In a changing world, with continuous evolution on social norms, cultural activities and economic structures that respond to various influential human factors like technology, globalisation and politics; it constantly requires a limitless position of research studies into all human daily engagements. The essence is to retrace all past wrong steps taken in running the economy, or in governance; and to keep improving in all spheres of human endeavours. Hence, the innovative tendencies that shall strategically rearrange and proactively adjust man’s generational conditions to normalcy. This is because the efforts (the investments) made today shape the outcomes of tomorrow (the future). It is on this premise that the monetary policy in a shock-prone world ought to be intelligently handled, especially for a system like Nigeria’s economy; by uniquely re-jigging all the economic variables, to work for the nation. Crude sales in naira to local refineries, for instance, should be a priority for the Nigerian economy.
The value and worth of our local currency, the naira, ought to be determined by state recognition, and not by market forces like crude oil price at the international oil market, which has its unit/barrel price standardised in the United States dollar. This can be uniquely improved on, if the movers and shakers of the nation’s economy are determined, and decide to do so. They can borrow a leaf from China, by learning from the hard fact that it is crude oil export that has remained the major source of the nation’s foreign exchange earnings for decades. We should come out of any form of post-colonial mentality or neocolonialism, and radically redesign our homegrown economic framework that can drastically extricate this ailing economy from the shackles and the financial regulatory fangs of multilateral financial institutions. This is because, truly, this economy, as it stands presently, with the exchange rate at about N1,730 to the dollar, is not working! Economic experts, development economists within, should redesign the economic and financial architecture of the entire system afresh, to let domestic production surpass consumption, such that the economic activities and the daily commercial activities within the economy restart on a clean note (void of foreign exchange referencing scales) because Nigerians are dying! A self-sufficient, daily consumption of a domestically refined energy economy, shall instantly liberate this country from the present economic woes. Mind you, Dangote refined products are just around the corner, and this postulation requires no further rocket science to solve this economic challenge!
Homegrown policy that shall address the challenges of climate change and poverty in Nigeria should be the focus of the managers of this economy. Every impediment therefore, that is observed to be drawing back economic growth within the system, could be tactically and patriotically contained, if all local investors in the private sector (industry players) could collectively and genuinely engage in local manufacturing of made in Nigeria goods, with all diligence. Such a strategic business action could reasonably and comfortably reposition the nation’s economic operations for favourable international trade performance, with every other nation of the world. The above outcomes are feasible, once the economy is visibly characterised by “import substitution” and “backward integration” policies that are put in place to function among all the integrated economic sectors, with daily interactive linkages, for a structured business outlook that corporately yields productivity for national economic efficiency. Our homegrown economic policy needs to have a novel concept, and shall uniquely tow a capitalistic financial structure that focuses inwards for economic self sufficiency in terms of domestic consumption. Poverty shall be reduced in such a society because of the promising rising rate of employment opportunity at the labour market. At the same time, on the other hand, business leaders and those in governance could engage the entire economic system to actively participate and sincerely observe the millennium development goals (MDGs) alongside the domestically designed energy transition policy, on every available natural resources for global warming mitigation through full compliance on energy efficiency compliant measures.
Every point already adduced, including the well articulated measures towards improving the worth and value of the naira, revolves around implementation of homegrown monetary and fiscal policies that are indigenously designed (that its interest rate should not be driven by liberal market forces that are externally influenced by the West), like the current move to supply crude oil to all the local refineries in our local currency. It is remarkable that after six decades of high level corruption and persistent looting of the nation’s treasury, the economy that is significantly enriched through a single export product (crude oil) for foreign exchange, is still in existence and standing, although it has been sorely battered, and it is continuously viewed to be at the verge of collapse, then!
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