Stock taking of the fleeting year, 2024

From January to December, an account of all the activities that transpired on various fronts, comprising every known transaction (financial, spiritual, social, political, private and corporate) entered into, including any finished or unfinished business, is expected at a time like this; to be presented and retired into a book of records that captures everything up to the 31st day of December. This is a must task for every system that sincerely desires to make progress in every ongoing sustainable activity in life. The essence of account taking is to soberly reflect on how far the performances within the period under review fared, whether it turned out well or not. Otherwise, consideration is given to alternatively re-strategise the necessary roadmap, pathways, processes; or procedures for improvements into the future, through actions and events are made.   

In the governance of all constitutionally established sovereign states, the primary duty of the leadership, the democratically elected public office holders, is the “protection of lives and property”. As the year 2024 draws to an end, there are questions expected to be answered by those occupying positions of leadership within the system, especially as it pertains to the economy. This is particularly so because, without sound financial health in everything man does as an individual or done corporately, there is definitely not going to be any meaningful or visible growth and improvement in life’s endeavours. Finance invariably funds provision of energy, while the energy consumed (in diverse forms) supports and powers healthy sustainable living. In other words, poverty directly impacts backwardness in every sense of economic outlook for a country; which could relate to an economic model that directly treats some economic challenges like inflation within the economy. The alarming rise in food prices for over 20 years as decried by late Gani Fawehinmi in the 2003 Presidential Debate, is an indication that not much has been done to address this economic challenge on food insecurity (in the agricultural sector).

Good governance, therefore, primarily demands that there should be availability of food for all classes in the society. It is the sole responsibility of a responsible government to make sure that food (one of man’s three basic needs) is always available. Any threat against this (such as the purported claims of the replacement of natural seeds by some organisations in the West with Genetically Modified Organic (GMO) foods) should be stiffly resisted. It should be seen as a fight against food insecurity by any sitting government, as part of her primary responsibilities (as sworn in the oath of office), to protect lives and property. The recent unfortunate incidences of stampede recorded in Ibadan, Abuja and Okija where lives were lost as a result of acute hunger in the land are clear manifestations of desperation for food. It is true that the government cannot practically contain such challenges alone, but they need to provide the enabling environment that could support and encourage private investors in that sector (agriculture) of the economy, to effectively equip local farmers to go back to their farmlands by providing adequate security against the bandits that kill, maim, harass, kidnap and rape female farmers in various locations in the country.

The protection expected of the government is holistic, it cannot be partial. In the ensuing year, what is expected of the government is to study how other economies overcome such challenges and apply such a model that suits our domestic environment; for sustainable economic growth and full protection of her citizens at all times. For instance, a country like China has, in the past three decades, recorded steady economic growth at an incredible 10 percent annually in her Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Their unique economic model of evolutionary process is what makes them thick (to the amazement of the entire world). Nigeria should buckle up because there abounds great potentials favourably available to make it, if only the stigma of selfish corrupt tendencies could be curbed among the very public officers saddled with driving her economic growth and development. That the Chinese economy is growing so fast is as a result of some practices selflessly put in place by those in government. A former World Bank director Yukon Huang elucidated on the known facts of the Chinese application of the rule of law, strong institutions and inclusiveness for rapid economic growth. The two exceptional things that differentiated the Chinese economy are the extraordinary competitive economy that competes externally, consistently with her open trade policy, and her internal provincial competitiveness by those provinces supporting economic activities.

Why can’t regional competitiveness thrive again in our economy like in the sixties when the three regions were making waves with their respective agricultural produce (the Kano groundnut pyramids, Ibadan cocoa exports and the oil palm business that thrived in the Eastern part of the country)? This is a big question we need to answer by ourselves as we step beyond 2024, into the New Year, 2025.

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