What really is the way out of our economic quagmire?
We have heard before that government has no business running business; we've also heard that the private sector should be involved in how the economy is run. The recent kites flown about selling certain government assets have come from representatives of both the private sector and government. Aliko Dangote suggested only a few days ago to the Federal government to sell off NNPC's 49.0% stake in the Nigerian liquefied national gas.
Those opposed to selling government assets to generate funds have hammered on the issue of failed sales, concessions or partnerships in the past. The more recent sale of power installations haven't yielded the expected improvements in electricity generation and distribution; the sale of NITEL and other government run ventures remain shrouded in controversy and remain unproductive. Most people don't forget to mention mummified projects such as the refineries and steel companies. We cannot also forget the transient revival and subsequent cremation of Virgin's relationship with Nigeria. It appears we have killed and will kill anything we get our hands on.
Should the NLNG be 'tossed?' Margaret Thatcher sold off the British government's less than 40.0% stake in British Petroleum following a worldwide stock market collapse in October 1987. She also initiated the sale of many of corporations or companies run by the government or with significant shares. Mine pits have been sold off since then despite prolonged strike actions by labour unions and formerly government owned Airports are now operated by private companies.
The ever vibrant Heathrow airport is owned by Heathrow airport holdings which currently has majority shares in the custody of a Spanish company. Another airport, the Gatwick international was bought over in 2009 by a company with a Yoruba man Adebayo Ogunlesi as chairman. The Heathrow airport holdings did the selling of Gatwick and other UK airports under its administration but won a bid to acquire an airport in Hungary not too long ago; this I believe highlights the dynamics of private sector participation in business. John F. Kennedy is owned and leased out by the City of New York. Perhaps the Lagos state government can acquire the Murtala Muhammed international airport in Ikeja following the recent announcement of plans by the FG to concession practically all airports in the land.
There are other assets many Nigerians think should be sold. Many sports arenas across the nation are only useful for the periodic religious programs and entertainment shows. With our abysmal showing at international sports competitions, the uninformed would think our sports people came from a nation with only secondary school sports pavilions as training facilities. It's common knowledge that we have next to zero maintenance culture; one wonders how much these facilities would command after valuation. Some people have opined that the National assembly should be sold off which is actually a very good joke however other assets or whatever is left of them exist such as the National Arts theatre and other moribund structures left standing in Lagos after Ibrahim Babaginda took the nation's capital to Abuja. A good number of those structures remain fallow and disintegrating while Nigerians sleep and work under inhumane conditions. Unfortunately there are those who constantly receive wages for working at these collapsed places. I'm not sure there's another country which can be used to adequately define waste.
I'm certain there are many doctors who will support calls to sell off government hospitals for better efficiency but I'm not certain there'd be as much support with respect to educational institutions. The fear of tomorrow and the quest for self preservation will prompt resistance like PENGASSAN is currently threatening. Like someone pointed out on radio, many of these individuals who direct the affairs of this unions belong to unproductive institutions yet get paid on a regular basis. Rupert Murdoch was met by stiff resistance in 1986 and a 54 weeks strike of newspaper workers ensued due to his introduction of technology into the newspaper production business. The job once done by over 6000 people now took just over a tenth of that number to do even more efficiently. Despite offered compensations, the unions embarked on the unsuccessful strike and that union like the others that revolted during Thatcher's 11 years reign got decimated.
Why Thatcher? Nigeria was structured like the British colonial system with the nation mirroring structures inherent in the United kingdom. With the benefit of hindsight, Margaret Thatcher's hard stance and resoluteness in pursuing her economic reform despite episodes of inflation, high and prolonged job losses, low manufacturing output, violent protests, 1979 to 1981 recession and calls for her resignation yielded some positive results. I'm not sure the UK has suffered a great deal from that privatization era but I may be wrong.
It is true that our recent ventures at privatization have failed woefully and it's completely valid for Nigerians to be skeptical about conceding the nation's assets to potentially those who have directly or indirectly plundered the nation. The evidence of the past failure should indict the past administrations but somehow they get a free pass because we shouldn't talk ill of the dead.
Some have suggested that we continue to increase our debt profile while some are convinced diversification in only a few months is the silver bullet. A few defiant ones are only opposed to this suggestion of asset sale because it involves the current administration. I do not think a 'All or none' rule will apply here. There are many points for and against this move which ought to generate continuous elaborate discussion instead of the reflex arc utterances in the public space. We should be focused on ensuring proper valuation of any and every asset we decide to sell; we should consider how Nigeria and Nigerians will benefit maximally from any venture. We should not get to 2029 and lament why we did not sell any asset which could have saved us.
We are in a desperate state at the moment; one which a former first lady is justified for having 20 million US dollars rightly earned from a petty trader mother with domiciliary accounts, as a leading pioneer in the Non governmental organization business and pocket money from her public servant husband who was governor and president.
