wait for three minutes to be safely directed.

Traffic hold- up in Lagos and Abuja cities exceed what one will ever witness in cities with similar population. And the reason for such long hold- up queues is impatience.

This sheer delinquent behaviour has surfaced in how we accept and work with successive governments. It is more pronounced in this administration because loose funds have become scarce. Raw theft has reduced because of TSA. Everyone, especially civil servants, are becoming restless and impatient.

The system, which formerly paid little attention to how freely Nigerians could waste resources, has challenged that culture of impunity and, the new normal is perceived as unbearable.

It is no secret knowledge that Nigeria’s foreign reserves have depleted to mere $27.8 billion. If imports are allowed to thrive as much as before, it will take just three months to dry- out the only reservoir of United States dollars. It is also interesting to note that since Nigeria’s foreign debts are $10.5 billion, our net foreign reserves are below $18 billion.

This country’s internal debts are in excess of $50 billion, and if we have to deduct it from the reserves, the balance sheet will be in the negative. This is the absolute state of our economy. But the president has the sole responsibility to inform Nigerians of what is happening in the system, where we are today, and the projections.

The fact that payment of fees for Nigerian students abroad will no longer be sourced through the Central Bank of Nigeria says it all; but the CBN governor must make it clear to us what the state of the economy is, not the President. But if PMB choses to enlighten the nation about it, he must schedule the speech at a particular time, on television, to honestly announce to Nigerians. I am not in support of media chat programme to brief Nigerians on the economic situation.

I cannot say PMB’s government is perfect; no government is perfect, but we must  bear the pain of the structural adjustments until they bear fruits. Impatience will surely lead to more frustrations.