Lessons From Japan 

As part of  President Buhari’s administration’s  strategies to revive the country’s ailing economy, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), three years ago, restricted access to foreign exchange at the official window for importers of some designated  items.
Importers of such  named  items are by this development to source foreign exchange from the parallel market where the price of forex is significantly higher than the official rate. Although  in May,  2017, the CBN lifted the restriction on importers whose cumulative transactions are $20,000 and below per quarter.
Apart from taking this measure,  the country’s financial umpire went on to outrightly ban the importation of certain goods into the country, most of which are consumer or intermediate products.
The Central Bank Governor,  Godwin Emefiele, took this step because he strongly believes that this protectionist bid would help to “resuscitate local manufacturing” and “change the structure of the economy”.
This,  former   President Olusegun  Obasanjo, also once acknowledged during his tenure,  when he vowed;   ”We are certainly going to ban more products,  the idea is to protect our local industries and boost our manufacturing capability substantially”.
Even though some econmic analysts consider the import ban strategy  a good initiative by the CBN,  positing that  it will  inspire local production and automatically impact on the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP),   the like of Razeen Sally, professor of International Political Economy at the National University of Singapore, views it rather  inherently arbitrary,  discriminatory and opaque.
Professor Sally’s grouse stems from the fact that  powerful individuals and interest groups  often bypass Ministry of Trade’s officials and even the minister to secure waivers directly from sitting  presidents,  as he claimed.
If Professor Sally’s argument be true, one wonders  why any government would dare  to  destroy a policy it has put in place to correct a system’s anomalies.  Could it be said  that  policy-making in Nigeria is  based on administrative fiat and ministerial discretion?
The import ban  approach may not be peculiar to Nigeria. However, the attitude of the government towards its implementation determines the level of result to be expected. After all,   Japan’s great and unbelievable fast technological and industrial breakthrough started when it banned the importation of articles into the country.
I think it is time Nigerian government  articulated its economic policies with the understanding that the role of government in the 21st century must evolve from that of being an omnibus provider of citizens’ needs into a force for eliminating the bottlenecks that hitherto impeded innovation and market -based solutions.
Today,  the entire world talks about Japan. This is so because the  Japanese government played a vital role by  creating an enabling economic environment which was evident   in complementing  the development of superior production and enterprise systems by Japanese industry.
It is, therefore, no gain saying the fact that  the best and most fuel-economical cars,  engines and power generators are from Japan.  The Hondas, Suzukis,  Kawazakis,  Mazdas, and Toyotas are Japanese. Incredibly,  the Americans now import Japanese cars.
In one of his pieces: “Sweating Before Soaring”,  Dr. Chris E Kwakpovwe, a publisher and writer,  explained that the Japanese decision to ban importation of goods into the country subjected the citizens  into economic suffering.They all resorted  to the use of crude automobile and probably became a laughing stock before other countries.
Like every other growing economy, Japan’s bid to  reposition itself in the global economic map, was not without challenges.  Policymakers, no doubt, may have had to contend with issues on low growth, deflation, unemployment, and a debilitating amount of non performing debt.
When leaders outline lofty visions, it is for patriotic citizens and their corporate entities to key in. The determination of the present administration of President Muhammadu Buhari to change Nigeria from an import dependent country to a producing nation can only be feasible if we all pledge to be on  the same page.
The bourgeoisie and the talakawas bear the brunt of every  transformation endeavour and are expected to believe in its workability irrespective  of the reactional realities. It  is on this  premise that Thomas Woodrow Wilson, the 28th president of the United States of America,  declared “ I would rather fail in a cause that will ultimately succeed”.
Ninety per cent of failures today result  from people refusing to endure pressure and giving up so soon. But those who understand the gains of transformation, would always undermine the pains.
What Japan’s experience demonstrated with great clarity is that  problems arising from efforts geared at fixing cracked or dilapidated system should rather propel us to greatness instead of deterring us.
Again, indecision and inaction must not characterize the government’s response.  Thus, a vibrant,  responsive and proactive government  is all that is needed in any transformative agenda.

Sylvia ThankGod-Amadi