The Blight Of Economic Dependence

The reason our
economy is still stagnated, grim and emasculated even after fifty years of political freedom, is simply our unwillingness to work for economic independence. So far, the demonstrated will to develop the economy is not only a sham but a paradox. The actors and players in this regard are unpatriotic, incompetent or complacent.
Policy somersault, corruption and dearth of true nationalism and patriotism are some of the factors that have held Nigeria by the jugular all these years. The need for a thoughtful, consistent economic development policies and blueprint to retool our economy is long overdue. It is a pity that the country in its fifties is yet to be weaned. Instead of running, we are still crawling like a toddler at fifties
It is very worrisome that despite all the beautiful programmes and plans initiated by the past governments to make the economy to be reckoned with in Africa and even beyond, they have not yielded the desired result. This could be traced to military encroachment, policy somersault/inconsistency, corruption, indiscipline/mediocrity, leadership failure and unpatriotism, among others.
God endowed on Nigeria avalanche of human and material resources which, if properly harnessed, will place the nation as one of the best economies in the world. But the missing link is our attitude to our country. Our quest or zeal to fritter away our national resources for personal aggrandizement has beclouded our sense of patriotism, sacrifice and willingness to work for our country in earnest.
Americans and Europeans cannot develop our country for us; we must do it ourselves. If we cannot develop home grown policies and roadmaps towards achieving economic independence, it simply means that we, in the entire African continent, have consented to the recent  proposal made by Donald Trump that “Africa should be re-colonized for another one hundred years’’.
The ineptitude, dearth of innovation and patriotism in our leadership approach to our problems, especially with regards to economic development, is summarily what spurred the American presidential hopeful, Donald Trump, to whine such proposal on Africa. Nigerian leadership should not dismiss such comments with levity; rather we should look inwards and identify those lapses, problems and attitudes which have taken us backward.
We should from time to time re-invent ourselves, retreat and retool our strategy and set new goals for better and new results. It is imperative that we develop our production capacity as a nation so as to discontinue or wean ourselves off from developed countries that have taken advantage of our ugly situation to exploit and loot us blind.
A country cannot be said to be economically independent when it imports almost every product and services from other countries. It is the capacity to internally produce one’s own commodities and even surplus for export to other countries that leads to genuine economic development. This capacity must be entwined around the agricultural, infrastructural and education sectors.
Tell me how a country can achieve economic freedom when such country has not developed the internal capacity to feed its citizens without importation of food. Or better still, can a country grow to become a giant or world power when it lacks homegrown capacity to take care of its infrastructural needs? Can economic independence be attained by a country that so much depends on other nations for her education needs?
The choice is ours today. We must decide to do the needful, which is to change our attitude towards our country. Let’s think of what we can do for our country and not the other way round. The road might be very rough, but we must decide today to initiate, innovate and create homegrown policies, solutions and plans that will launch our country on the right path to speedy economic recovery and independence.
We should review all the policies that encourage the churning out of graduates from our schools without jobs. We must develop the capacity to stop throwing away job opportunities to China and other countries by making good policies that will encourage industrial growth.
This will enable us to export both raw materials and finished products to other countries and create jobs which we have hitherto exported to other countries. By this way, we can attain economic freedom. Not only that, our nation will experience unprecedented prosperity in all dimensions.
Nwokoror writes from Port Harcourt

Desmond Nwokoror