By Pius Mordi
TUE, 16 AUGUST 2016-It is quite intriguing hearing from the government that the War Against Indiscipline (WAI), a campaign that signposted Muhammadu Buhari’s first sojourn in governance as military head of state, is staging a comeback. Coming on the heels of a frustrating scarcity of essential consumer goods, it was a big hit with the people what with the emphasis on imbibing the queue culture. In a rather strange atmosphere where Nigerians had to queue to buy goods appropriately christened ‘essenco’, WAI staved off potentially riotous situations in the scramble to buy consumer goods.
Unfortunately, before the WAI campaign could unravel, self-styled military president, Ibrahim Babangida, booted Buhari out of office. There is marked difference between then and now that may have been lost on the advocates of the return of WAI. The fall of the Second Republic and the advent of WAI came at a time Nigerians had the means and wherewithal to buy goods. The inventory of manufacturers and importers’ warehouses were incapable of meeting the demands of a still economically vibrant population.
Not so this time. Manufacturers operating even at about 30 percent of installed capacity are still saddled with large stocks of unsold goods in their warehouses while importers somehow source foreign currencies even at ridiculously high exchange rates. But the people no longer have the means to buy. Today, civil servants in all the tiers of government are being owed salaries, banks are downsizing and manufacturers are looking to emigrate to other climes with more clement environment.
While we may still be nostalgic about the charming effects of WAI some 31 years ago, it was a campaign essentially designed to address the chaos and near rancour that characterised the scramble to source the limited quantities of consumer goods. It was no economic road map, it had no blueprint for addressing the scarcity at the time and it was just a call to follow in the perceived austere foot steps of the leaders at the time.
Back to the present. In the face of a now limp and almost lifeless working class with no middle class, it is intriguing that the Federal Government’s priority will be a return of the queue culture. If there is any queue now, it is that of manufacturers and importers waiting in vain for consumers to relieve them of their enormous burden of unsold stocks.
Even before the recession was officially confirmed, all the indices in Nigeria’s economy had indicated that we are in it big time. Once you have the combination of rising prices, falling output, and increasing government borrowing, then you have the perfect storm for an inevitable recession. The combination had been in the right mix for some time. It only needed a perceptive leadership to read all the indicators and get down on the job.
As late as Thursday, August 11, President Buhari spoke of the economy as Nigeria “suddenly” becoming poor. I am not sure there is anything as sudden national poverty in the absence of severe depression. The poverty had been with us long before he took over power and this much was acknowledged in the heat of the campaigns leading to the 2015 elections.
If there is poverty in any segment of the society, it is definitely with the leadership. From the onset of the Buhari administration, manufacturers and, indeed, the local and international business communities have been asking the administration for its economic direction. And apparently in frustration, the Organised Private Sector the Presidential Policy Dialogue Session in Lagos on Thursday, called on the government to focus more on the economy, to avoid social problems triggered by hunger and poverty.
They maintained that government’s monetary policies were “stifling operations in the real sector and that the effect was already snowballing into a big social problem with the closure of many enterprises, amid rising unemployment and underemployment.”
Espousing ideas that would not impact on productivity or address the serious challenges facing the country is akin to burying one’s head in the sand. When critical infrastructure as power supply is adequate, when people have jobs, when salaries are paid promptly and when capital projects are executed and contractors paid, the people will have the wherewithal to spend. That is the change the country needs.
