Preambles:

That events and policy situations of one part of the world influencing the rest of the world is increasingly becoming factual and perennial. Iran announces its nuclear program and world leaders began to fidget. No doubt credible governance in one country attracts the attention and patronage of other credible governments, in some cases, even governments without credibility try to tap from the resources of credible governments playing on their goodwill.

There is no doubt the continent of Africa needs reform. From one policy to the other, the continent continues to search for a focus that will take it out of the threshold of underdevelopment to the stage of stability and developed economy. Such a stage will provide job and security for its citizen who would like to be gainfully employed. Its citizens would not have to look up neo-slavery handouts like skill transfer but provide the political groundings, the economic guarantee and the social infrastructures that will make “home” sweeter than away. Those are dreams. The reality is that Africa is a continent with histories of years of excessive wastages, poor leadership and lack of faith in reform policies particularly those that are championed or suggested from outside the continent. African countries had attempted “Ujamaa” the African brotherhood policy of communism, particularly in East Africa and it did not work. Socialism was introduced across the continent, it did not work. Now most African countries are practicing democratic socialism which is a blend of “a little to the right and a little to the left but not remaining on the center” kind of policy. In some senses, some part of the economy is deregulated while still keeping its social value i.e., government selling off some shares of its corporation but still holding on to the majority shares. Still that is not working because the government continues to control from its ivory towers, the nature of business and runs down its corporation with excessive bureaucracies of its functionaries.

In recent times, the government of President Olusegun Obasanjo introduced a policy of reforms aimed at deregulating the economy. It was seen as a step in the right direction. The bankers, the stock exchange operators, giants of industry, commanders of corporations and commercial magnets commend such moves as appropriate to the extent that they began to lobby the legislative branch to alter the constitution to allow Obasanjo extend his rule. Their reason was t

hat Obasanjo needs to follow through, his economic reform policy to its logical conclusion.

Eight years after some element of market economic policies were entrenched, Nigerians are still massively impoverished and youths are still without jobs. Nigerians were promised that as soon as the economy is deregulated, there would be job opportunities and life would be better than what it was before the introduction. The failure of such promises to materialize was part of the huge reason why the entire country rose up against the benefactors of the policies and insists that third term would not happen. They lobbied and threatened legislators with social and political excommunication until the idea of elongating the political term of Obasanjo failed and was voted out along with other noble reforms to the constitution.

The question remains, Market Economy Policy, is it a myth or a reality? What are the indices and variables that are missing in such practical policy that makes it appear as a myth rather than reality? If a policy promises job offer, that offers individual liberty and access to properties and people are still crying fowl, what is wrong with that policy?

LEADERSHIP

If Nigeria and indeed Africa must continue to remain relevant in the global scheme of things, there is a huge need for greater work to be done. Work in the area of policy formation and good governance. One nation must take a lead, it must be ready to do what the Americans are doing around the world with its foreign policies- evangelize the tenets of democracy and democratizing nations.

However, most of the African countries particularly Nigeria are still having leaders who are selfish with policies that are incoherent- (incases where they display signs of having policy focus), and some with governments with hangover baggage from their military pasts. Currently four retired military generals are vying for the highest political seat in Nigeria. None of these generals has any coherent political manifesto, policy direction or ideology other than their offer of goodwill. Nigeria has more than 36 political parties that are drawn not on policy or ideological lineage, but by sheer greed for power and political relevance. Unlike in advanced democracies like US and Britain where a businessman knowing a Bush-man in government will run a liberal economic policies for maximum of eight years or a Labor Party government will run a socialist regime for the length of time it is in power, one cannot make such commitment in Nigeria’s case. It is a pure accident of history that PDP is in government and President Obasanjo runs a liberal economic policy despite the fact that the party has no clue what such policy is.