President Buhari Does Not Have What it Takes to Lift Nigerians Out of Poverty

In the last couple of weeks, there has been debate about what we now refer to as buharinomics, moreso against the backdrop of President Buhari’s directive to the Central Bank of Nigeria to ban all food importing companies from access to much needed forex needed for their businesses.

This debate has, rightly so, bordered around the constitutionality of that directive and the independence of the CBN. In a democratic setting as we claim to have in Nigeria, a directive from the Presidency to the CBN is akin to directing the electoral commission on which parties to have listed on the ballot paper. If this happened, and INEC as much as even positioned as though they were going to heed the directive, we would announce that we were no longer in a democracy.

What is however understated in these discussions and analysis going on is the lack of ideas as to how to usher in prosperity for the Nigerian people and lift Nigerians out of poverty. Recently, there was an announcement about a new figure of Nigerians living in multi-dimensional poverty. From all indications, the only ideas and policies that the President Buhari-led administration have to offer Nigerians are only those which multiply poverty and close out the opportunities for prosperity.

Experts have argued that while the benchmark oil price for the year’s budget is $60 per barrel, the price of crude oil has reduced to $57 per barrel. The CBN has had to fill in this gap by dipping into the external reserves. The justification for this policy is then in a bid to prevent further subtraction from the reserves with the argument that banning food importing companies will save the country close to $22billion dollars. This rationalization of this food ban policy is also being floated as reinforcing the government’s focus on agriculture as the sector that will boost the country’s economy and provide jobs for the youth.

To anyone with a basic understanding of economics, it should be clear that the implications of this policy is an increase in the price of food. While the government says on one hand that we have to be able to produce the food we eat as a nation, it is clear on the other hand that we cannot currently do so and the figures being pushed around as saying we are food secure are only a façade reflecting our porous borders from which bags of rice come in on a daily basis.

The average Nigerian already coughs out 60% of his/her income on food supplies. With this policy and the food increases, more Nigerians will become hungry and recede into even more poverty. As a result, the ripple effect we should expect is that not only will other companies in other sectors lose customers who now have to spend their money on buying food, the food companies who spring up will now have to sell at a price higher than they would have sold to already poorer Nigerians.

To cap it all, the approach to the growing the Nigerian economy by the current administration led by President Buhari and its overrated focus on agriculture is misplaced. Countries that compete on the global market for agriculture do not depend on human labor for increased productivity. They depend on machines. If the government continues to think that the way to compete and improve our economy is by sending hundreds and thousands of our youths to the farm to carry out work that a few machines will do, then we will only be headed to more poverty down the road.

What is clear and should be clear is that President Buhari and his team do not have the political will to take the right decisions and the tough decisions to set Nigeria on the path where industrial technology and  21st century innovation is driving our economic growth and providing jobs for our youth for clients and customers across the entire globe. And while we must as a matter of democratic commitment wait another four years to see the end of this administration, we must ensure that these policies that make our people poorer and more susceptible to vote buying during the elections as a result of their poverty, are resisted.

Nigeria can no longer afford the manufacturing of more poor people through these poverty inducing policies and it is our duty to stop them by all means necessary.

Jude ‘Feranmi (JFK) is the Executive Director of ToBuildANation (TBAN). He is also the Convener of Raising New Voices Initiative.