FG’s “Voodoo Economics”

The country’s economy managers are creating money based on imaginary numbers and disempowering the common man. This is clearly unacceptable.

Given the necessary resources, Nigerians can solve their own problems flourish and grow.

By this, the country can also create more wealth at will.

What is needed is a people based economic management and alternative to traditional economics of storing wealth while the citizens are hungry.

The accumulation of money by the government is a misplaced objective for these times because the driving purpose of wealth is to channel idle human and material capacity into productive streams that furnish jobs and manufacture tangible goods bettering the living conditions of every citizen.

It stands reason on its head that Federal Government is maintaining a foreign reserve of $46 billion with one or two per cent interest and shouldering a load of $42 billion domestic debt, which it services with 16 per cent interest.

And that why we agree with Bola Ahmed Tinubu, former governor of Lagos State and Brian Browne, former American Consul-General in Nigeria, co-authors of the book of “Financialism- Water from an Empty Well” who accused the federal government of operating ‘voodoo economics’.

We also agree that federal government cannot claim to be saving for the rainy day when it is already raining.

Look at the degree of hunger and wants in the midst of huge foreign reserves the federal government claim it has amassed.

This voodoo economics is choking up the private sector and killing Nigerians by installment.

Some of the reasons for the grave security situation in the country are; the uneven distribution of wealth; wide spread poverty; and mass looting of the treasuries by people in authority.

We therefore recommend an approach that focuses on improving local communities’ self-reliance, social justice, and participatory decision-making.

The approach must be based on an economic policy that recognizes economic growth does not inherently contribute to human development and calls for changes in social, political, and environmental values and practices.

In simple terms, economics is made for the people and the people for economics.

The federal government should immediately send money to the arteries and hearts of the real sector to fire the kiln of production.