When pounded yam has lumps, you re-pound the yam to achieve the required consistency. Away from all the contrived obfuscations of contemporary economic analysis, we ought to be able to honestly re-evaluate where we are as a country, where we ought to be, and how we might navigate our way towards the desired destination.
The village square of public opinion is so bedevilled by baleful intolerance in this campaign season that it is becoming increasingly difficult to spar with competing ideas, as is the wont of thinking people. However, despite the risk of being misunderstood, we must keep at it because the alternative — standing akimbo while our country wastes away—is simply unacceptable. As with everything in life, we have some gains, and we have some pains.
How can we reinforce the gains side-by-side with ameliorating the pains? The Bretton Woods institutions—the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank—have acknowledged significant progress in Nigeria’s macroeconomic indicators following major structural reforms, including foreign exchange unification, the elimination of fuel subsidies, and monetary tightening. I am on record as having declared that if I had to buy a used car, those two institutions would not be on my shortlist.
However, I am not averse to taking an objective look at their analysis and repounding it to suit our economic palate. Both institutions emphasise that while macroeconomic fundamentals have visibly strengthened, there remains a critical gap between top-line statistical gains and daily living conditions for average households. That is what all the fiery debates in the media over the economic performance of the Tinubu administration have been all about.
We have made some verifiable macroeconomic gains. But our people are hungry, despondent and economically flagellated. What can we do to give immediate succour to the teeming masses of our people across the