The United Kingdom is a nation of small businesses. In the UK, more than 12.5 million small businesses are employing half the workforce and accounting for half the turnover. The Nigerian government should take a cue from the UK by paying serious attention to small and medium enterprises.
Nigeria is blessed with abundant human and mineral resources. Recall that in the past five decades, the country has developed so many economic policies but implementation has been the problem. For instance, during the administration of former President Ibrahim Babangida, there was the Structural Adjustment Policy and during the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, we had the National Economic Empowerment Development Strategy. All of these policies were well articulated and encapsulated.
Despite these policies, our economy is comatose state. Between 1950 and 1969, the country was divided into four regions namely the Western, Midwestern, Eastern, and Northern regions. Agriculture was the backbone of our economy then. However, in 1958, crude oil was discovered at Oloibirri in present-day Bayelsa State. The Federal Government’s attention was later shifted from agriculture to crude oil. As a result, agriculture was relegated to the background. For over five decades, the country operated as a mono-economy, neglecting the economic potential in agriculture, mining and tourism sectors.
Other challenges militating against the country’s economic development include corruption, lack of clear-cut vision, lack of policy direction, lack of political will, policy somersault, lack of involvement of relevant stakeholders, insecurity and erratic power supply. Power is very critical as far as economic development is concerned. It is quite unfortunate that the country can only generate 4,000MW of electricity while South Africa generates 50,000MW. I think the Federal Government should declare a state of emergency in the power sector.
In developing a policy, there is a need to follow the concept of “ends”, “ways” and “means.” “Ends” are the objectives of the policy, “ways” are the method and options of actualising those objectives and “means” are the resources that will be required to actualise the objectives.
There is a universally accepted format for developing a policy. It consists of five stages namely: policy formulation stage, planning stage, implementation stage, monitoring stage and evaluation stage. When the government wants to solve a particular problem, it will initiate a policy. For instance, there is the problem of youth unemployment. This is considered to be a serious problem in the sense that the youths constitute nearly 65 per cent of the nation’s population. The majority of the youths are unemployed, some of them do commit crimes while others constitute a nuisance. So how can one make the youths productive? The government needs to invest heavily in human capital development through innovation and technology. The nation needs to develop a comprehensive national policy on youth empowerment.
In developing the policy, the first stage is policy initiation which is; “The development of the National Policy on Youth Empowerment.” The second stage entails planning. There is a need to constitute a panel of experts that will develop the draft policy. In constituting the panel of experts, it is pertinent to ensure that relevant stakeholders are involved in making their inputs. In this case, representatives of the Federal Ministry of Finance, the Federal Ministry of Employment, Labour and Productivity, the Nigeria Labour Congress, youth organisations and non-governmental organisations should be co-opted, while the Minister of Youths and Sports Development will be the chairman.
At the planning stage, the first step has to do with the Needs assessment. In carrying out the Needs assessment the following questions must be asked: who is a youth? What categories of youths are we supposed to train? Which areas are they supposed to be trained in? Who is going to handle the training? Is the training going to be done locally or overseas? What will be the duration? Who will be responsible for the cost? How are the trainees going to be empowered financially? It is also important that the objectives of the policy be clearly stated and well spelt out. In this case, some of the objectives are to make the youths self-reliant, to enable them to contribute meaningfully to economic development, and to reduce the unemployment rate.
For the implementation stage, the Federal Government will select candidates and institutions where training will be conducted. The Federal Government will also make provision for successful candidates in setting up their businesses. The monitoring and evaluation of the policy can be done by consultants engaged by the ministry who will assess the progress of the scheme and make recommendations. The draft policy is expected to be presented to the National Council on Youths for consideration and approval. Once the draft document is approved, it becomes a working document.
Other areas that will require the Federal Government’s attention are the agricultural, mining, and tourism sectors. To ensure food security, the Federal Government should encourage sub-national governments to embark on aggressive farming by embracing mechanised agriculture. The state governments should ensure that farmers in their respective states are provided with necessary inputs such as lands, fertiliser, tractors, ploughs and harvesters. Farmers should be encouraged to form cooperative societies so that it will be easier for them to have access to this equipment.
Furthermore, it would be a good idea if the state governors could establish agro-allied industries in each of the three senatorial districts. This will enable them to process their farm produce. Food crops like rice, corn, cassava, yams, tomatoes and dairy products can be processed, packaged and exported to generate forex for the nation.
Moreover, the Federal Government should try to develop our mining and tourism sectors to generate foreign exchange. Kenya makes a lot of money from tourism, maybe we should learn from them. There are quite several mineral deposits that the country can explore to generate money. What is needed is the political will on the part of the government and commitments on the part of the masses.
The Federal Government should set up an economic think tank that will develop a blueprint for the nation. It should also create an enabling environment that will allow businesses to thrive, and develop and implement policies that will promote the export of non-oil goods.
The Federal Government should put an end to the ongoing insecurity in the country occasioned by widespread terrorism, kidnapping, banditry, insurgency and all forms of criminalities. Our ailing refineries must be made to function optimally. Specifically, anti-graft agencies must be strengthened to enable them to discharge their duties effectively.
- Oladipupo can be reached via 08054097669