ECONOMIC PROBLEMS IN NIGERIA: ANY PANACEA.
What an impractical way to tackle a problem when a problem isn’t identified as a problem? This is a direct response to government’s remarks about the hunger facing us in Nigeria. While the relatively more comfortable and wealthier nations astutely square up with the present global food crisis by officially acknowledging it; adopting strategic plans to mitigate its unpleasant effects on its people, poor and disadvantaged Nigeria is still denying it, with ministers and officials claiming there is no food shortage; that what we have in Nigeria is mere increase in prices.
This is totally ridiculous.
What is it mean when more than half population of a nation cannot afford to feed conveniently or afford the prices of food needed in their house hold? Of course, that’s food shortage. And that is generally a resultant effect of another shortage experienced somewhere in the systemic malfunctioning of demand-supply chain. It could be money, affecting demand; it could be the product, affecting supply, with both still having many determinant factors.
Let’s go by this theory: “In an effective demand-supply chain, products flow smoothly from producers to consumers through all necessary actors of the chain and information flows fluently between actors so that every actor can predict and plan its operations compatible with their environment and other actors. Increased co-operation and more fluent information flow improve competitiveness of chains by reducing costs and improving accessibility to products,” (Kotzab, 2001; Vorst, 2000).
Simply put, the above means that though consumers’ willingness to buy may be stable, but if there is a breakdown somewhere in the system, as our status quo; having low purchasing power as consumers, this will lead to feelings of insecurity and loss of interest in food production on the side of the producers which, as a result, will lead to a slight drop in food supply.
This assertion has been made by the Vice President himself, Jonathan Good luck, when he was reported in Vanguard, May 4, 2008 while fielding questions from journalists, as saying “…So, the high price…, while we grumble and complain that the lower earners are not getting it, it also helps the farmers to come up and sell their produce so that the farmers don t die. Do you want the farmers to die? No! Consumers please put your hand up a little, pay a little bit better so that the farmer can go back to the farm. If you do not pay him well, he will abandon the cassava there and he will not go back to farming cassava.” Then I ask why? It is because the farmer had lost confidence in the consumers. Besides, may I ask the Vice President if it is possible for him to give what he doesn’t have?
No right-thinking person would want the farmers to sell their produce at loss. Farmers need to get good prices for their products so that they can go back to the farm with confidence and bring more food. But we will only be able to do this when we have the money. Like the consumers, farmers are also a part of the same malfunctioning society; we both are just victims of unfortunate circumstance.
That we still have a lot to do concerning food security is a reality that needs to be confronted. It is just funny that with all our theories; our postulations and suggestions, if all things remain unchanged, Nigerians will still survive. That is a mystery to the entire world and perhaps attributable to the fact that we run a cash economy where most incomes are derived from non-declared employments and businesses and where those who declared or registered their businesses evade lodging tax returns, as-well-as from other illegal activities like what is happening in the south-south and other petroleum tapping spots.
So while the economically disadvantaged majority will be suffering in silence because they haven’t got a voice stringent enough, it is only the minority few who found themselves in the category of players above, who also are blessed with a stringent voice that our government will listen to and use as our representative samples. What the government should have done otherwise is taking the food crisis serious by taking the farming problem to the local/village level for the local people themselves to solve, with government at the background, backing them while also injecting on another parallel macro level, an appreciable investment that will boost agricultural research and production for the food export industry. Who says earning from Agric cannot compete with oil?
Even though we have been nursing our own food shortage long before now, in other parts of the world, the problem is the same at present. We all know that. The American Agricultural economy for instance, at this time, may benefit what is known as ‘emergency economic loss assistance’ or whatever. This is in addition to other yearly handouts to farmers, to boost their output. No wonder they are happy and willing to remain farmers for ever.
Until our government so empowers the farmers financially, attaining food security will continue to be a fantasy for us in Nigeria.
Meanwhile, let me congratulate us for what seems to be the dawn of a new era in our life. That is the gradual re-emergence of a new echelon in the middle-less stratification pyramid of our social structure which though resembles the middle-class strata that had long disappeared from the face of our society but still having enough characteristics to have us scratching our heads.
Although the evolution of the class has its traditional process which embraces steady upward mobility of its three constituents -- the self-made people who owe everything to their personal efforts; being it resources, expertise or educational qualification or whatever -- these are the white-collar workers such as salaried managers and administrators, public servants, bankers, etc; the SMEs entrepreneurs such as small-scale manufacturers, traders, artisans, farmers, etc, and the qualified service-rendering professionals like lawyers, doctors, beauticians, designers, architects etc.
With the exception of the first stratum where currently we are witnessing a promising turn-around due to sharp increase in the business activities of certain selective industries like banking, oil and gas, IT, food processing, communication, insurance and a host of others, and of course, the ever-increasing state needs for qualified administrators as a result of our active political sector, the two others are somehow still in the doldrums.
By this depiction, one may say it is nothing worth of any jubilation or congratulating ourselves over; thinking we have arrived. But the cause for jubilation truly arises, and it is found in the reality that many years a go, there had been unprecedented recession in these industries which had, in fact, led to unannounced embargo on employment whereby companies rarely publicly advertised vacant positions as against now that jobsites are filled with ‘vacancies’ posted by both local and multinational organisations with mouth-watering salaries and attractive paraphernalia of office awaiting the lucky dudes that pick them up.
Today, if you are truly qualified, you can move from one organisation to another better organisation without the trepidation of the unknown. Our graduates now use their diary for keeping dates with job interview appointments and open days rather than recording hostile uncles and cousins’ offensives triggered as a result of excessive proximity caused by joblessness. Opportunities are now rearing heads from different directions, far from what the situations used to be in 2005 and 2006 as the contents of this horse’s-mouth link humorously reveals.
