The nation is going through so many distractions on the political turf that those who ought to be in charge of managing our economy seem to be in the slack. Adams Oshiomhole and his war of words with the Senate President took up the national psyche for so long and the debate over who is the best PDP or APC seems to be of more importance to us than our economy. Its been over a year now since Senator Udo Udoma launched our Economic Recovery and Growth Plan(ERP) which contextually is said to be a continuation of the 2016 Strategic Implementation Plan. The objectives are aid the nation in
Tackling Corruption
Improving Security
Rebuilding the Nigerian Economy
Oil is at the centre of the plan. And there are questions that must arise: Are we meeting our daily quota of oil which was placed at 2.2million barrels a day? If we are not meeting that quota, how much oil is being produced? Is the target of reaching 2.5 million barrels per day by 2020 still realistic?
The tragedy of having politicians in key economic and developmental positions is showing.As we draw close to an election they tend to shut down. Senator Udoma was beating his chest for a meager 2% growth in the economy last time he spoke. Most economies would achieve that on auto pilot! They do not really care how things go. Any responsible government should be giving its citizens updates on the economy as regularly as possible. Right now the central discussion is the preparation for the 2019 General Election. INEC has not even finished registering would-be voters but the politicians characteristically are more concerned about the money for the election and the next position. Taxation has taken a leap at the Federal Level and in some states like Lagos. The prerequisites in terms of infrastructure are just too slow in coming. The empowerment and social welfare programmes are just trickling in. Let's wake up people. Those who run this economy have to live up to their responsibility.We have to make them do it.
This government promised the electorate:
Massive investment in developing people
A highly efficient social welfare programme
Better infrastructure. Where is it all?
