SIR: President Muhammadu Buhari and his men and women in government have again proved that no amount of money builds a nation. The national dailies every day since he became the president in May 2015 have one item about how Nigeria is trying to borrow billions of dollars or how the National Assembly is approving one jumbo loan for PMB or how the public is expressing fear that Nigeria’s debt is not sustainable or how the finance minister is explaining that Nigeria needs the loans to erect critical infrastructure.
But the states of the nation and economy say it all – No amount of money builds a nation.
PMB has been borrowing streams of billions of dollars claiming that he wants to build critical infrastructure with the money. What is critical infrastructure? Where are the roads, bridges, railways, dams, electricity generating and distributing plants Nigeria erected 55 years before 2015? Where are the roads, bridges, railways, etc., today? They do not exist! Why? It is because of the nature of all types of infrastructure. They experience depreciation. They are depreciating assets (DAs). They may be likened to a profusely leaking water tank. No wise individual tries to fill a profusely leaking water-tank with water. That explains why all the industrialized and rich nations of today built relevant infrastructure after they had achieved industrialization and had developed the capabilities to build, repair and restore the value of depreciated infrastructure.
Why is Nigeria always looking for money to borrow? Do Nigerians think and reason at all? When did the government of Nigeria exit from a debt trap? It was during the Obasanjo administration 1999-2007. Nigeria and other African nations were forced to adopt the punitive African Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP). The African SAP and its mandatory currency-devaluing foreign exchange market lack growth-promoting elements; they have only been promoting mass unemployment and poverty and de-industrialising Africa. What does PMB and his government want to prove – disgrace Nigeria more?
How long does it take to build a road in Nigeria, judging from the West-East and Ibadan-Lagos roads-building experiences? How long do Nigerian roads last? How many times has Nigeria attempted to resuscitate the colonial railway system? Why should a government that has just eight years borrow huge amounts of money that would be paid over many decades for erecting infrastructure that would last only a few years?
Borrowing is no solution to Nigeria’s problems. Nigeria borrows frivolously because of the frivolous claims associated with capital investment and Nigeria’s development endeavours. The claim that capital investment promotes growth is a frivolous fallacy. It has no historical and scientific bases. It is a very sad claim for Africa. The sad and frivolous claim is responsible for the pitiable state of Nigeria and all other African nations. Nigeria’s borrowings have never been for development.
No one solves a problem s/he does not understand. I have always insisted that the problem with Nigeria is lack of understanding of what the growth and development of a nation entails. All the rich nations in Europe, the United States of America (USA) and Asia were poor when they were not industrialized and had agricultural/artisan economies like those of all African nations of today. Industrialisation is the solution to mass unemployment, poverty, poor infrastructure, high insecurity, etc. Mere capital investment on infrastructure does not promote sustainable economic growth and industrialisation.
Source: The Nation
