By Adewale Banjo and Sunday Ani
A chairmanship aspirant for Surulere Local Government Area in Lagos State on the platform of All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr. Femi Peters Smith said the only way Nigeria could become viable economically was for its leaders to look inward and develop a home-grown economic theories different from the ones used by western nations. He explained that devaluation of the country’s currency, which has become ritual, was not the solution to Nigeria’s economic woes, because Nigeria is an import nation.
“Devaluing our currency every now and then as prescribed by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) is not a solution to our problem. It would rather compound it as it has always done in the past. It has never worked for us and it will not even work now because we import virtually everything into Nigeria, including toothpick and match sticks.
“Our past and present governments have fallen prey to the stupid ideology of encouraging domestic growth, forgetting that we would have to import the raw materials and equipment,” he said. The chairmanship aspirant drew a simple analogy to explain how the exchange rate works, saying, “our naira has already been devalued before the US dollar, British pounds sterling and the Chinese yen leading to higher demands for these foreign currencies by Nigerians for international transaction to the detriment of naira.
“In other words, these currencies continue to appreciate against naira simply because our leaders have refused to demand that countries that are interested in buying our crude oil and other mineral resources should do so using naira.” He wondered why the Federal Government has refused to adopt that master-stroke economic strategy when other countries have successfully done it, saying, “by so doing, our dear naira will begin to appreciate and then, Nigeria as a nation, can begin to develop a strong economic base in the comity of nations. We will even earn respect as a result and this is not a rocket science.”
Still on the negative effects of devaluation, he said: “It is so obvious that importation will bring about higher cost to the end user, considering the exchange rates, thereby pushing the prices of such essential local commodities as gari, yam and tomato among others, beyond the reach of ordinary Nigerian.
“It simply shows that devaluing our currency will never encourage domestic growth, neither will it cushion the effect of harsh economic realities that Nigerians are facing. Today, Nigerians are crying. People are hungry and angry because the value of their disposable income is in no way commensurate to the hike in prices of commodities as is being experienced by many on a daily basis.
“This present economic policy of the government is not working and should be changed if we are to make any headway.”
He advised that if Nigeria must grow economically, then it should borrow a leaf from China by creating a world of its own and relying less on western economic theories. He said: “If we are serious about domestic growth, which includes industrialisation, agriculture and IT infrastructure among others, then we must look inwards and develop our own tailor-made approach to our situations. Let us start doing business in naira. Yes, if you want our oil and other products, then trade with us in naira. We should stop idolising the dollars to our own detriment as we can strengthen the naira and make it acceptable as a medium of international trade, at least, as far as trading in our crude oil is concerned.
“Let us not rely so much on book theories. Yes, to some extent, many of these economic theories will possibly thrive well in perfect economies such as the western economy with westernised ideologies but not necessarily in Africa and Nigeria because we are not perfect economies. We require a customised approach to our economic problems.
Away from emphasising the need to force crude oil buyers from Nigeria to pay in naira as a way of strengthening the currency and ultimately boosting the economy, he also stressed the need for government to invest in human resources. He criticised the government penchant for the use of expatriate to do the job which Nigerian professionals could do with ease.
“Nigeria can only be developed by Nigerians. We need to reduce the number of expatriates in our country by investing in our own people to carry out similar task. Some of the expatriates are simply technicians with no university degree, yet they come to Nigeria and lord over us. Who says Nigeria cannot develop? Who says the black people cannot rule themselves? These are pure fallacies; Nigeria simply needs to put its house in order. We need to be more dynamic and proactive; we need to be innovative as well.” He raised concern on the number of people trooping into Lagos state in search of greener pastures and urged other state governors to develop their states to create employment for the teeming unemployed Nigerians.
He is of the view that when other state governors develop their states to be able to create jobs, less people will move into Lagos and that will also lessen the pressure on the social infrastructure in Lagos, which is already overstretched due to over-population. “For many years now, many Nigerians from other parts of the country have migrated to Lagos in search of greener pastures and they are still doing so till today.
This is a major strain on the Lagos state government in terms of provision of housing and other infrastructural needs.
I am not implying that Nigerians should not migrate and live in any part of the country they deem fit. What I am saying is that other state governments should be encouraged to also develop their states so as to create employment. With such move, many Nigerians do not have to come to Lagos in other to earn a fair living. We must encourage one another irrespective of our geo-political attachments and dispositions or cultural stance,” he said.