The Quest for Paradigm Shift in Economic Management in Nigeria

Starting what the government should do to reverse the ugly trend of events which have relegated our industrial sector to the background is an easy thing to do. But the problem is that at different fora stakeholders have presented these facts severely to the responsible government officials, to no avail. More so, development in the real sector signpost a state of despondency. A number of events which call for the evaluation of the mission,  vision, skill and competence of leaders foisted on our nation, Nigeria are as follows:
1. The shutdown of Michelin operation and the suspension of production activities in the radial tyre section of Dunlop Nigeria plc. In same climes these ugly developments with their negative consequences could have drawn the prompt attention of the federal, state and local government officials. But as long as the petdollars are still following in, all things seem to be reversal to import duty on radial truck tyres from 40% to 10percent thereby rendering the 8billion naira investments of the company useless. Till date there is no government reaction officially to seek ways to reverse the trend in these two companies. The bailout plans by advanced countries of organizations worst got by the global meltdown is embarked upon in order to save their economy generally and jobs for their citizens in particular.

2. In the furniture sector our government charges 20percent duty with 10 percent levy, on accessories and raw materials meant for door production whereas duty on imported finished door is 10 percent without any levy. How do we explain this irony, we are generating employment for furniture workers abroad while our furniture makers are suffering from lack of sales due to high cost of their products, with its attendants consequences of jobs loss.

3. In the textile industry, many industries have closed including one of the biggest,  the United Nigeria textiles in kaduna in 2008. The obasanjo administration had A bailout plan involving N70 billion, N50 billion to revamp the moribund textile industry and N20 billion to restructure the growth of cotton. Unfortunately, and till the implementation of the plan remains a mystery while unemployment continues to rise.

4. A country where the top ten companies are banks without a corresponding support of the real sector, tend to spell doom for the nation.  Normally, banks are supposed to enhance technological innovation and productivity in the real sector which leads to economic growth. On it's own economic growth precedes financial success,  because it creates demand for financial instruments. But in Nigeria, obtaining a loan for any productive venture is a Herculean task despite the high interest rate.

5. A country that feels at ease running a one product economy despite its sensitivity in the world market, is really an irony.  From the selling price of $140 person barrel in 2008 and now $40, put the 2009 federal budget and the economy on the precipe.

Nigeria is a country that continue to cause untold hardship for the citizenry as a result of its inability to meet the local demand of refined petroleum products through domestic production.

On January 15 2009, the federal government inaugurated the presidential steering committee on global economic crises with the president as the chairman,  conspicuously absent among the list filled with with governs, senior government officials, were members of the organised private sector  (ops). The committee had Tony elumelu of UBA and alhaji aliko dangote representing the bankers commuter and Nigeria industrialist respectively,  how will the ever busy government functionaries be able to articulate a strategic economic recovery pathway for Nigeria.

The lamentations could continue unabated. Our position is that the quest for paradigm shift in economic management in Nigeria is now we need to build impressive infrastructural facilities capable of making Nigeria the best outsourcing center for global companies. Such endeavor should be capable of engendering a sustainable socio economic development of the nation, by laying the foundation to achieve the vision 20- 2020 of the yar-adua administration.
Our recommendations are as follows:
Enhancing and sustaining knowledge based leadership.
Strategic export based diversification initiative.
Devising a home grown economic model with less emphasis on economic pills from the Bretton woods institutions.
Reactivation of the SMS sector.
Building a synergy between financial services sector and the productive (manufacturing)  sector of the economy.
Building impressive infrastructuralfacilities.
Legislating into existence a development roadmap to prevent inconsistencyin government policy formulations and implementation. Strategic focus on the production sector,  by facilitating accessibility to the factors of production.
Reforming the educational sector to engender the production of skilled manpower.  Repositioning the public service to enhance service delivery and reduce bureaucratic red tape.