What an impractical way to tackle a problem when a problem isn’t identified as a problem? This is a direct response to government’s remarks about the hunger facing us in Nigeria. While the relatively more comfortable and wealthier nations astutely square up with the present global food crisis by officially acknowledging it; adopting strategic plans to mitigate its unpleasant effects on its people, poor and disadvantaged Nigeria is still denying it, with ministers and officials claiming there is no food shortage; that what we have in Nigeria is mere increase in prices.
This is totally ridiculous.
What is it mean when more than half population of a nation cannot afford to feed conveniently or afford the prices of food needed in their house hold? Of course, that’s food shortage. And that is generally a resultant effect of another shortage experienced somewhere in the systemic malfunctioning of demand-supply chain. It could be money, affecting demand; it could be the product, affecting supply, with both still having many determinant factors.
Let’s go by this theory: “In an effective demand-supply chain, products flow smoothly from producers to consumers through all necessary actors of the chain and information flows fluently between actors so that every actor can predict and plan its operations compatible with their environment and other actors. Increased co-operation and more fluent information flow improve competitiveness of chains by reducing costs and improving accessibility to products,” (Kotzab, 2001; Vorst, 2000).
Simply put, the above means that though consumers’ willingness to buy may be stable, but if there is a breakdown somewhere in the system, as our status quo; having low purchasing power as consumers, this will lead to feelings of insecurity and loss of interest in food production on the side of the producers which, as a result, will lead to a slight drop in food supply.
This assertion has been made by the Vice President himself, Jonathan Good luck, when he was reported in Vanguard, May 4, 2008 while fielding questions from journalists, as saying “…So, the high price…, while we grumble and complain that the lower earners are not getting it, it also helps the farmers to come up and sell their produce so that the farmers don t die. Do you want the farmers to die? No! Consumers please put your hand up a little, pay a little bit better so that the farmer can go back to the farm. If you do not pay him well, he will abandon the cassava there and he will not go back to farming cassava.” Then I ask why? It is because the farmer had lost confidence in the consumers. Besides, may I ask the Vice President if it is possible for him to give what he doesn’t have?
No right-thinking person would want the farmers to sell their produce at loss. Farmers need to get good prices for their products so that they can go back to the farm with confidence and bring more food. But we will only be able to do this when we have the money. Like the consumers, farmers are also a part of the same malfunctioning society; we both are just victims of unfortunate circumstance.
That we still have a lot to do concerning food security is a reality that needs to be confronted. It is just funny that with all our theories; our postulations and suggestions, if all things remain unchanged, Nigerians will still survive. That is a mystery to the entire world and perhaps attributable to the fact that we run a cash economy where most incomes are derived from non-declared employments and businesses and where those who declared or registered their businesses evade lodging tax returns, as-well-as from other illegal activities like what is happening in the south-south and other petroleum tapping spots.
So while the economically disadvantaged majority will be suffering in silence because they haven’t got a voice stringent enough, it is only the minority few who found themselves in the category of players above, who also are blessed with a stringent voice that our government will listen to and use as our representative samples. What the government should have done otherwise is taking the food crisis serious by taking the farming problem to the local/village level for the local people themselves to solve, with government at the background, backing them while also injecting on another parallel macro level, an appreciable investment that will boost agricultural research and production for the food export industry. Who says earning from Agric cannot compete with oil?
Even though we have been nursing our own food shortage long before now, in other parts of the world, the problem is the same at present. We all know that. The American Agricultural economy for instance, at this time, may benefit what is known as ‘emergency economic loss assistance’ or whatever. This is in addition to other yearly handouts to farmers, to boost their output. No wonder they are happy and willing to remain farmers for ever.
Until our government so empowers the farmers financially, attaining food security will continue to be a fantasy for us in Nigeria.
Meanwhile, let me congratulate us for what seems to be the dawn of a new era in our life. That is the gradual re-emergence of a new echelon in the middle-less stratification pyramid of our social structure which though resembles the middle-class strata that had long disappeared from the face of our society but still having enough characteristics to have us scratching our heads.
Although the evolution of the class has its traditional process which embraces steady upward mobility of its three constituents -- the self-made people who owe everything to their personal efforts; being it resources, expertise or educational qualification or whatever -- these are the white-collar workers such as salaried managers and administrators, public servants, bankers, etc; the SMEs entrepreneurs such as small-scale manufacturers, traders, artisans, farmers, etc, and the qualified service-rendering professionals like lawyers, doctors, beauticians, designers, architects etc.
With the exception of the first stratum where currently we are witnessing a promising turn-around due to sharp increase in the business activities of certain selective industries like banking, oil and gas, IT, food processing, communication, insurance and a host of others, and of course, the ever-increasing state needs for qualified administrators as a result of our active political sector, the two others are somehow still in the doldrums.
By this depiction, one may say it is nothing worth of any jubilation or congratulating ourselves over; thinking we have arrived. But the cause for jubilation truly arises, and it is found in the reality that many years a go, there had been unprecedented recession in these industries which had, in fact, led to unannounced embargo on employment whereby companies rarely publicly advertised vacant positions as against now that jobsites are filled with ‘vacancies’ posted by both local and multinational organisations with mouth-watering salaries and attractive paraphernalia of office awaiting the lucky dudes that pick them up.
Today, if you are truly qualified, you can move from one organisation to another better organisation without the trepidation of the unknown. Our graduates now use their diary for keeping dates with job interview appointments and open days rather than recording hostile uncles and cousins’ offensives triggered as a result of excessive proximity caused by joblessness. Opportunities are now rearing heads from different directions, far from what the situations used to be in 2005 and 2006 as the contents of this horse’s-mouth link humorously reveals.
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