The Ministry of Finance Blames It On Corona Virus -By J. Ezike

“There appears to be a massive disconnect between the things said and the things that happens. We look at cars made in Nigeria by a big group (Innoson) and I don’t see government officials driving those cars or taking that industry or discussing about that manufacturing company in meetings such as the African Union. When easily Nigeria can use its leverage to dominate that industry in Africa.”

The above statement was made by Charles Aniagolu, a news anchor with Arise TV, in an interview with Zainab Ahmed who serves as Nigeria’s current Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning. It was not surprising that her response on camera was rather predictable and built on the false premise which claims that the strategic exclusion and the economic marginalization of the Eastern Region of the defunct federation of Nigeria is as result of the corona virus pandemic. While it was true that she appeared to be in great deal of pressure to defend her office, to protect the interest of the Sokoto Caliphate and to manage the situation with communicative dishonesty, she was careful enough not to admit the woes of the Nigerian government and its over-dependence on oil revenues.

Nigeria has long had a leadership problem and that leadership problem has been brought into the full glare of the public, in the heat of the global crisis. The corona virus pandemic has done its best to expose the inefficiency of all the Nigerian institutions and those who govern them at federal, state and local level. It is bizarre to imagine that Nigeria in its pitiful state of financial exhaustion has the structural capacity to protect itself from the onslaught of the corona virus if it decides to escalate beyond the control of the system. It is even ridiculous to believe that the current presidency along with its usual political lies and fraud is stirred to alleviate the sufferings of Nigeria’s poor.

We’ve heard statements coming from the Ministry of Finance about the government releasing ₦2.67 trillion stimulus packages to respond to the corona virus pandemic. We were told that the funds would be sourced from Nigeria’s contribution of $3.4 billion dollars with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The Ministry of Finance under the leadership of Zainab Ahmed did not pretend that the funds in the national treasury have been dried up however, she did well to escape the pressure of telling the world how an oil-rich country like Nigeria that produces about 2.5 million barrels of crude oil on a daily basis lacks the financial capacity to attend to the urgent needs and survival of its citizens. What impressed me about her lies is that she was very calm and confident when she related the failure of leadership on the corona virus. But beneath the superficial guarantee of a stimulus package by the Nigerian government, incompetency lingers on.

Silliest of all is the belief that the relief funds as promised by the government will be made available to every single Nigerian when in fact the country, throughout its vainglorious history, has no electronic database through which bio-information of every citizen can be sourced and stored to address the emergencies of the 21^st century.

It is even noteworthy to say that the paralysis on the power sector afforded Nigeria many decades to bleed out all of its economic potentials and to frustrate the entrepreneurial spirits of the entrapped tribal constituents, particularly Biafrans, from going into their ingenuity which would expose the wasteful behavior of the central power and ultimately give merit to the nationwide agitation for self-determination!

That there are some entrepreneurs in the private sector who have donated billions of naira to provide succor to the country’s poorest population changes nothing. It does not change the fact that an oil-rich country like Nigeria which has the largest number of people living in extreme poverty lacks the structural capacity to ensure that its citizens have access to food, health care, security and other basic necessities during this pandemic period. Indeed, it is a hopeless case that cannot be salvaged with grammar or cosmetic repair.

Some economists have suggested that a debt relief be granted to Nigeria to enable it recover from its deep recession. This is happening against the backdrop of the country’s financial habit of borrowing astronomical funds from foreign countries, only for the purpose of consumption rather than investment. And when serious questions are being asked about Nigeria’s leadership failures, its overdependence on oil revenues and its refusal to explore other avenues of wealth creation, “someone” in the Ministry of Finance blames it on corona virus.

Certainly, Nigeria cannot survive if it saves all its oil revenues without spending and the reason is simple: Leadership Failure. It is this leadership failure that assures that every sector of the country is left in a state of decay. The emotional talk about diversification is not the solution either. Nigeria had over 60 years to use its leverage, especially in the South of the contraption, to build a system that is workable and viable. The end result, of course, has been an endless clash of ideologies marked by a century of corruption, war and poverty.

Over the years and throughout its fraudulent existence, Nigeria has proven that its greatest inspiration as a country is the total damnation of the Biafran man, of the Igbo man. It is the one thing most crucial to the survival and preservation of its primitive power. This is why a big group like Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing is ignored by the Nigerian government on the basis of its ethnic affiliation with the Igbo. This is why Ibeto Cement Group is overburdened with sanctions. And this explains the strategic exclusion and economic marginalization of the geopolitical entity known as Biafra…