It takes significant levels of ignorance, lack of self-awareness, lack of emotional and social intelligence, in fact a total disconnect from how the world works to think that 66 years is too late in the life of a newly independent nation to achieve development, to expect that all infrastructure will compete with the best in the world, and to write of such a country in unforgiving terms. Unfortunately, the most vocal among Nigerians are like this. Even those vying to provide alternative leadership hardly come up with nuanced ideas.
I once wrote a quip on social media that humility is perhaps the first – or at least a very important – attribute that a people should possess if they wish to begin to climb the ladder of development. Some Nigerians disputed me. But I still wait to see how arrogance can pave the way for socioeconomic development. Nigerians are known to be a proud people, and we have become even louder lately because of social media. Everyone is now a broadcaster, an analyst, and in fact, the title ‘Economist’ is freely gifted to anyone who can hold their sanity for five minutes on any of our TV stations.
This thought about humility as a sine qua none for achieving economic and social progress has not left me and I believe it is an idea worth developing. Humility will help a people to get genuine help when they need one. That is on one side. And no, I am not talking about timidity. In international cycles, the Chinese are known to be humble. Till tomorrow, the average Chinese – even their government officials – will never agree to having arrived. I have seen them describe their country as just another developing nation. Humility can find a nation some discounts and great bargains in the marketplace of development. I recall being told a story about when in the early 2000s, Nigerian delegates would go to Switzerland to try and negotiate some debt cancelation – before we finally got it in 2006. Our delegates – said the then director in Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) – would lodge at the finest hotels and ride in the best limousines to the negotiation venue. They would dress resplendently. Until one of their hosts pulled them aside and told them some harsh truths; that those whom they were begging for debt forgiveness rode the train, or even skated to work.
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Humility will also lead to faster, and sometimes unforced, transfer of knowledge and technology. Maybe that was how the Chinese got it in the heady days of globalisation, when companies from Europe and America moved their production over there. They were ready with the human resource. They even arm-twisted these Western companies a little – writing into agreements some hard rules about the transfer of knowledge. They were – and remain – largely self-effacing. It is usually their less-exposed category that we see in Africa getting into fisticuffs with labourers. The British are also known to be self-deprecating and masters of subtlety. Till tomorrow. But somehow they once won the world, conquering billions of people with a few hundred ‘administrators’. The Crown once owned half the territories of the world – until after the second world war. Perhaps the contrast to this humility hypothesis are the Americans – like their current leader – who are known to be outspoken. Even the Americans have learnt over the years and global best practice requires all of us to be measured in our interactions. Mr Trump is a clear exception and the results are there to show.
Perhaps the more complex reason behind this hypothesis is that there are gatekeepers in the game of development. We may blame our ‘leaders’ all we want – as if they were imported from Planet Uranus – but a major variable to the achievement of progress and development for most countries concerns the elaborate systems by which leading countries ensure that they remain on top. To this extent, development is not a walk in the park. It is also a non-linear consideration. The way most Nigerians speak, one would be tempted to think that once a country can possess some natural resources, some university graduates to run the country’s affairs, and if somehow all those who run the country could be chosen from among the best clergy of every faith, then we all will be picking gold on the streets. Maybe I am a conspiracy theorist, but a real economist should open his ears, mind and heart to all possibilities and keep absorbing information. After all, many conspiracy theories of the past have now turned out to be real.
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The infrastructure space in Nigeria has transformed. Infrastructure is yet inadequate in several respects but things are not where they were 26 years ago. The entrepreneurial space is also transformed. Ditto some of our sectors – technology, banking and finance, telecommunications, and many more. Many Nigerians who have relocated to foreign countries under the illusion that somewhere is perfect can now confirm that everywhere has its own issues and that oftentimes, a nation is a reflection of its people.
When I heard Prime Minister Mark Carney voice out that the ‘rules-based’ system with which powerful nations had run the world was a scam, while pushing for a new contraption called ‘Middle Powers’, I realised that conspiracy theories are indeed useful and almost all have truths in them. Mark Carney, ex-Goldman Sachs, ex-governor of the Bank of England, and now PM of Canada should know better. In fact, this truth about the deception of the rules-based system is something that he had always known – and benefited from – until he was forced to repudiate it in reaction to bullying from the Americans. The upshot of the actions of President Donald Trump, and the reactions from Middle Powers who wish to now come together and assert themselves – and probably continue some new rules-based system that ‘non-powers,’ like most of these 54 countries in Africa, will be subjected to, is that every nation must learn fast to think for themselves. He called it a ‘sham’, a ‘pleasant fiction’. In other words, ain’t nobody getting anyone’s back. Every country is out there maximising their own utility – under the veneer of non-existent cooperation. As Carney put it: “Stop invoking rules based international order as though it still functions as advertised. Call it what it is: a system of intensifying great power rivalry, where the most powerful pursue their interests, using economic integration as coercion.”
