Okonjo-Iweala: A Patriot Blinded By The West

In one of my books, “Western Democrats in Glass parliament”, published in 2000, I have argued that western democracies will never tolerate Africa’s economic independence owing to the direction of their national ideologies. It is no secret that the economies of many western countries are energized by the inability of Africa’s political leaders to deploy sound fiscal policies aimed at stimulating rapid economic growth. This sad development has continued to keep Africa as an export- dependent economy despite the fact that the bulk of the raw materials used in the manufacture and production of finished goods imported by African countries are sourced from the continent.

There is no doubt about the fact that Nigeria is blessed with great brains and patriots. Among them are Wole Soyinka, Dora Akunyili, Oby Ezekwesili, Lamido Sanusi, and Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala among others. What is in doubt is whether all of them are aware that the developed democracies will be too willing to do anything under the sun to promote and protect their national economies. Colonisation, the Cold War, civil wars, tribal conflicts, and the several international humanitarian/peace-keeping missions are all tools used by western democracies to secure economic victories over the African continent.

It has become evident that both the World Bank and IMF are tools in the hands of western democracies. As long as African intellectuals refuse to accept this overflowing truth, their brains and patriotism will do the continent very little or no good at all. Is it not surprising that the many Africans in diaspora have not been able to make meaningful differences whenever they are given the opportunities to serve their countries in various capacities?

Perhaps, I should also point out here that Structural Adjustment Program, Currency Devaluation, and Subsidy Removal are examples of some of the pills western democracies such as the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain prescribe as cure for the continent’s economic problems. In actual sense, they hide behind these false fiscal policies to cripple the economies of African countries. As part of the plot, they task international institutions such as the World Bank, IMF, and world class universities to recruit the best brains from the continent. These intellectuals are hurriedly thought the Core Values of human and economic management. This is aimed at arousing the patriotic fiber in them. At this point, they are drugged (paid far more than their contemporaries at home), blinded (unable to recognize the evil in their employers), and given a pair of “western eyes.” At this point, these intellectuals no longer see things from the African perspective. They both reason and look at Africa with “western eyes.”

It must be noted that every society has its own peculiarities. As a result of this, what has worked in country A may not necessarily work in country B. Africans wearing “western eyes” will never realize this fact even though it is profusely clear. For instance, the governor of Nigeria’s Central, Lamido Sanusi and Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala are all bitterly agitating for the removal of fuel subsidy simply because same has worked elsewhere in America and Europe. Since they are wearing “western eyes”, they have failed to realize that: (a) Unemployment figures are very low in America and Europe (b) An average American or European worker earn as much as $130 or N19,500 per day. With this kind of salary, Nigerians can afford to buy fuel even at N150 per liter.

There is no doubt that both Okonjo-Iweala and Lamido Sanusi will not try stampeding government into removing fuel subsidy if they were earning monthly salaries of N50,000 per month. While tens of millions of Nigerians are earning less than $2 daily, they go home with outrageous salaries and allowances. One had expected them to suggest better ways of putting the nation’s economy back on track. The poor masses cannot continue to sacrifice the little they have while the few well-heeled federal government officials are allowed to laugh away in the comfort of their cars, offices, and houses each time government decides to find solutions to the problems of the country. Okonjo-Iweala and Sanusi do not need to be reminded that the removal of fuel subsidy will translate into the sharp upward movement of the prices of goods and services such as food, rent, transportation, education, health care, and building materials among others.

But if one may ask: What is wrong in subsidizing fuel? Are the beneficiaries of fuel subsidy not Nigerians whose interests the president, ministers, legislators, governors, and governor of the Central Bank all swore to protect? As a matter of fact, owing to the collapse of the culture of sound political leadership, fuel subsidy has turned out to be the only sure way Nigerian masses can benefit from the oil and gas revenue accruing the nation. There is no citizen that does not benefit from fuel subsidy direct or indirectly. Removing it will therefore bring out the fire in the heart of millions of suffering Nigerian masses. This is what the west is looking for. President Goodluck Jonathan must therefore not allow American and European powers to tie his hands behind him and plunge the country into the abyss of socio-economic instability. The west does not want Africa to gain economic independence. It is only through orchestrated socio-economic instabilities that they can achieve such evil plots. This is the more reason why despite all the noise they make about corruption; American and European banks still accept billions of stolen dollars from Africa.

With the way Okonjo-Iweala and Sanusi are going about the fuel subsidy removal debate, I am pretty sure that they will one day ask the federal government to stop spending billions of Naira to construct roads. While our fiscal policy formulators and advisers are busy giving subsidy a bad name, agricultural subsidies accounts for more than 40% of the total budget of the EU. Who is fooling who?

