By Michael Ovienmhada
Noise. A whole lot of noise. Noise over the spoils of power. How beautiful it would have been if the noise were to be over the work that needs to be done to rescue Edo State, to rescue the country.
Need we look too far to see how the fight for power has in its roll call, a plethora of political apparatchiks, people whose only call to fame, to riches, does not constitute in how many people they hire in their corporations as they have none, but how much wealth they have accumulated by their proximity to power?
As it is their business to do, the rest of us, hard-scrabbling hapless people of the country – we must clear the way for the entitled – those who choose, choose, and must choose again, each of them, slaves to their ambitions, all of us, servants to their ambition. Hail to the chiefs!
There’s work to be done. Interestingly, a branch of the government of Nigeria made us aware of some staggering statistics last week – to wit – that 94 million Nigerians had fallen into the ranks of the poor. On the face of it, we may be misled into thinking of the poor as the usual poor – the uneducated, the village boy, or the school dropout. You would be so wrong.
On the contrary, the best of us, professors, doctors and engineers have joined the ranks of the poor. It is not uncommon these days to find an engineer as Estate agent, a doctor as Secretary to a political party, a PhD as truck driver, or a Master’s degree holder as a Primary School teacher earning N30,000 (thirty thousand naira only) a month. Many who could leave the country have left. Many are waiting to leave. Right before our eyes, our dear country drifts into a dark place.
We do not need to look too far to see what’s happening to our country. Now, more than ever, we need people who can think for everyone, and not just for their personal gains. We need a Think-Tank, we need men or women, thoroughly groomed in values rooted in selflessness, deep altruism, and an eye and heart to the greater good. Time is of the essence in this search. Economic Armageddon looms otherwise. In order to do this, we may have to look back in history. The biggest economic comebacks in history are, the recovery of the French economy that gave rise to the Laissez Faire economic theory, the rise of Germany after the ruins of the First World War and subsequently, the Second World War, and the recovery of America after the Great Depression.
Our problem in Nigeria however, is not an economic problem, it is a human problem with underlying bad, thieving leadership. Now, how do you solve a problem like that when the people who are meant to solve the problem are themselves, the problem? This is the unique task on our hands.
Even so, let us take a cursory look at the above mentioned countries and see if we can find something in their experience to help us.
In 1681, the French Minister of the Economy gathered the leading businessmen in France to ask them what the government could do to help them achieve better production. The backdrop of the problem was that population growth was outgrowing food supply. The businessmen simply told the Minister three words: Laissez Nous Faire – leave us alone. It worked. Within two years, production out-paced demand. France even began to export food.
Fast forward to 20th century Germany. War broke out in 1914. It ended in 1918. Germany was held responsible. The Treaty of Versailles imposed reparations to be paid for all the destruction caused by the war. The German economy started to hemorrhage. Desperation and hunger hit the land as hyperinflation spread across the country. They tried to change their currency. It was not enough. They were lucky. The United States of America stepped in and helped to extend the tenor of payment of reparations. Notably, Germany finished paying in 2010, after 90 years.
In the 1920s America prospered greatly. People were buying cars, houses and household appliances as the credit system of installment payments became increasingly popular. It was called the Roaring 20s. About 1929, the boom turned to bust. 100 years after the Great Depression, Economists are still looking for reasons why it happened. Some say it was because of the restrictions imposed by the Gold Standard.
In simple terms, the Gold Standard meant that any paper money in circulation must be backed by an equivalent amount of its worth in gold. This severely restricted money supply when people wanted to withdraw money from the bank and the banks were unable to give them their money. Many banks failed. The economy got worse and slid from recession to depression.
Unemployment got worse. Several millionaires became paupers. Many committed suicide. It was not until the 1940s that the country recovered, and many would argue that the advent of the Second World War which stimulated the economy through massive production for the war effort helped America to recover. What an irony of economics! As one suffers, another prospers.
This brings us to present day Edo State and the question of 2024. Edo State is not a country, and so, we are limited in options. We have no control over monetary policy. What are the things that bother us as a State?
We have the problem of insecurity in the North that is now affecting the entire country. We have bad interstate roads that’s causing problems with supply. The Federal government is overbearing, having taken from the States, many money generating items like VAT, Driver’s Licenses, etc. As a State, we may not be able to do something about VAT for example until the Supreme Court rules on the matter, but there are things we can do now.
This is what makes today’s event a great opportunity as we honor the recently elected Chairman of Esan South East Local Government. Mr. Chairman, we cannot change our currency like Post-First World War Germany did because we are not a country. Mr. Chairman, we cannot do any Fiscal or Monetary Policy like America did because we are not a country.
However, Mr. Chairman, there’s nothing stopping you right now from doing what 17th century France did even though we are not a country. We can come up with an initiative which I am sure, the Governor would gladly embrace, to launch an Agricultural Revolution in our LG, Esan South East Local Government in Edo State to put our people to work and build wealth at the grassroots.
Let us do the things that we can do to prosper our people. Perhaps others will learn. When our LG begins to do better, our State will begin to do better, and Nigeria will begin to do better. Thank you.
Michael Ovienmhada
New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP)
Governorship Aspirant
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