Great article, really gets to heart of the productivity problem.
Creating low and middle-skilled jobs at scale is historically what had provided any sense of prosperity for people in the last century.
The First Lady’s comments, which I think fetishize entrepreneurship, are not only cliché they were made without a shred of awareness or critical thinking.
Entrepreneurialism has been lauded with the assumption that it produces scalable businesses in new markets, not that it produces micro-businesses in saturated ones. (I don’t promote entrepreneurship as means of alleviating the poverty or addressing the structural issues.)
I think implication here is that people in poverty can save themselves with tiny stimulus and limited intervention. But I think the state needs to be taking a bigger and bolder role.
Governments need to identify accessible markets in agriculture, manufacturing and other industrial sectors and work with foreign investors to direct capital to productive ends over the long-term.
To achieve this, we also need infrastructure, strong-institutions, political stability and strong networks, but none are achievable without the state and without the state as a driver of economic activity. There needs to be an ideological shift from the state as a allocator of meagre relief but as a facilitator of economic capacity.
A sustainable long - term strategy must first look into power supply. Cost of power and high interest rate loans are keeping large portion of manufacturers and entrepreneurs out of the economic market. Unemployment soars because we continue to consume products which should’ve been produced locally - and when you find a local product is either more expensive than the foreign competitor or its quality is utterly dubious. Thus the entire country , including the CBN, quality control department, power sector, legislation, bank of industry, etc - should have a meeting together and asked themselves ‘ how do we want our economy to reflect our core values? Do we want an hybrid economy or do we want state capitalism? The political will is imperative.
As for the First Lady , she either spoke within her insular spheres of economic awareness or from a condescending tone in persuading the rabble to find something - anything to earn a living!
It’s simply another economic cosmetic surgery. Which of the Nigerian banks are willing to issue ample loans to a roadside vendor? That’s why , according to the First Lady, the recipients should receive a grant . An Akara business operating from the road speaks volumes of survival mode . It’s unscalable because the infrastructure and systems meant to facilitate growth are rudimentary at best . It would hardly employ several people while capital returns would , indeed , struggle to exceed initial investment. Eventually it would become a job - a job that hires only family members if they care to join such survival mode enterprise. By all standards Akara roadside business ought to multiply poverty instead of mitigating economic hardship given Nigeria’s infrastructure deficit record.
The First Lady was absolutely correct for calling it a grant . She was , so to speak , cautious not have to called it a loan !
Great article, really gets to heart of the productivity problem.
Creating low and middle-skilled jobs at scale is historically what had provided any sense of prosperity for people in the last century.
The First Lady’s comments, which I think fetishize entrepreneurship, are not only cliché they were made without a shred of awareness or critical thinking.
Entrepreneurialism has been lauded with the assumption that it produces scalable businesses in new markets, not that it produces micro-businesses in saturated ones. (I don’t promote entrepreneurship as means of alleviating the poverty or addressing the structural issues.)
I think implication here is that people in poverty can save themselves with tiny stimulus and limited intervention. But I think the state needs to be taking a bigger and bolder role.
Governments need to identify accessible markets in agriculture, manufacturing and other industrial sectors and work with foreign investors to direct capital to productive ends over the long-term.
To achieve this, we also need infrastructure, strong-institutions, political stability and strong networks, but none are achievable without the state and without the state as a driver of economic activity. There needs to be an ideological shift from the state as a allocator of meagre relief but as a facilitator of economic capacity.
A sustainable long - term strategy must first look into power supply. Cost of power and high interest rate loans are keeping large portion of manufacturers and entrepreneurs out of the economic market. Unemployment soars because we continue to consume products which should’ve been produced locally - and when you find a local product is either more expensive than the foreign competitor or its quality is utterly dubious. Thus the entire country , including the CBN, quality control department, power sector, legislation, bank of industry, etc - should have a meeting together and asked themselves ‘ how do we want our economy to reflect our core values? Do we want an hybrid economy or do we want state capitalism? The political will is imperative.
As for the First Lady , she either spoke within her insular spheres of economic awareness or from a condescending tone in persuading the rabble to find something - anything to earn a living!
Thanks for this. It's a very good piece that describes a serious problem. It's really hard to develop if we don't believe we can.
Nigerian rulers have no concept of development and governments role in it. So they are happy making inane remarks.
It’s simply another economic cosmetic surgery. Which of the Nigerian banks are willing to issue ample loans to a roadside vendor? That’s why , according to the First Lady, the recipients should receive a grant . An Akara business operating from the road speaks volumes of survival mode . It’s unscalable because the infrastructure and systems meant to facilitate growth are rudimentary at best . It would hardly employ several people while capital returns would , indeed , struggle to exceed initial investment. Eventually it would become a job - a job that hires only family members if they care to join such survival mode enterprise. By all standards Akara roadside business ought to multiply poverty instead of mitigating economic hardship given Nigeria’s infrastructure deficit record.
The First Lady was absolutely correct for calling it a grant . She was , so to speak , cautious not have to called it a loan !