Anyaoku's blueprint for Nigeria's development

A former Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, Chief Chukwuemeka Anyaoku, at the Bells University of Technology, Ota guest lecture, gave the panacea for Nigeria's underdevelopment, LEKE BAIYEWU reports

Call this a blueprint, a master-plan, or one of the series of letters to Mr. President Goodluck Jonathan since his inauguration on May 29 and you are not out of line. This time around, this letter came from a highly revered man and one of the most valued products Nigeria can sell to the international diplomatic market. He is Chief Chukwuemeka Anyaoku, a former Secretary-General of the Commonwealth

Anyaoku was the guest lecturer at the annual Eminent Persons Lecture, the third in the series, organised by the Bells University of Technology, Ota, in Ogun State. An institution founded by former President Olusegun Obasanjo. The first edition featured a former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Prof. Charles Soludo, while Chief Afe Babalola, a legal luminary and Senior Advocate of Nigeria delivered the second lecture in the series.

His lecture was titled, 'Nigeria in a Globalising World', while his audience included the proprietor of the institution (Obasanjo); Justice Bola Ajibola, a former Attorney-General of the Federation, and Judge of the World Court at The Hague, who chaired the event; and Professor Akin Mabogunje, a renowned environmentalist and the University Chancellor.

After describing globalisation on the global scale as interconnectivity and growing interdependency among peoples and nations in the revolution that occurred in transportation, communication and information, he said the gains of globalisation for a country lie in utilising the opportunities offered by the global flow of capital and trade for its national economic and social development.

With Nigeria as a case study, Anyaoku asked: "Is Nigeria gaining from the globalisation trend? If the answer is no, as I believe it is, what does the country need to do in order to maximise for itself the gains of globalisation?"

The diplomat lamented Nigeria's failure to take advantage of the easy flow of capital and the opening up of markets, which have accompanied globalisation, to increase the pace of its national development, unlike the Asian Tigers, consisting of Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, etc, "And the main reason for this has been 'Nigerian Made,'" he stated.

Anyaoku recalled the myriad socio-political and economic challenges that have beset the country since its independence in 1960, stressing that this led to "a deep political crisis that led to the first military coup d'état and a civil war."

"Emerging from the civil war, providence put a smile on the face of the country with a oil boom. It was chiefly through the instrumentality of this oil boom that Nigeria was able to pull itself up by the bootstrap and embark on the post-war policy of three Rs, that is reconstruction, rehabilitation and reconciliation.

"Unfortunately, the negative culture of excessive and misconceived taking of foreign loans sets in. It was not long before the mis-governance of the nation by its leadership became manifest and the resource boom dramatically turned to a 'resource curse.' The 'curse' was made more dramatic by the country's inability to diversify its economic base, owing to the lackadaisical attitude that was bred by easy money. Agriculture was totally abandoned and corruption became rampant in both low and high places in the land," the guest lecturer noted with the audience visibly looking remorseful.

Anyaoku further explained that it was as a result of the oil boom burst that the country was unable to cope with its consumerism, particularly that of the leadership and the elite, which, according to him, resorted to the culture of a "misguided and unguarded borrowing" from within and outside the country. "It was in borrowing that Nigeria surrendered itself to the Breton Woods Institution," he stated.

Anyaoku added, "The result, in Nigeria, of the Breton Woods' imposition of neo-liberal policies was the near total wiping out of the middle class, some of whom have only recently begun to be capable of affording only tokunbo (second-hand) cars."

The diplomat, who disclosed that Nigeria, like most of the developing countries, is at the receiving end of the power asymmetry, however, warned that if the current globalisation trend was not well managed in a way to ensure more equitable playing ground by transforming its present domestic and external conditions, the country will remain a low team player in the global village where the developed countries of the northern hemisphere were firmly in control of every knowledge-creating institution of the world.

He said, "The country sank deeper and deeper into the morass of debts - debts that were incurred largely under the military dictatorships that ravaged the country for some years. In his second coming as a democratic president, the Olusegun Obasanjo government succeeded in removing the yoke of these debts, but, alas, the debts are, once again, gradually accumulating at the moment. Nigeria still bears the paradoxical and ugly reputation of a country with abundant resources, but where, according to Joseph Stiglitz, "the wealth from this abundance fueled corruption and spawned privileged elites that engaged in internecine struggles."

On the way forward for Nigeria in a globalising world, the national awards recipient said globalisation had become an inexorable reality that could not be wished away, adding that Nigeria must retool itself to confront the challenges posed by globalisation in all their ramifications.

"At home, there is an urgent need to improve on Nigeria's infrastructural situation. Without modern infrastructures, the country cannot make the most of globalisation. The poor power situation must continue to be addressed because it is on power that most other development efforts rest. It is electricity in particular that will power manufacturing activities in the country and enable the state and citizenry to effectively key into the modern infrastructure of globalisation, like the Internet and satellite broadcasting," the lecturer advised, with the majority of the audience nodding in affirmation.

Anyaoku pointed out that reviving Nigeria's manufacturing subsector could not be over-emphasised, adding that there were few countries that grew without a manufacturing capacity. He emphasised the need to add value to export commodities. He said, "And here, I must say that the decision by the Federal Government to unban the importation of textile, rice, even toothpicks and some other items that were, hitherto, banned gives cause for concern.

"Nigeria must put in place an industrial strategy for utilising the country's abundant natural resources to cater for the needs of the local Nigerian population as well as serve the export market. It is a bad testimonial for our county's political and economic leaders that industries are folding up in Nigeria and relocating to neighboring countries."

He did not mince words when he said Nigeria does not just need a constitutional amendment, but one that would provide the following conditions. "A one-term tenure of six years for the president and five years for the governors. A country like Mexico, whose political evolution has had much in common with Nigeria's, has continued to be well-served since it adopted the system of a single presidential tenure of six years. A regional or zonal police force with greater investment of resources in the police by the federal and regional or zonal governments.

"The capping of the cost of administration i.e. recurrent expenditure at 50 per cent of the budget, for there is no way we can achieve our desired rate of national development if we continue to spend about 80 per cent of our revenue on recurrent expenditure.

"These constitutional amendments should also be accompanied by measures to drastically reduce the material rewards enjoyed by political office holders, including, especially the national and state assemblies members. Politics and the holding of political office have so far become an avenue to stupendous wealth with the result that competition for political office is a 'do-or-die affair.'" Of course, this reference drew a subdued murmuring from the guests, who were unarguably apostles of the former president.

He did not mince words when he said Nigeria does not just need a constitutional amendment, but one that would provide the following conditions. "A one-term tenure of six years for the president and five years for the governors. A country like Mexico, whose political evolution has had much in common with Nigeria's, has continued to be well-served since it adopted the system of a single presidential tenure of six years. A regional or zonal police force with greater investment of resources in the police by the federal and regional or zonal governments.

"The capping of the cost of administration i.e. recurrent expenditure at 50 per cent of the budget, for there is no way we can achieve our desired rate of national development if we continue to spend about 80 per cent of our revenue on recurrent expenditure.

"These constitutional amendments should also be accompanied by measures to drastically reduce the material rewards enjoyed by political office holders, including, especially the national and state assemblies members. Politics and the holding of political office have so far become an avenue to stupendous wealth with the result that competition for political office is a 'do-or-die affair.'" Of course, this reference drew a subdued murmuring from the guests, who were unarguably apostles of the former president.

LEKE BAIYEWU

PUNCH