By Tope Fasua
Prof, focus on the future and never talk about the past. Those policies since 2016? The results are 250% inflation (compounded till date. Rice from 8k to 26k, electricty rate has gone up 400%, cement from 1,500 to 4,800, etc etc). Naira fell from 220 to 581 = $. National debts rose from N12 trillion to N42 trillion to close at N50 trillion by end of 2022. Unemployment rose from 12% to 33%.
If Buhari is absent – because he knows little about what is going on around him – the onus falls on You sir. The entire economy was/is on your shoulders since 2015. The constitution says so, and circumstances made it a fait accompli since your boss spent too much time either treating himself abroad or resting at home. And so, these results are yours to claim. And these results are the fallout of the same failed policies you are pushing for 2023 AND BEYOND!
You must change tack from this idea of lazily driving the youths into so-called entrepreneurship (which is all about selling things produced in other countries). Do not be indoctrinated into the bad ideas of western hegemons who have always misled us. You are smart enough to know you are on the wrong path. Nigeria needs a more robust economic ideology that incorporates our people from the ground up and allows us to grow organically and inclusively. We can achieve double-digit growth is only we look inwards and energise our people and unleash our potentials.
Government must be more responsible and there are millions of jobs that the private sector cannot create. Promoting so-called SMEs or the unaccountable distribution of ‘small-small’ cash to poor market women will not solve our EXISTENTIAL problems such as insecurity, mass illiteracy, housing crisis, revival of textile sector, food insecurity, environmental crisis – plastic pollution, open defecation, soot, gas flaring, sewage management, solid waste management and so on.
If you insist on these ephemeral and lazy policies that exculpate government, then you are a non-patriot. I wish you luck in your quest but we may not repeat same policies and idiosyncrasies and expect different results. Have a solid day Prof.