Certainly, some degree of humility, some guile, and great wisdom is required for a nation to navigate the booby traps, the bribery, the espionage, the coercion, the deception, the arm-twisting, indeed the bloodsport, that is the game of achieving development. It takes significant levels of ignorance, lack of self-awareness, lack of emotional and social intelligence, in fact a total disconnect from how the world works to think that 66 years is too late in the life of a newly independent nation to achieve development, to expect that all infrastructure will compete with the best in the world, and to write of such a country in unforgiving terms. Unfortunately, the most vocal among Nigerians are like this. Even those vying to provide alternative leadership hardly come up with nuanced ideas. Their words are hardly deep or well-thought-through. They display as much ignorance as the hoi polloi. They join in heaping expletives on their own country, and they perpetuate this sick idea that there is no hope for their own country, just because they want the power to do and undo. If we would be more measured, more intellectual, and more truthful, we may realise that in spite of our foibles and stumbles, Nigeria has achieved considerable progress. Certainly, we aren’t where we want to be. But gratitude for one’s current achievement is important to attaining more.
I mean Nigeria’s first five years under self-rule was a maze. The leaders then had no manual with which to navigate. They had advice from colonial leaders in London – and the ones that still hung around – but many of such advices were skewed in the interest of Britain. I do acknowledge though that the British helped greatly in setting up ‘modern’ structures that conform with what they have in the ‘developed’ world – a civil service, an educational system, town planning, hospitals and urban hygiene, the beginnings of urban infrastructure and so on. But taking on all of these as the rural population surged into urban centres, and population itself ballooned on the back of improved health systems was a great challenge.
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By our sixth year of self-rule Nigeria had already hit a major barrier and got into a bad accident. A bloody coup. Decapitated leaders. Reactions from ethnic groups. Then another round. And then a descent into a civil war. By our tenth year, out of 65 years of independence, Nigeria was only just emerging from a painful civil war, whose effects and animosities still exist today in some quarters. A war is a time for mindless destruction – of material and human resources. But the oil boom of the early 1970s helped, even if it was an illusion. The military men who seized power held on to it for another nine years before a temporal relinquishment in 1979. Thus, 19 years of independence was gone. A set of civilians came in 1979 who could only hold on till the end of 1983. By 1984 the military kicked in again and went on till 1999 – another 15 years. 39 years of independence had disappeared, with marginal gains and many tough lessons being learnt. We are on the longest stretch of civilian rule now – 26 years. Civilian administration has one clear advantage over military government – all the juices of our nation is flowing. Every Nigerian can be part of governance. Press freedom is assured. However, the downside is that too many mouths spoil the broth. Achieving real progress is slower, as everybody hollers and drags in favour of their respective interests. Still, progress has been made.
Attaining social and economic development is not a 100-metre dash. It could happen fast for some countries but you have to look at specifics. Some were adopted by stronger nations. Some were suppressed. Some have small, manageable populations. Others have quite a large diversity, with assertive people that make the journey a little longer and perhaps more enjoyable or painful. An understanding of the peculiar history and sojourn of each country is important, lest we misjudge ourselves too harshly…
The infrastructure space in Nigeria has transformed. Infrastructure is yet inadequate in several respects but things are not where they were 26 years ago. The entrepreneurial space is also transformed. Ditto some of our sectors – technology, banking and finance, telecommunications, and many more. Many Nigerians who have relocated to foreign countries under the illusion that somewhere is perfect can now confirm that everywhere has its own issues and that oftentimes, a nation is a reflection of its people. Nigeria is the way it is today because of we Nigerians. Period. If we were less selfish, less unruly, more methodical, more serious about our environment, resources, infrastructure, and general space; if we conformed more to norms and standards, without seeking to bend the rules at every turn, then Nigeria will get better. Of course, government has a role to play in inching us to this level – by preachments, training and education, coercion, and punishment where necessary. The Americans don’t joke with punishing people who err. Thousands of Nigerians are in their jails – same Nigerians who would have been raving and ranting, and pointing fingers at government were they back home.
Attaining social and economic development is not a 100-metre dash. It could happen fast for some countries but you have to look at specifics. Some were adopted by stronger nations. Some were suppressed. Some have small, manageable populations. Others have quite a large diversity, with assertive people that make the journey a little longer and perhaps more enjoyable or painful. An understanding of the peculiar history and sojourn of each country is important, lest we misjudge ourselves too harshly, farm out responsibility to ‘leaders’ as if those weren’t Nigerians, and continue to undermine our own national development with our words, actions and attitudes. One variable that cannot be excluded though, is that for a nation to develop, it needs to continue to enlarge the circle of patriots, believers, those who understand and are ready to make considerable sacrifices for the advancement of the majority, and those who have a keen vision for what the nation needs to become, even if that vision is borrowed from elsewhere. A nation needs artists who imagine, and doers who create. And that dream must be long term in nature, not fleeting.
The sacrifice is necessary as a matter of responsibility. Whereas the bigger responsibility is on leaders and those who work in government to show accountability and prudence in managing public funds, the citizens too cannot withhold their taxes and other revenue that is due to government, pending when they will see that those in government have become paupers. That doesn’t happen anywhere. Reasonability must kick in, whereby the government and the people meet at a midpoint. In Nigeria, tax compliance is less than 10 per cent. In our largely informal economy (70 per cent of our GDP), MOST Nigerians don’t even bother to pay a dime to government. Yet, we wish to live in paradise, we compare our country with the best in the world – where taxation is taken more serious than anything else, including religion, and then we run down our country for some of its failures. It makes no sense. And something must start to give. Fundamentally, we must start to understand what it takes to build a nation. A great nation doesn’t suddenly appear just because of some natural resources and pious leaders. It’s a far more complex reality.
‘Tope Fasua is the special adviser to the President on Economic Matters.
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