My candid appraisal of a comatose nation -By Ishola Akinwale Victor

Ishola Akinwale Victor

Time and space might never forgive those people who at a point in time had the opportunity to address one or two issues affecting the body polity of the country, but have decided to act as neutral observers. It is a truism that Nigeria as the giant of Africa is a multi-lingual, multi-ethnic, pluralistic religious federal state, blessed with both human and non human resources…the question is why has development continue to elude the country? Could it have been because of issues relating to leadership dismal, political instability, corruption, military incursion into politics, sit-tightism, administrative incompetences, or because she had her independence on a platter of Gold.

Over the years now, the Nigerian economy has continued to experience a truncated history with little to show in the development of all other sectors in the country,the diversification of the Nigerian economy from Agriculture to oil has brought about so many challenges to the body polity of the country. It is important to note that the contribution of Agriculture to the gross domestic product of the country in the 1960s can never be over-emphasized, though it actually declined from 63% in 1960 to 34% in 1988…it wasn’t because the industrial sector increased the shares but just because of the neglect of Agricultural sector, no wonder why the giant of Africa has now become a net importer of basic items such as toothpick, tinned fish, turkey, and other basic materials that could be made and processed locally.

The issue now is, could the recent hike in fuel price be a major consequence of the neglect in the agricultural sector and other unsettled disputes in the body polity. I think bonafide Nigerians would always be ready to ask pertinent questions such as “when are we going to stop taking our crude oil abroad for refine”? When will our refineries start to work? When will the take home salaries of Nigerians start taking them home? When will Nigerians start benefiting from both the common good and the so-called dividends of Democracy?

I think its high time the Nigerian labour congress, pressure unions, youths and articulate Nigerians in diaspora took a realistic stand on this issue of fuel crises by crystal views and agitations through public opinions on the issue, through mobilisations and awareness. The argument behind this is that if there’s going to be a hike in fuel price, then there should also be an hike in the wages of Nigerian workers, more so, issues like deregulation policies should be strictly addressed and the excess from the crude sales should be used to subsidize the importation of crude product.

In addition to this I think our leaders at the epicentre of politics should be ready to revive our refineries so our importation could be reduced to the barest minimum. Conclusively, Nigerian leaders should please stop bragging about the growth in the Nigerian economy, all we need is sustainable development and not just increase in number. Fellow Nigerians, I think its high-time we sanitized the Agricultural sector.

Ishola Akinwale Victor