Hugo Chavez is definitely on my mind. The time has come for President Jonathan to call all the anti-people members of his team to order or fire them out rightly. There is enough evidence to show that the nation’s fiscal policy formulators and advisers are out of touch with the vision of the present administration. They have clearly run dry of ideas. Spending N600b to assist Nigerians buy fuel at an affordable price is not a crime. Rather than call for the removal of fuel subsidy, the anti-subsidy apostles should task their brains and think of better ways to increase the revenue receipt of the nation without worsening the already bad plight of ordinary Nigerians. In this regard, government should be serious with the war against graft, reduce the monetary rewards of elected officials and political appointees, stabilize electricity to expand industrial production, increase investments in the non-oil/gas sectors, improve basic socio-economic infrastructure such as roads/railway/waterways, provide affordable quality health care service, and provide free quality education from primary to secondary levels. All of these will help energize and expand the national economy. With this, the likes of Okonjo-Iweala and Sanusi will not have any reason to bother about how much government spends to subsidize fuel.

More than that, concerted efforts must be put in motion to stop the continuous importation of petroleum products. This is part of the wider agenda of western democracies. They simply coopt a few willing Nigerians to ensure that our refineries do not work at optimum capacities. With this, they will be able to import crude from us and sell petrol and kerosene to us with a very appreciable profit margin. The same thing applies to the power sector. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala should wake up from her slumber and return the “western eyes” she is wearing. Also help Lamido Sanusi do same.

Beware of Western Democracies

There is no doubt about the fact that for any major economic investment such as the Ajaokuta Steel company to work, it will need high dose of political will on the part of the president of the federal republic of Nigeria. Every nation on the face of the earth is faced with mountains of challenges from within and outside. Chief among these challenges are corruption and global politics of economic interest.
In Nigeria, corruption has made it very difficult for most government policies and investments to yield commensurate dividend. Despite the huge efforts put in by government to wage war against the negative culture of graft, very little has been achieved in the last ten years. The reason is not far-fetched. Corruption has eaten too deep into the fabrics of our national culture. It will therefore take only a determined effort by government to stamp out, or at least reduce it to an insignificant level.

It will not be enough to condemn the menace of corruption without highlighting its foundation. To a very large extent, corruption is a seed sown by the retreating British colonial administration to keep Nigeria’s socio-economic framework weak. Through this way, Nigeria can only be politically independent but economically dependent on London and other western societies. That’s the reason why the colonial authorities did not lay any meaningful foundation to discourage graft in government businesses. Political independence without a vibrant economy is close to not being independent. It’s on the head of the economy that a society grows.

Another thing the colonial Britain did to keep Nigeria underdeveloped was the sowing of seeds of discord by discreetly fueling ethnic and religious sentiments among the nation’s numerous nationalities. London did this by deliberately refusing the various nationalities to come together and discuss their union before creating Nigeria. Such frank dialogue would have clearly established safeguards for all the component unites. In forcibly bonding the several nationalities together, the Queen knew quite well that Nigeria will be plagued by the seeds of corruption, ethnic and religious discord.

Even with all the pressures from the United Nations and Human Rights groups, western democracies have continued to hide behind several platforms to colonise third world countries, including Nigeria. What they- western democracies do is to work with some corrupt citizens to sabotage critical sectors of the national economies of strategic third world countries. This is the reason why our refineries are not working at optimum capacity. Though we have crude oil and refineries all over, we still rely on the important of petroleum products. It’s the same reason why our power sector is dilapidated. Western countries are making huge gains from the export of electricity generating sets.

But for the strong political will invested by government, the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) project wouldn’t have taken off. Even now, western democracies are fighting to see that Nigeria stop exporting natural gas so that she would import same from them. This is the same problem the Ajaokuta Steel Company is facing. Western nations want Nigeria to import steel when she is supposed to be exporting same. It’s now left for the federal government of Nigeria to understand the dance steps of western democracies and match same with the desired political will.

We must not forget the fact that international diplomacy is mostly determined strictly by economic interests. No western nation will sit back and allow third world countries gain economic independence. They are always afraid of the reality that their local economies will be negatively impacted by Africa’s economic independence. This is the root of neo-colonialism. They will therefore do anything to keep Africa and other developing societies under their foot.

You can also read my book, “Western Democracies in Glass Parliament.” http://i-proclaimbookstore.com/wedeinglpa.html for more details.