Aladesesan Olaoye
Nigeria would require a 20 years development plan for growth, a Chartered Accountant, and one of the Directors of the First Bank of Nigeria (FBN) Alhaji Lateef Bakare has said.
ALHAJI Bakare Who was also a governorship aspirant under the platform of the People’s Democratic Party ((PDP in Osun State said that for any nation to grow optimally, there must be a national development plan, which is lacking in Nigeria.
He said that Nigeria should not have gone into the mess it has found itself if there had been focused leadership and proper planning where everything would be laid out before implementation.
According to him, Nigeria should not have been in economic recession, if we have been following the national development plan. ‘’Well, let me be frank with you, there is no need for the country to have gone into recession in the first place if the past leaders had handled the economy well. Honestly, the economy has been battered before the action of the present APC government without the people realizing it. It has been a gradual thing over the years. What actually got the country into this mess was the level of corruption, in government circle. Although corruption was perpetrated during the tenure of previous administrations but the impunity with which the treasury was looted during the last administration, was very alarming. The discovery being made by the EFCC now shows that the country is doomed and lack of proper planning was responsible for the level of corruption in the country.’’
He emphasized, that because successive government had nothing to follow as a guide, whoever comes to power rather than following the laid down national plan for development, would want to implement its own self-centered plan to prove that it can govern better than those who had been there.
This phenomenon, he said radiates from the federal, down to the state and the Local government which has left the country from achieving nothing but disaster in the economy and infrastructural development.
The situation is even worse with the discordant tunes between the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank. They have been fighting themselves; because they are both working at variance with each basing its action on its own perceived plan not in tandem with the other, whereas, they are the two flanks that our economy rests on.
‘’ Concerning monetary policy, it is the central bank while the fiscal policy is handled by the Ministry of Finance. These are the two bodies that drive our economy. If there is too much money in circulation or the inflation is too high, you have to reduce money in circulation or you even want to increase inflation because you want production to go up, but it must be objective driven and not to be reacting on every step you take. You have to set your objectives that, ok, now that there is a recession, what do we do, Is it that we have to put money into peoples’ pockets so that they can buy more, Is it that we have to reduce tax or banks should lend money to small holders or big companies, or do we encourage customer lending which is called consumer lending, in banking such that you allow the banks to put a bracket on whatever they lend to consumer lending and say if it is up to one million Naira, two million Naira, it would attract some kind of benefits, especially the interests earned on it, which should be pegged to a particular rate. The interest must not, however, be sterilized, so that tax would not be paid on it. This would encourage lending and with that, you, will see people buying small, small things, you will be happy because you will see painters buying paints, bricklayers’ buying cement, the artisans would be working. You must not be reacting, you must plan it and say this is what you want to achieve. ‘’
The Accountant/ politician pointed out that what Nigeria needs is to get the enabling environment right so that things would work according to plans and it is because we don’t plan that is why we don’t have adequate power to drive the economy over the years, since energy is the bedrock of the economy of a nation that wants to develop technologically and in other sectors.
‘’Honestly, the government is not making lives comfortable for the people because there is no regular power supply, you pay exorbitantly for what you don’t even consume. To ensure that you are comfortable, you need several inverters and generators which are very expensive to maintain. These are some of the things affecting our industries because if they want to produce they have to generate their own power, look for water and may be the only thing you are not looking for is air. I believe that what those who have had the opportunity to rule Nigeria should have done was to plan so that the system would allow our civil service to be functional.’’
According to him, there should be 20 years strategic plan for all the ministries like power, housing, rural development, agriculture, and water resources, adding that ‘’In the case of Power, for instance, there should be a plan whereby they will say we want to diversify our power generation. They could say we want to use coal 10 percent, hydro, 20 percent, gas 30 percent and waste 2 or 5 percent and solar. This means that all the country would not be using the same kind of source of power. If it is solar that is applicable for Sokoto, Maiduguri or elsewhere, it should be applied. They should identify areas to use a particular source of energy.’’
He argued that the way we plan now is not ideal, because as far as power generation is concerned; when the dry season comes all the country suffer for electricity generation which is not supposed to be so. ‘’We should even plan for buffer. This should lead us to our aggregate demand and to determine the buffer we want. If it is 20 percent, we could say let us have a target of 25,000megawatts and plan how this could be obtained in 10 years without any embellishment. If we are sure of what we want, we would then start to work towards it.’’
Alhaji Bakare who is also a receiver pointed out that what, he meant by long term development was exhibited in Lagos, by the Military. For example, he said, General Yakubu Gowan did the first Mainland Bridge up to Adekunle Fadeyi, Murtala /Obasanjo did their own up to the Toll Gate while Babangida did the third Mainland Bridge up to toll gate. This is a long term development. Even on power, Babangida did the Afam, plant, did all the thermals stations, he did his own bit and left, I don’t know whether Abacha did something, whatever the case may be, he did his own bit and left. We can do an audit of what we have now and say this is what is available. Obasanjo in his time said he spent 16billion Dollars, which is all right. What is wrong with us is that we just don’t plan. We have coal in Enugu which could be used advantageously but we won’t do that. In South Africa, 30 percent of their power generation is on coal. The colonial masters used coal effectively and it served the whole country. I just cannot imagine why we are allowing the Coal power plant in Ijora to be idle. This is the time for the country to revive it and build more coal power stations where they could as well be effectively utilized for the development of the country especially, our industries.