Opinion: Nigeria, the strongest economy in Africa indeed

by Abiola Oladimeji

Ngozi-Okonjo-Iweala

One does not even need any foreign comment in order to know that the pronouncement of Nigeria as the biggest economy in Nigeria is meant to serve as propaganda rather than portraying the true situation of Nigeria.

The Federal Government and some Nigerians, who regard any critic of President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration as being sponsored by the opposition party, have argued that the announcement of Nigeria as the biggest economy in Africa is something to celebrate. I and other Nigerians have refused to be fooled with these new figures, because the masses will not benefit anything from it. However, some blind optimists have described us as pessimists, instrument of the opposition party, tribalists and some other names. I do not take such people serious, because they always leave the substance and chase shadows. In fact, I see them as the tribalists and instruments of the ruling party, because they always emphasise that the President is from a particular ethnic group and always defend the policies of GEJ, as if they were cabinet ministers. I do not give a damn, where you come from, do the job very well and am less concerned if you are from the minority or the majority.

These blind Optimists keep repeating a sentence like a litany: the new figures will attract foreign investors to Nigeria. And I laugh at them. I also ponder on what the problem is, is it that these people are so gullible and cannot think or do they even believe that prayers without work and saying nice things about Nigeria is the panacea to our problems? Firstly, that argument is lame. Nigeria has crude oil and these foreign investors do not have oil in their countries. What the hell can they do, that we cannot do for ourselves? Foreign investors are not philanthropists and they would not solve a percentage of our problems, it is our duty. If someone has the temerity to put up such arguments and many people truly believe that crap, then we should declare a state of emergency.

I am happy to present to the Jonathanians (diehard supporters of President Jonathan), that Tobias Zick wrote a commentary on this same topic in the Sueddeutsche Zeitung of Thursday/Friday 17./18. April 2014 Nr. 90 page 4.  Sueddeutsche Zeitung is the largest  German subscription daily newspaper and has a relatively high circulation outside Germany. We should remember that Germany has the strongest economy in Europe and fourth in the world, thus German investors are also expected to rush down to Nigeria and start investing. I will quote and translate  some lines from his article, in which he presents the growth of the Nigerian economy to German audience as well as western readers. Whether  the view of Tobias Zick is right or wrong is not my preoccupation, but what he has presented.

I start with this first quote: ‘’man habe Südafrika als stärkste Volkswirtschaft des Kontinents überholt’’. Tobias has used reported speech ,,habe‘‘ in this sentence and it implies that he does not want to state if he believes in those figures or not.  He continues: ‘’ doch die Kontraste zwischen den Jubel-und Schreckensmeldungen der vergangenen Tage deuten, dass etwas tief im Inneren des Systems faul ist’’. Tobias has reported earlier about the Nyanya bombing and he compares the celebration of the new figures with that suicide attack. He submits that something is wrong with the Nigerian system. He goes further‚ ‘‘ein starkes Wirtschaftswachstum mit Zahlen, von denen Europa kaum mehr zu träumen wagt’’. Tobias describes the whole declaration as an economic growth based on figures and that Europe would hardly dare to believe such anymore. My emphasis goes on two words here: Europe and anymore. The thesis statement goes thus: o ye gullible Nigerians and blind optimists, Europe does not believe those cool stories anymore. I have left the government officials out, because they should know better, that the world does not believe them.

He ends his commentary with a note of warning to investors: ,,wem Afrika am Herzen liegt, für den sind die reinen Wachstumszahlen nur ein bestenfalls sehr oberflächlicher Indikator‘‘. He states that the statistical economical growth can best be described as superficial indicators. Now that we have felt the pulse of one of the opinion leaders from the West, I expect the diehards and the sycophants to bring other arguments. One does not even need any foreign comment in order to know that the pronouncement of Nigeria as the biggest economy in Nigeria is meant to serve as propaganda rather than portraying the true situation of Nigeria. I chose to use Tobias’s commentary, because it is targeted at the foreign investor that President Jonathan ostensibly intends to lure to Nigeria. Germany has the strongest economy in Europe and the German government does not need to broadcast these figures, once you find yourself in Germany, you will know that Germany has the strongest economy in Europe. Let me end this piece with a comic relief. ‘’That Tobias Zick was sponsored by the opposition party to damage the image of President Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan’’. That would be a likely statement from the boot licking sycophants of Mr. President.

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This post was published with permission from Omojuwa.com

 

Op-ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija.

One comment

  1. I have never read a more ignorant writer. I was still tolerating the writer’s presumptuousness and trying to explain it away until I reached the point where he says, “Whether the view of Tobias Zick is right or wrong is not my preoccupation, but what he has presented.” What sort of logic is that? Poor piece.

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