Elder statesman and frontline industrialist, Dr. Chike Obidigbo, has stated that Nigeria is bleeding profusely without any hope for urgent healing and redirection.
He noted that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has found himself in a pitiable situation due to a number of reasons, regretting that none of the President’s aides has shown capacity to pinpoint the cause or strategies to salvage the ugly condition.
In a statement to media houses, yesterday, Obidigbo, who is the President of Osisioma Foundation, said President Tinubu should realise that he inherited a crop of kleptomaniacs from former President Muhammad Buhari’s eight years of maladministration and rejig his cabinet.
He stated: “Nigeria is bleeding profusely, and there seems to be no doctors around to control the loss. Although the current socio-economic chaos in Nigeria were not entirely caused by Tinubu, it is surprising that his foot soldiers cannot help him out in redirecting the country.
“No doubt, Tinubu inherited most of these crises from Buhari’s crass incompetence and ferociously corrupt crew of kleptomaniacs who surrounded him and drained the country’s resources to the point of near depletion. But, Tinubu’s calculations for power lured him onto an infested throne.
“The President should urgently weed out incompetent aides that have not made any appreciable effort to revive Nigeria’s once robust economy. Tinubu’s failure to inform Nigeria about the status of the economy he met on ground at his inauguration makes him an accessory to Buhari’s years of the locust.”
While reminding President Tinubu that there are a lot of Nigerians with good heads to help him navigate the ship of state, he noted that the country “seems far too large for one black head to exclusively manage successfully.
“We claim to be wise people, but fail to recognise our shortcomings and limitations. At any event, this bleeding economy could make it imperative to consider the peaceful Balkanization of the country into smaller, more efficiently manageable units rather than continue this unending brotherly schism.
“Time has come for us to prayerfully and deeply reflect on the saying that when two brothers fight to finish, outsiders will takeover their inheritance. The wise thing remains for the brothers to share their properties and remain alive, rather than die and enrich strangers that might have been goading them on out of bitter jealousy
“I wont say that the creation of Development Commissions around the six geopolitical zones is a step in that direction, but the economy is currently exposing the ugly underbelly of Nigeria,” he stated.
On the recent hullabaloo over the minimum wage, Obidigbo said as an employer of labour he has to warn the President from throwing money to problems or pursuing policies of appeasement that could render the economy comatose.
He argued that kneejerk countermeasures after the hasty reversal of fuel subsidy should be avoided, stressing that the quality of decisions that attended the negotiation of the minimum wage remains suspect.
“To me, the recent debate over minimum wage seems a dumb trap to further diminish this seeming lone-ranger approach to managing the economy. On one hand, Labour was ignorantly pushed to maximise the minimum wage bargain in the erroneous belief that it will better the standard of living of the people and solve the economic challenges of labour.
“On the other hand, the government wrongly believed that the bitter anger of labour could be assuaged by irrationally increasing labour costs without a corresponding increase in productivity. Unfortunately, when the final decision is implemented, the net effect, with its wider implications will hit the country like a thunderbolt
“As an industrialist and employer of labour, I make bold to say that neither the demand nor the acquiescence makes realistic economic sense. The decision will soon backfire on all of us as soon as the wage increase comes on stream.”
Obidigbo remarked that the decision to increase the minimum wage to N70, 000.00 came off as the usual World Bank and IMF ready made prescriptions they mischievously dish out to keep down emerging economies.
“IMF derives pleasure in stagnating developing economies and making them difficult to govern. It is very unfortunate that Nigerians have lost all sense of history, because we have so quickly forgotten the Udoji award era and its devastating consequences on the country’s economy.
What Labour and the Government should realize is that not the amount of cash in one’s pocket that determines purchasing power, or the standard of his living.
“Purchasing power of cash should be paramount. Simply, work does not follow money, because whenever money is in the forefront, work takes a back seat. Conversely, when work is in the forefront, money follows without question. So, in clear terms, money follows work and not the other way round.
The industrialist maintains that a sudden increase in minimum wage that has no relationship or bearing on productivity is akin to a mere candle in the wind, stressing that it will, in both short and long term, automatically translate into uncontrollable inflation.
According to Obidigbo, by accepting an instant massive pay raises without correspondingly discussing the issue of productivity, the government is shooting itself in the foot.
He said the Tinubu administration has unwittingly accepted a measure that will increase inflation in an already depressed economy, adding that the net effect will be devastating in no distant time.
“The question that experts and well-meaning stakeholders should answer is, how will such a rule-of-thumb pay rise impact on production and, in effect, on the economy?
“The answer is negative, because our civil service, for example, has never been trained to be result-oriented. Thus, productivity cannot suddenly increase in an obvious vacuum.
“It is certain that without a corresponding and measurable increase in productivity, sudden wage increases will tilt to only one direction, which includes higher inflation, reduction in the quality and standard of living of the general populace.”
He said the implications of the sensational wage increase will soon dawn all, pointing out that since the discussion was primed at minimum wage earners, it would soon extend to higher income earners.
“Later on, States and Local Government staff will follow suit. Finally, the bombshell will land on the organized private sector, which has all along been on a life support, gasping for oxygen over the past nine years.
“Upon full implementation of the new wage arrangement, the net effect will be a massive rise in production and service costs alongside price increases that will place goods and services beyond the reach of the common man. This, in turn, will lead to mass layoffs and increased security challenges, thereby sustaining the vicious cycle ad infinitum,” he declared.
The frontline industrialist listed measures that could help ameliorate the severe economic stagnation and associated problems caused by Labour’s emphasis on wage increase.
He recommended the following: “*Very serious and severe cuts in the cost of governance across the board,
“*A bold head-on and total war on corruption and corrupt practices, both covert and overt, especially along the corridors of power and among all persons and corporate institutions, as well as countries with dealings, directly and indirectly with public resources.
“*Declaration of a state of emergency in the productive sectors of the economy, with stress on stricter control on the infiltration of goods and services produced outside Nigeria.
“*Provision of major and necessary factors of production. Serious control over security challenges, and every other factor that could impinge on production.”
Obidigbo lamented that Labour missed a golden opportunity to redirect Nigeria’s economy by insisting that the government should immediately and convincingly devise positive and tangible ways to increase productivity across the country.
“Such massive increase in productivity can trigger massive job opportunities for Nigeria’s teeming youths. Improved productivity again will put more bread on the table of more families, improve living standards, and serve as buffer against security challenges.
“The world over, jobs are used to fight insecurity, but in Nigeria, it seems that insecurity is used to fight jobs. Briefly, improved productivity will help to stabilize the economy, reduce inflation, create jobs, and guarantee an improved standard of living for the people. Sudden wage increase, without corresponding increase in productivity cannot do the magic.
“It should be noted, therefore, that it is not the amount of money in one’s pocket that matters, but what the money can purchase that counts. Nigeria seems to have lost the middle class completely. Even the lower upper class is seriously under threat of extinction, as such we all may be gradually sinking,” he declared.
