DIVERSIFICATION OF THE ECONOMY: REALITY OR RUSE.

There is a strong argument by most developmental economist that Nigeria is not structured for economic development, this is traceable to the colonial misrule and military incursion. It is a nation that is moving with no identifiable direction; even though it has the potentials to become the center of economic development both within and outside of Africa, the political leadership has failed in its quest to match words with reality, the result being the condition we find ourselves today where almost everyone seems to be struggling to exist.

Nigeria has remained a mono-economy for over six decades with no blue print on the way forward. Every government that comes into power has it as their political manifesto to move the nation away from oil dominated economy to a more diversified one. However, no concrete plan has been put in place to achieve these objectives.

Nigerians have been at the receiving end of this deception by each succeeding government. The present government is on it again in the move to return the people back to agriculture. In fact, the government of Imo state has illegally reduced the working days of the state’s civil service from five to three, this is to enable them visit their farms at the other days. It is also a policy of the Federal Government that civil servants are allowed by law to engage in agricultural activities while in service.

Diversification of the economy is a move in the right direction. Every right thinking Nigerian will support such a move as it will create an enabling environment for our youths to be gainfully employed. However I am disappointed that neither this government nor the past administrations had had a well thought out programme to move the nation away from oil dominated economy.

On the other hand, who even said that we cannot channel our resources in developing the oil sector, so much so that we can export expertise to the other nations of the world?  David Ricardo’s comparative advantage theory presupposes that every nation should invest and channel their energy in what they can comfortably do well.  Is it not shameful that we are still importing PMS?

Another important point is that the government seems not to know what diversification means, each time they talk about diversifying the economy, it look as if they are saying “let’s move into agriculture”, without knowing that there are other aspects of the economy that needs urgent attention, nobody is talking about industrialization, ICT or even looking at the resources in the airspace and the seas.

The point is that no government can ever succeed in any venture without laying a solid foundation especially as it regards making sure that power exist, even God himself said, “Let there be light”. No meaning diversification is possible without putting the power sector in order; hence any government that succeeds in doing that will go down in history as the best that actually key started the journey towards economic development.