A popular hip hop song by Kanye West and Jamie Fox that topped the United States and global music chart some 10 years ago has an interesting lyric: “Ain’t messing with a broke nigga.”
As we would all agree, music or the art mimics society and the import of the lyric by the American musicians is that nobody wants to do business with a broke person, company or country.
Intriguingly, instead of deflecting disinformation about Nigerian economy, President Muhammadu Buhari has been proclaiming that Nigeria is broke at every given opportunity in Nigeria and abroad with gusto and aplomb.
His antagonists have pointed out that by making the negative proclamation that “Nigeria is broke” a sing-song, he is demarketing Nigeria but Mr President has promptly fired back at his critics that he is being honest and reiterated the fact that our potential investors probably know about Nigeria’s financial standing better than Nigerians.
It may be true that some investors may have information about the broken state of the Nigerian economy but any assessment of Nigeria by potential foreign investors, reinforced by Mr President, that Nigeria is broke remains speculative and without the official seal of Standards & Poors, Moodys and Fitch, globally reputable financial rating agencies which have not rated the country as being broke. So, why is Mr President putting his imprimatur on unfounded assessment?
Even more bewildering is the fact that local financial pundits have also proved the claim to be factually incorrect after applying all the templates for measuring financial conditions of a nation’s economy; so, why is the notion of Nigeria being broke still looming like an albatross?
In my assessment, it all boils down to politics which by now (six months into a new regime) should be put behind as pre-election activities and as leaders face the post-election challenges of nation-building by rolling up their sleeves and getting on with giving Nigeria a new lease of life after 16 years of visionless leadership, as the All Progressives Congress alleges.
No doubt, as a man of high morality, Buhari is perhaps singing this “Nigeria is broke” refrain based on the mind-boggling amount of money which should have been in the country’s vaults but allegedly frittered away by the previous administration. So, out of moral rectitude he is crying out loud, but the point Mr President is probably not recognising is that one does not need to bring the compunctions of an Imam or pastor required for leading faith-based organisations into leading a firm or nation, for that matter because they are different ball games.
As Mr President knows very well, there are different skill sets required to lead a congregation of people with absolute faith in God seeking penance and working towards going to heaven as opposed to ruling over a nation of people struggling to survive hard economic conditions as they try to master their environment while competing against other nations.
In leading a congregation of the faithful, the ultimate objective of the leader and the led is to be meek and pious in order to see or be with God at the end of life’s journey. It needs no further elucidation that such an atmosphere is devoid of intrigues and sinister motives, as all the members of the flock, more often than not, have their minds riveted on God.
It is quite the opposite when leading a company or nation.
With a nation, it is warfare without guns (in extreme cases with guns) as Buhari might have discovered in the course of contesting power against three successive Peoples Democratic Party presidents in 12 years.
Indeed, leading a nation is like managing a vast array of animal species ranging from the carnivores like lions and tigers (politicians)that feed on other animals; to the herbivores such as dinosaurs and lambs (voters) that feed on vegetable substances only and omnivores like humans (political platforms) that eat both meat and vegetable substances.
In a nutshell, a nation is a sort of jungle of animals of various species with conflicting interests where, as the popular saying goes, “dogs eat dogs”.
In that regard, being sanctimonious through plain speaking such as Mr President is doing by telling his local and international audiences that Nigeria is broke, rather than enhancing our economy, is capable of jeopardising the survival of the country.
For those familiar with the Holy Bible, when the Pharisees sought to pitch Jesus Christ against king Caesar by asking to whom they should pay tax, Jesus answered them by asking whose image was on the money? When they responded that it was Caesar’s, he told them to give to Caesar, what’s Caesar’s. This, in my view, simply implies that the rules of God’s kingdom are different from the rules of man. The bible also advises the children of God to be as gentle as a dove and as wise as a serpent; so, telling your competitors in the comity of nations that your country is broke may be imprudent. It will not surprise me if there is an equivalent of the biblical admonition referenced above in the holy Quran too.
In the course of his 12 years struggle for the mantle, Buhari may recall the intrigues and shenanigans that were involved in trying to unseat the ruling party such as highlighting the positive values of the APC and himself-progressiveness/integrity and deemphasising or concealing the negatives-authoritarian/dictatorial tendencies which opponents ascribed to him. Such tactics helped prop up the APC and himself as the preferred party and candidate for Nigerians to choose to govern them.
The same psychology and philosophy apply to nations which are competing against each other hence they put their best foot forward.
From the foregoing, the benefits of not informing our potential investors that we are broke far outweigh telling them that we are, especially when Nigeria is actually not broke but only trying to mend a broken economy .
When President Buhari views the concern that he is de-marketing Nigeria with his “Nigeria is broke” rhetoric in the context of the analogy above, he won’t feel as scandalised as he was when he responded to the allegation in a recent speech.
In other words, rather than taking it personal, the political jab from the opposition PDP that he is de-marketing Nigeria should be seen from the point of view of his political opponents capitalising on an indiscretion, which does not deserve being responded to openly, as he has done, since it is mere politics of the opposition trying to ruffle feathers.
For the record, former President Olusegun Obasanjo was pilloried for saying he was appointing advisers but would not be bound to take their advice; by the same token, Goodluck Jonathan, the immediate past President, was also infamous for saying stealing is not corruption just to play down the issue of corruption under his watch and so also has President Buhari been poo poohed for saying ministers are noise makers as it is civil servants that do the real administrative job of governance to deflate the argument that the delay in forming a cabinet was impacting negatively on the economy.
Such glib remarks are made at moments of indiscretion and twisted out of context to score cheap political points and it is my considered opinion that they are mere puns and should not be defended like they are articles of faith.
In my assessment of President Buhari from a distance, he appears like a leader who is open to ideas but needs convincing evidence and well-marshalled persuasive case to sway him.
To be concluded on Tuesday
Onyibe, a development strategist and former commissioner in Delta State, is an alumnus of Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy