In contributing to the series, “It takes a Minister”, I shared my thoughts on the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, a few weeks ago. This ministry is so important in our ongoing circumstances. What the ministry can accomplish in the face of our development challenges would be determined by its Naira impact. The latter would depend on how much money, material resources and ‘goodwill’ that the ministry can mobilize and the expertise and honesty to implement smart and appropriate solutions to the complex needs of vulnerable people. This would be in the face of daunting structural and systemic constraints in our polity. The very environmental constraints that limit the performance of existing institutions.

Going by our history and context, the likely result might be that the ministry would accomplish ‘less’ than what it could with ‘more’ than what it should. This would be inefficient use of limited resources and may contribute to the wider systemic issues as we continue to play catch-up and remain very distant from development frontiers. As expected, we will celebrate the ‘less with more’, politics-speak of how we have been ‘creative’ and ‘innovative’ (to cheapen these terms), while actually competing at the very bottom of the indicators for development.

The real problems though are the ‘opportunity costs’ of not addressing, at pace, the structural and systemic issues that drag us back. If only we could take a step or two back, outside of the day to day competition for power and patronage, we would realize that there is a strong ‘storm’ that is gathering and coming our way. Against this storm, we all will be losers if we don’t urgently begin to respond appropriately. With a large youth population, it should be in our advantage for production and consumption to power and sustain our economy. But, we have not invested in our youth to become human capital, and have not empowered them enough to unleash their potential to benefit themselves, their immediate families and communities and our country.

Our large youth population also observe a high level of income and wealth inequality in our country. They understand that the level of inequality is a result of the policy preferences of people in positions of consequential decision-making and the quality of governance across many administrations over many years. They also understand that regressive policies and the crony-capitalism that it enables leads to wealth extraction and exploitation by a few at the expense of the many, instead of wealth creation to benefit every Nigerian.

Our young people observe that we are building a country for people that hold political offices and power, and for the rich. They see how dirty, violent and irregular our politics and elections are and understand that political power is the means to ‘unexplained’ wealth. That instead of service, politicians and their cronies lord it over, use institutions that are funded by tax-payers to build patronage and loyalty networks and to oppress fellow Nigerians and continue to distort economic spaces. They are aware of how great capitalism can be if it is observing fair rules and boundaries of competition and ethics. That capitalism can result in wealth creation from INNOVATION (the new and big ideas that solve real problems in society, build capacity and enable capability) and innovation (that scales the new and big ideas through efficiency savings that are transferred to consumers who benefit, and thus, gains a market advantage over competitors, and thus profitable) – both of which can aggregate to improve the standard of living of all Nigerians.

Young people know that wealth creation is a long and continuous process that can involve hundreds or thousands of people (if not millions) in the value and supply chains that are created. That the involvement of people in the process of wealth creation is what creates sustainable jobs and decent tax-paying wages that can have predictable positive impact on the real economy. That it is from decent wages that people are empowered to effectively demand the goods and services that they need and want (giving cultural influences) – such demand feeding back to supply – to sustain the economy as a reflection of our productivity and demographic profiles.

Most of our young people are aware that when the government means well, it pursues the right policies, and are accountable to the people to SERVE. That such a government ensures that capitalism works well so that the government can have access to the money that it requires to intervene and invest in the economy – in people, services and physical infrastructure – that will pay-off in the future, to continue the ripples and cycles of a virtuous spiral. An economic philosophy that combines some elements of capitalism and some of socialism, given our development contexts. One that does not define economic growth based on just headline numbers to sustain business as usual for the political ‘elites’ and crony-capitalists, but also on the human and environmental impact.

For example, it would be right to ask the following questions about the economy:

Is our economy giving every Nigerian a chance to achieve their full potential, and playing an active part in the development of their communities?
Does our economy mean to every working-age Nigerian, an opportunity for a decent tax-paying job, affordable housing, access to healthcare at the point of need, and safer communities?
Does our economy mean access to quality education of the minds and hands of our young people to become ‘responsible’ citizens? Indeed, citizens that are connected to one another in profound ways, investing in quality relationships and co-producing the goods and services that communities require.
Does our economy mean that our population can access the food and nutrition that they need?
Does our economy mean health and social care for the most vulnerable members of our society?
Does our economy mean that we care for our environment and are investing in the resilience that our communities require against the potential impacts of climate change (as it affects us now, and for the future our children and generations to come)?
Does our economy mean that we are producing most of the goods and services that our people need and that we are protecting ourselves from the turbulence that could occur in global environments? Imagine what your products would look like or become if you developed a mobile and online solution that do not have Google and Social Media applications.

As the world is increasingly interconnected through technology, culture would continue to influence us in diverse ways. Not only are our young people exposed to the ‘good’ from the outside for which they wish, but also the ‘bad’ from the outside. Without the right foundations built on national ambition and our national purpose and values, to provide guidance and boundaries on the roles and responsibilities of our population – especially young people – influences could lead to negative behaviour instead of the inspiration that Nigerians require to build strong communities and the great ideas to sustain local economies.

By not paying enough attention; by not rigorously debating ideas on policies in and out of elections; by reacting rather than responding to the unique needs of a large and complex country; by not defining and negotiating Nigeria’s role in the world, politicians are failing to invest in our young people (our valued assets). We are, therefore, not investing in the future. Our vulnerability to on-coming ‘storms’ is increasing under our watch.

The North East Development Commission

May I share with us below a modified version of an article that I contributed as a guest blogger for the Council on Foreign Relations, on the North-East Development Commission in 2018, for some insights.

The president of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, signed into law the establishment of the North-East Development Commission (NEDC) in October 2017. The NEDC’s mission is to lead the reconstruction and development of Nigeria’s northeast. It is likely to consolidate and replace other initiatives such as the Victims Support Fund (VSF), Presidential Initiative on the North East (PINE), and Presidential Committee on the North-East Initiative (PCNI).

It is very likely that the funding of the Commission will come from various sources including the Federal Government of Nigeria, international bilateral donors, the African Development Bank, the World Bank, the UN, the European Union, USAID, UKAID/DFID, as well as local donors.

There are already hundreds of local and international NGOs currently responding to the humanitarian crisis in the region. A major challenge is coordinating these diverse actors, each with different missions. The other challenge is how to ensure that the activities and solutions that various actors bring are culturally appropriate and positively impactful.

Coordinating the activities of NGOs should, therefore, be of paramount concern for the NEDC. This should be done in close consultation and partnership with states and local governments in the area. It should also coordinate with the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), which is also operating in the region.

To promote community unity and stabilization, the NEDC should regularly consult with the ordinary people in the region (for whom it was created) in determining and prioritizing their needs. It should ensure that solutions take into account the culture and customs of those it seeks to help, and its economic initiatives should empower ordinary people.

Over time, the NEDC will need to invest in data systems, education, health care, housing, skills training, and agriculture. If successfully implemented, the NEDC has the opportunity to make a real difference in the lives of Nigerians in the northeast.

I hope that the relevant institutions would find some of the ideas in this article about the NEDC useful.

Some final thoughts

Nigeria is not just a landmass with mineral resources. It is more than that. What makes us a country are our people – our humanity, culture and talents. How we can positively influence the behaviour of Nigerians to responsible citizens building thriving communities should be the thrust of law-making, policies and governance. We should not and cannot criminalize our way out of our challenges – many of which we have created or made worse. We should not apply solutions that are not based on our best evidence. We should not react disproportionately to perceived ‘threats’.

Fundamental to democracy is self-governance. This implies and should guarantee certain freedoms and rights, not just for the state but for individuals and groups. Parliament and other ‘democratic’ institutions are but symbols and tools. Their primary purpose is to ensure the protection of these freedoms and rights enshrined in the Constitution. That is what makes us a republic governed by laws and not by the dictates of man.

We cannot continue to limit the freedoms of our people and claim that we are in a democracy. There is a conflict. We should not use democracy as a cover and blindfold, while autocracy and authoritarianism creep through our doors. Our freedom is our National Security – nothing more, nothing less. With our freedom as our National Security, we can create an environment that minimises the worse of our human nature and that brings out the very best of Nigerians to accomplish even greater good. Let us not be short-sighted. Let us be far-sighted.

A glimpse of what it means to be far-sighted

Such far-sightedness would make us see why our current political structure is not suitable and why it is not working for most Nigerians. Such far-sightedness would empower us to restructure Nigeria to fit its ethnic mix and development needs appropriate to cultural contexts. Such restructuring not the mere transfer of power to politicians as usual, but to fundamentally affect our mind-set for service and to free up the policy spaces to enable us to utilise in responsible ways our resource endowments.

Our current political structure throws up (at best) short-sighted solutions. Even the best Nigerians in positions of political power would underperform except such powers are utilised to seek the consent of others to restructure the country for a new and better operating environment and system. For example, we have a federal government that is too big and geographically too distant to deliver to the needs of local people.

Even if the President wanted to, self-serving aides (too many) would exploit patronage and sycophancy to misinform and ill-advice the President. Even if a governor wanted to, she or he is particularly limited by macroeconomic policies that are determined at the centre – such policies may not be suitable to attract investments into a specific state given its peculiarities and endowments.

Such far-sightedness would empower us to see why we urgently need to strengthen routine data registration systems and have an up to date data on every Nigerian through a unique identifier and social insurance number. This is fundamental and strategic to the effective plumbing of our economy for targeted stimulation for production and consumption, and the positive impact of block-chain technology on security, commerce, transportation, elections, etc.

Such far-sightedness would empower us to see why we should invest in innovative solutions for secure online voting.

Such far-sightedness would empower us to ring-fence education and to seek sustainable ways to finance our healthcare markets tied to an economy that is producing and creating decent tax-paying jobs at pace with our population growth.

Such far-sightedness would empower us to optimally provide the financial, material and technological investments in community policing to enforce our laws, on the frontlines and keep us protected and safe from those who would do us harm. Such far-sightedness would empower us to more than adequately care for our law enforcement officers and their families through training, work and retirement.

Such far-sightedness would make us invest in body-cameras for all our frontline law enforcement officers to keep them safe and accountable to Nigerians, operating within the boundaries of security and law enforcement on the one hand, and protecting democratic freedoms and rights on the other hand.

Yes, we can be far-sightedness.

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