Today, there is this issue that really bothered me and got me thinking so much I already had an article in my head, not necessarily to add to the thousands of discuss that already exist on that topic but to rid myself off of some guilt about not trying what I can in my own little way to justify contributing my quota to at least do something about this country and that issue is the continuous disregard for what the law says that is rampant amidst our ‘governors’.
As I walked past the hundreds of cars on the road to work in the morning who were of course trapped in the usual traffic hold up that characterizes the Old Abeokuta Axis, three custom vehicles sped past me in what was not just a flagrant disregard of traffic rules but in a manner that was careless and seemed more like there were no traffic rules at all.
In actual fact, the higher you go in the political class pyramid, the less laws apply to you and that is a reflection of what I read on my phone in the yellow bus I had to squeeze myself in on the way to my next bus stop – An ECOWAS Call to Mr President to come and justify why the “judgements” ( I don’t know the legal word here) of three Federal courts granting Mr Dasuki bail conditions could not get him to surrender the poor man either for the bail conditions he had already met or even in a court of law. Ours is a government where laws apply only to the powerful and the rich (provided you have not offended the “powerful” currently in power).
To dwell on this however will be a waste of opportunity. As far as today goes, Bill Clinton’s 1993 Campaign Slogan is what best describes the current political atmosphere. It’s the economy, Stupid.
The National Bureau of Statistics released a report based on the first quarter of 2016 and it appears to be the worst GDP Report we have seen in a decade. Nigerians get to consume so many figures these days that we can almost not interpret what those figures mean so I will try and not make the same mistake here. The summary is simple, We have a very bad situation, the worst we have had in years and there is no point arguing why this is so and apportioning blames to whichever administration was responsible, the former who had already left power over a year ago or the incumbent who was left to deal with the bad economic policies of years past.
For me, one thing is just clear and unarguable, incumbent administrations are always left with the decisions of the previous ones, government at least is a continuum, the realities that average citizens then face with change of governments is what is not a continuum. I leave you to do that finger pointing part when you get to twitter or facebook. The point I plan to make with this essay and to all Nigerians irrespective of where you stand whether for KOWA PARTY or for any other party is simply embodied in the title of this Op-Ed so as succinctly as possible, let me go through that report in a way you would understand.
Q1 GDP Reports these things – There is a negative GDP Growth Rate ( -0.36% ). The GDP is a combination of the every sector’s production, this means most sectors have produced less than the last quarter and then comes the unemployment rate at 12.1% and let’s break that down. This would mean at least one out of ten individuals ready and capable and seeking for work does not have a job. This figure stands at 56.1% amidst young Nigerians between the ages of 15-24. Yeah! An approximate six out of ten young Nigerians.
So what happened is really straight forward, If you have a company that produced more last quarter and now produces less (remember that third quarter 2015 was also better than fourth quarter 2015, business sense says he can’t afford to pay the number of persons he paid last time to produce less of what he produced last time and from what NBS says, 24.5m persons btw 15-65 yrs either unemployed or underemployed in q1 2016 from 22.4m in q4 2015. Moreso, number of unemployed persons rose by 1.45m so we could say something like the number of people in the labor force willing to work that couldn’t find work has increased due to the job loss we talked about earlier, influx into the labor force or fall from underemployment.
What all this translates to is reduced consumer spending which of course is due to increased prices and reduced income which is due to all these issues we highlighted and then as a producer without demand, you go ahead and reduce production and we are back in full cycle to all these horrible things we mentioned.
In a country where all these things are the way the report above has clearly shown and the administration continues to wage different battles on different fronts, from Sambisa Forest to Niger Delta Avengers to the anti-corruption fronts where we now finally have a conviction to the labour movement fronts, We DEFINITELY need a LOUD and in deed, a VERY LOUD SPEAKER to echo repeatedly in the ears of this administration that it is really about the economy.
A lack of a clear policy direction on the economy, the absence of charisma and confidence from the President about the economy, the seemingly non-chalant attitude of the entire administration on anything about the economy and Madam Minister of Finance’s continued rhetoric of N350bn whatever are the only visible outcomes of an election that was decided based on an overwhelming support of the people who the nation’s economy decides whether they sleep hungry or they can eat before they sleep, whether they get to retain their wards in school or their wards get to stay at home, whether they close their shops or whether they continue to cope with the situation, whether they lose their jobs or whether their bosses decide to keep them on the payroll.
A Nigerian said boldly that he elected Buhari just because of his records on corruption and his ability to fight it and he’s doing just that and so he is comfortable. Well, this is a note to those whose pay grade can get them the ears of Mr President, It’s the economy, Stupid.
In three years time, what will determine whether Nigerians approve of Mr President’s performance in office is not how many thieves he was able to put in prison whether through the judgements given by courts of law or by an outright disregard for the rule of law, the day to day living, the standard of living of every average Nigerian and the 106 million people who are economically active and available for work is what will determine not just Mr President’s popularity but also how successful this administration is and so for the umpteenth time, should they not know, let them be told reminded that IT’S THE ECONOMY, STUPID.
This Article was written by Jude Feranmi the National Youth Leader of the KOWA party. Jude is also a Columnist at the Sheet