Nigeria’s population is approximately half the size of United State of Americas’ population which is put at about 330 million people.
As at 2015, Americas’ budget was $4 trillion, whilst that of Nigeria was put at N4 trillion, benchmarking against the most prosperous economy (America), I strongly believe the economic target our leaders should be setting for us as a nation is to get our economy to a point where it is budgeting in excess of $2 trillion dollar per annum (as against our current paltry $200 million dollar budget) to enable us adequately provide for our ever growing populace.
From all economic indicators our current budget is clearly inadequate (This is even with leaders not stealing, though they do) to effectively support our population, hence the deficit budget we keep running every year and constant borrowing by Federal and State Governments.
As individuals one should have short term and long term targets in life, likewise as a private organisation’s sales target are been projected on a per quarter and annual basis, and this becomes the driver of every unit within the organisation.
As a nation I believe we should set this $2 trillion Budget as our financial target, and hope to achieve it, as against what we are currently doing, which is just being complacent and hoping for a miracle (in the form of increased global oil price).
How can we achieve this?
Currently 80% of Nigeria’s population is dependent on 20%, (that is an alarming 136 million people depending on 34 million people for survival) hence why you have only three to four states that are economically viable, and the remaining thirty two states running to Abuja for Allocations or Bail-outs.
The purchasing power of the citizens in some of this states are clearly non-existent. Our focus as a nation should be how to get 20% of the population (the aged and under-aged) to be dependent on the remaining 80% (18 – 65 years old) How do we do this? By engaging every single citizen (literate or illiterate, male or female) that falls within this age bracket and ensuring everyone is contributing his or her quota economically towards the development of the Nation.
We can only do this through Education, aggressive Entrepreneurship Development and Employment, these are the only vehicles that can ensure 134 million people are working and paying taxes, improving purchasing power of the populace and gradually getting us to our $2 Trillion economic potential.
For so long Nigeria has clearly not harnessed its biggest resource (I am sure you are wondering what else could that be apart from Oil) Nigeria’s number one resource should be her People, and they are clearly undervalued and underutilised, imagine a tax paying population of 134 million? The economic development that can drive, and much more.
Economies like the UK, Japan and China with little or no natural resource have been able to harness this major factor of Production (as we were thought in Business Studies in School).
You would find that we spend so much on Infrastructures, buildings and machines, yet we invest little or nothing in the one that will manage these things. Why do you think our maintenance culture in Nigeria is so poor?
If you invest in buildings and not people, the people will destroy the building, but look at it the other way round, if you invest in people and not buildings, the people will build Buildings, it’s that simple!
Boko Haram as an example is thriving because they have found lots of Idle and poor people, who only with a promise of few thousand dollars are willing to commit suicide bombing, but imagine a situation where every citizen is actively engaged and comfortable, who would even consider Boko Haram proposals, talk less of suicide bombing.
As a people, organisation, State and Nation let us begin to value one another, the premium you place on a thing determines how you will treat it and what you would pay for it. Americans are willing to die for America because the country communicates how much it values it citizenry, how many Nigerians will be willing to die for Nigeria?
It may only remain a potential as stated, except actualised.
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Lalekan Kayode-Akinpelu, from Victoria Island, Lagos.
