By Kayode Emola
For decades, we in Africa have been led to believe that our true wealth lies in our natural resources, inducing desperation amongst our leaders to exploit as much as possible from the ground. Whilst I do not disagree that enormous opportunities abound in these raw materials, I believe that our true wealth is found in our human resources.
For many years, African leaders have been focused on the potential revenue obtainable through the sale of these mineral resources, and the resulting hard currency. However, most of them have refused to invest in our human resources. Yet when we look at the more advanced countries, their development has not come from mineral resources, bought cheaply from Africa, but from developing their citizens.
A critical look at Nigeria during colonial rule reveals that progress centred around harnessing the citizens’ raw talent to build a functioning society. However, since the reigns of leadership were handed to the new political overlords, they have primarily concentrated on crude oil and other mineral resources, focussing on the largess it brings to them. This has in turn led to reduced wages for the average worker, plunging millions of people below the poverty line.
Nigerian workers have consistently borne the triple affliction of low income in the face of rising inflation and high-interest rates. A country so blessed with vast talent, yet lacking proportionate reward to its populace. The minimum wage, set by the government, of ₦30,000 ($40) per calendar month adds insult to injury, when many people cannot even earn this much. Furthermore, a large number of workers are owed salaries for many months after fulfilling their duties to their employers – most of whom are the government.
With a budget of less than $40, the average Nigerian is not able to cater for their immediate family’s needs for a week, let alone a complete month. Consequently, many Nigerians are forced to rely on support from friends and extended family, though, as these are facing the same situation, this support may not be readily available at the time of need.
The sale of natural resources to generate foreign revenue is not in itself a bad thing. However, when other sectors of the economy are neglected as a result, millions of lives will be adversely affected. Nigeria has failed to develop several critical sectors, like agriculture, to their full capacity, due to the over-dependence of oil revenue. Before the advent of petroleum in the Nigerian economy, we were a leading exporter of biological oils. However, Indonesia and Malaysia are now the world leaders, and Nigeria has become reliant on imports to meet our annual demands.
One cannot deny that a reboot of the entire system is required for genuine development to flow down to the people. Yet this action has consistently been opposed by the real enemies of the Nigerian people: the present-day politicians – of all cadre – who do not care about the huge numbers living in abject poverty. It is on this basis that the Yoruba people are seeking their own sovereign nation, seeking to permanently curb this downward trend afflicting Nigeria.
Several people have espoused the brilliance that would abound in a sovereign Yoruba nation. However, we should not forget that the Yoruba people are not immune to the Nigerian disease of abusing their position when given stewardship over people. If genuine development is to become reality, then we must make concrete efforts to develop our citizens, which in turn develops the entire country.
We must ensure that when we build schools, it is with the view to ensuring everyone can access high-quality education, irrespective of their background, age, tribe or religion. The same is true for housing, transport and other critical infrastructure. We must not allow politicians build one mega school, hospital or road, and then trumpet that as an achievement, as millions of people try to access that single facility and create an artificial logjam due to finitude of resources.
We must also ensure that we create a society where at least 70% of the products consumed are sourced locally. This will boost our productivity and ensure that our people are employed in highly skilled jobs. For instance, we have numerous rickety cars in Nigeria which are unfit for purpose. However, if we were to introduce minimum standards to which a vehicle must adhere, and train people in the skills needed to maintain that standard, we would cultivate a generation of skilled mechanics and engineers.
If we, as a matter of urgency, make a national policy ensuring all the car-producing companies are able to manufacture their cars in Yorubaland, then we can increase our export to other African countries, and beyond. We should also ensure that electronic products – mobile phones, televisions, sound systems, washing machines, etc – which globally are utilised by billions, are manufactured in Yorubaland.
If we are able to achieve these things, rather than focusing solely on the revenue accrued from mineral resources, perhaps we would be able to replicate the Norwegian approach to crude oil. In the early days of oil exploration, the Norwegian government built a model that ensured all oil revenue was invested in a savings trust. Over nearly five decades in Norway of oil exploitation, they’ve been able to aggregate over $1.2 trillion, making every Norwegian family worth over $60,000 due to the trust fund alone.
Yorubaland, when processing her mineral resources, should not focus solely on the income generated. Rather, it should focus on developing its citizens, the true resources of a nation. It should ensure that the average worker in Yorubaland is earning no less than $1,000pcm. It is these individuals who, through taxes and revenues, create sustainable growth thereby building a lasting legacy for the country. This is the model that more advanced countries have used for decades, to ensure that their citizens can withstand whatever financial storm the global market may throw their way.
I believe that if we are able to achieve this level of productivity in Yoruba, it will curtail the present scenario of Yoruba people leaving the country for greener pastures abroad. It will stem the brain drain, currently occurring on a massive scale, and will also ensure that we are able to build a system that contributes directly to the global growth from our homeland.
The situation we are witnessing in Nigeria, and most of Africa for that matter, of people entirely reliant on their friends and family, is unsustainable and will only hold us back. I urge our decision-makers to ensure that we are always focused on building our real resources, our citizens; rather than mineral resources which are siphoned off by politicians and their cronies for the benefit of their families and numerous concubines. We must ensure that every citizen of our country has a livelihood adequate to provide for themselves and their family. Achieving this is not only the highest sense of duty to the nation but the ultimate demonstration of true leadership.
