As the persistent fall in oil price continues to adversely affect many economies of the world, especially countries dependent on crude oil export, a chieftain of All Progressives Congress (APC) and Chairman, LEADERSHIP Newspapers Group, Mr Sam Nda-Isaiah, has advocated the immediate restructuring of the nation’s economy to reverse the current economic woes.
He said since Nigeria boasts of many alternatives to oil, the best time to change the economic tide is now.
Nda-Isaiah made the assertion in his keynote address at the Hall of Grace Magazine public lecture in Lagos, arguing that countries like Switzerland, Brazil, Singapore, Malaysia, Israel and – especially China overtook every country in Western Europe and Japan to become the second largest economy in the world in just a few years – blaze the trail; so there is no reason for Nigeria to worry about falling oil prices.
He said, “We cannot just sit by and produce the raw materials for other nations to make billions. We too should be beneficiaries. Last year, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest man, threatened to buy Arsenal. Many believed he has the muscle to do it.
“It is high time we get the Dangotes of Nigeria and elsewhere to invest heavily to create a soccer economy and this will certainly prove beneficial to all concerned. The passion for the game in Nigeria is incredible.
“There are too many alternatives to oil and there are too many things we can do. We have lost too much time. The best time to have started all these was two decades ago. The second best time is now.”
The media chief, whose lecture dwelt largely on how Nigeria’s economy can stay strong amid crashing oil prices at the occasion chaired by former minister of information, Chief Alex Akinyele, also assured Nigerians that with the election of President Muhammadu Buhari, who has brought discipline, order and integrity back to government, the nation’s economic woes could be reversed.
Nda-Isaiah said: “Nigeria is already the biggest economy in Africa. We attained that status without really planning for it. For a long time, we didn’t even know we were Africa’s biggest economy until somebody decided to rebase the economy. What that means is that we can actually become one of the biggest economies in the world by specifically planning for it.
“It will take leadership, of course. Fortunately, we are already in the right direction with the election of President Muhammadu Buhari last year, and the evidence is everywhere to see. God has always been kind to this country. If the collapse of the oil market had happened when the PDP was still in power, we would probably not be talking like this today.
“Now with discipline, order and integrity back to government, things may be bad at the moment, but there is hope. We will get out of our mess and we’ll become better and bigger than what we were.”
The APC chieftain and former presidential aspirant noted that, before now, only Lagos State could survive without federal allocation while other states struggled for survival as a result of laziness and lack of creativity.
Nda-Isaiah declared, “Now states in Nigeria can’t afford that anymore. States in Nigeria, like any such governing units all over the world, must now find ways to survive or die quietly.
“The excuse that some economic resources are under the exclusive legislative list of the Constitution will no longer wash. Every state in Nigeria, as a federating unit, has enough resources to exist as a rich nation if they were countries,” he added.
He wondered why Dangote Group will be making about N6 billion from its Obajana Cement plant monthly while the government of Kogi State is waiting for federal government allocation rather that explore its solid minerals.
He said, “There are 34 strategic minerals in Nigeria and they are spread all over the 36 states. The opportunities in agriculture are even more alluring. Nigeria has virtually everything and if there are any agricultural products that we currently don’t have, it is probably because they have not yet been planted by anyone in Nigeria.
“Some of our problems should even be embarrassing to us. For instance, more than 50 per cent of all the yams consumed in Europe are Nigerian yams, but not a single one is exported from Nigeria. Ghanaians and businessmen from other African countries drive into Nigeria, buy our yams, take them to their countries and export the commodities, making millions of dollars for both themselves and their countries in the process,” adding that the same applies to shea butter.
“The shea butter commodity business is huge in the international market and Nigeria is a huge producer, but we are not players,” he noted.
These and several others, he said, are some of the low hanging fruits that Nigeria could appropriate immediately.
He pointed out another low hanging fruit as the millions of dollars of gold stolen daily at the illegal mining sites of Zamfara State.
“Ditto for lead, zinc, precious stones and few rare metals around the country. Foreign businessmen are involved in this booming illegal mining business in Nigeria,” he said.
“After taking advantage of the low hanging fruits, we can then start looking into the longer term and plan properly. Brazil is a world agricultural power today because it learnt from past crises and decided to be big on agriculture. We must decide to be a world super-power in agriculture and work towards achieving it. It is that straightforward.”
Nda-Isaiah further pointed the government in the way of taxation.
According to him, “The easiest way that nations increase revenues generally is through taxation. And if any government wants more taxes, then it must create the environment for the flourishing of businesses and entrepreneurship.
“The more successful businesses there are, the more taxes that can be generated by governments. State governments should now start competing among themselves on which of them are better destinations for businessmen. This happens all over the world. Apart from jobs that would be created, more taxes will also result.”
As a way to diversify government revenue, the media chief advocated e-Commerce as another viable source of funds.
He said: “The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) recently announced that Nigeria now has 97 million Internet users. That’s almost double the entire population of our closest competitor, South Africa, Africa’s second largest economy after Nigeria. The logic of this is that e-Commerce is another sector that can also lift Nigeria out of its current economic woes.
“This is another low hanging fruit if we know what to do. E-commerce is already a growth sub-sector in Nigeria and if the different tiers of government show interest here and encourage entrepreneurs, it can go a very, very long way. We should ask the South Koreans. The very serious thing about e-Commerce is that the entire world is your market. We can earn lots of foreign exchange here.”
Nda-Isaiah lamented that one area that past governments failed to look into was the soccer economy.
“Nigeria is known all over the world as a footballing nation. With creativity, we can lure investors from all over the world into this sector as it is currently done in the West, where billions of dollars is generated. The soccer economy all over the world is huge,” he observed.
Corroborating Nda-Isaiah’s stance on the economy, Mazi Sam Ohuabunwa, founder of Sam Ohuabunwa Economic Empowerment, and Pastor Ituah Ighodalo of Trinity House, a mega church in Lagos, said it was high time the country diversified its economy and looked beyond oil.
Ohuabumwa said, “If I were government, I would look at the areas where government has comparative advantage, those things we can do better than the rest of the world, develop them and sell to the world; and the world does what they are also best at doing and sell to you. It is not by closing the door; that does not help any nation.”
He listed the areas as petro-chemicals, rubber technology, food and agriculture processing, and solid minerals.
“Let the government invest in them and support local entrepreneurs to be more economically viable,” he said.
-Leadership