ECONOMIC IMPLICATIONS OF NGOZI OKONJO IWEALA CONFIRMATION, AS WTO DG FOR NIGERIA

February 24, 2021 9News Nigeria Africa, Business, Hot News, National, OPINION, World 1

By Enoch Oluwaniyi Aboluwaji

Congratulations to our own epoch-making sister @ NOI for her heartwarming feat, making the WTO DG at long last!

Oh, dear me, what a hype!

A novel change that really calls for both our national and continental celebrations.

Good to also note, the barrage of felicitations, congratulatory messages and best wishes that have continued to fly around, from every quarter across our national, continental and intercontinental hemisphere, since the good news broke out yesterday, most precisely!

Congratulations, Nigerians!

What a pretty hard-fought battle.

What a befitting coronation of the most quality and exceptionally most qualified hand, drawn from the bottom of Nigerian soil!

More than golden intellectual export from more than abundant excellent human capital treasure deposit in Nigeria by divine providence, solidly sealed in the bottom of the Nigerian motherland.

Our own Mr Akinwunmi Adesina of the AfDb is not forgotten.

Even when the greatest Nigeria has got to draw from his Intercontinental top Job has been the facilitation of soft loans for Nigeria, loans and loans!
Nothing more at that.
Not at all.

Ngozi Okonjo Iweala’s days at the WTO will probably face the same fate, except Nigeria wakes up economically as a serious, proactive and visionary nation, to think out of the box, to begin to search for a way to do many things differently, and nub our festering National Security Challenges.

No serious Nation and neither any serious investor will risk their investment in any direct investment portfolio in any crushing violent economy where criminal bandits and herdsmen kill innocent people on daily bases with abandoned impunity!

Who will seek to do quality business in a high – risk environment, where Boko – Haram reign in their fiefdoms unhindered, where inter-communal clashes, inter-ethnic restiveness, burning, arson and destruction of lives and properties has become the order of the day, without due official attention to stem the tide in a timely, coordinated and in a united national response from official quarters.

Everywhere is filled daily with inter-ethnic drum – beats of war!
Yes, Sani, even you, Okey, and you too, Femi.
As an experienced businessman home and abroad, can you put your hard-earned money investing in such a high – risk economy?

Ngozi Okonjo Iweala will labour in vain on Nigeria if we are not ready as a united nation and as a serious people.

Except we also begin to go our natural way of playing the perpetual humble beggar, systematically mortgaging our children and children’s children economic future under the burdensome loan repayments slavery.

Having also lost it in international economic goodwill diplomacy and on all bilateral and multilateral favourable terms of trade.

National spontaneous jubilations, felicitations and best – wishes might be the only benefits we could afford to draw, from NOI WTO DG ascendancy, while many lower African nations will draw peak economic development, international bilateral and multilateral diplomatic goodwill, on the back of Nigeria.

What must we do and now as a nation to live?

1. We must, as a matter of urgency rejig our National Security Architecture, honestly and holistically in the unity of purpose, act together as a government and people, to put Nigeria’s spurious Security challenges behind us, once and for all., to foster the much needed peaceful co-existence and good enabling environment for greater economic development, and for mammoth foreign direct investments and the highly needed lofty international diplomatic goodwill for international support, far beyond China.
2. Our economy is for too long precariously hanging on import-based consumption economy.

Any economy around the world that must develop, must necessarily pick on greater productivity of certain notable products and run with it.
And also Add Value to all its natural exports.

In the beginning, China was notable for many fake products while the rest of us takes cover in western products.

Today, the story has dramatically changed.
The Chinese economy is now calling the shots all over the world!

We must get serious as a nation for once and start from somewhere.
Let the rest of the world call it ” Nigerian fake products ” in our wake.
Let’s start with our West African neighbours and intensify our ” buy made in Nigeria ” slogan.
Let’s also intensify our research efforts to improve the standards of our productivity over time.
Let both all rich and poor Nigerians patronize made in Nigeria goods, including our governments, now than never, to start with.
We must just get it right, and Now.

Our Leaders must stop formulating segregative laws where certain laws are for the poor Nigerians, while the others are the exclusive preserve of our rich eco-political elites in class segregation.

The usual rush to banning certain consumables normally consumed by the Nigerian masses, while the real foreign – exchange consumer ostentatious goods reserved for the rich have the field day thriving cannot just continue, if we must go anywhere as a nation.

3. Whether is your Anti-corruption fight now, Nigeria?
   How far, as a good friend of mine would say?

Nigerian real official Anti-corruption fight has long Wandered far – away into oblivion?

How come?
No thank you for political and ethnic – class segregative application of our laws as well as treatment of our political offenders.
Who did this to us?
Kindly remember to wake me up, next time you pass – by here, Dude!

4. Lastly, for how long must we continue to pay lip services to diversification from hydrocarbon over-dependent?

For how long must we continue to export crude oil without having a single Nigerian refinery working at all?

For how long would we continue to be crude oil exporters, Agricultural raw material exporters, and what have you, without researching at all for once, into how to begin to ” Add Value ” at all, and at least, begin with serving our angling West African Neighbours?

We must begin to Add value to most of our numerous exports, to lift the value of our national Gross Domestic products and foreign exchange.

And for how long would our political leaders continue to pay leap services to provide the much needed enabling good infrastructural environment for more vibrant economic activities and national economic development?

The time is here, and Now!

We must for once begin to tell ourselves as a people the bitter truth we so much loath to hear.

Doing the right thing for the greater interests of our people before Almighty God.

Even if it is against the dictates of our personal benefits is the way to go now.
If DG – WTO, NOI is to benefit us any nothing of note!

Otherwise, Ngozi Okonjo Iweala will also only come and go.
And we will also only jubilate in her wake.

While other global nations ride on our nation’s back to embrace greater prosperity by all means.

She will never be able to help us so much as she would have desired.

Just as Akinwunmi Adesina has done, striving so hard, sweating on us over the years, without any appreciable movement from our economic starting block.

Lest Professor Ngozi Okonjo Iweala also sweat in vain.

Let us heal ourselves from all our self – inflicted economic injuries.

Thank you.

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