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Preamble: 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 that 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- (in cases 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. It is a known fact that the current problem of the African countries is that of leadership. We should not put a blanket cover over the entire continent. We have leaders like Nelson Mandela - world renowned leader of the modern South Africa who led South Africa out of apartheid regime, became the president, did one term and handed the reigns of power over to his deputy Thabow Mbeki, who shares the same ideological opinion with him, claiming that he wanted to go and rest and enjoy the rest of his life. Then there is Thabow Mbeki himself who declared that even though his party controls the majority in the parliament yet, he was not going to change the constitution to favor himself for whatever reason. These were leaders from South Africa. So, we cannot put a blanket cover over leadership vacuum created in all the African states. Then there is also John Kuffour in Ghana. His leadership qualities have helped Ghanaians retain their earlier developed doggedness to resist official flamboyance, excessive use of power by government officials and have provided a significant level of leadership worthy of emulation in that part of the continent. Moreover, the Liberians just elected a female president to govern them for the period before the next general election. Gender balancing had never been a priority issue in leadership formation of the entire African countries because there was no chance for women in the male dominated political field. But all of a sudden, a woman was elected by popular votes, appointed and anointed by the gods of the land. Then not to forget the indefatigable (former General) Olusegun Obasanjo, whose leadership of the most populous African country was before now, without rival. His popularity was unprecedented and his leadership style was without rival in the African continent. The only comma to his name was his recent total obsession of power and enormous display of Machiavellian description; power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. So the continent as a whole is not without quality leadership. What has been lacking is continued sustenance of the spirit of sustained leadership and permanent democratic dividend. Basic Principles of Liberalism Before we proceed further, let us agree on some fundamental assertions which will be the pivot upon which the other arguments will be premised. It is very essential that we establish this because it will place us all on the same page of thinking. The idea of free market enterprise is based on other dependant assumptions and that is the basic principles of liberalism. Free market already presupposes that a liberal political policy is in place. And by liberal one does not refer to the common usage of the word to mean, generosity; not placing restrictions on things, giving freely or open mindedness. By liberalism here, one refers to political/institutional policy reform. This policy reform connotes that there must be: a. fundamental human right; b. rule of law; c. market economy policies; and d. the type of governance must be democratic. These are strong tenets and cannot be substituted for another. They are crucial and in a peculiar polity such as Africa where almost nothing works, these values must be adhered to. Similarly, Obasanjo’s regime is been applauded for its introduction of deregulations and policy of market economy. His pass marks are resting on these assumptions. But once we can establish that the other variables mentioned above are as momentous as market economic policy, then we can better assess whether the sustenance of such policy in Nigeria and indeed Africa is a myth or reality. I argued elsewhere that as an ideology, liberalism is the belief in and a movement to celebrate the freedom and responsibilities of the individual. It is predicated upon the belief that human beings have rights, both natural and inalienable, which cannot be negotiated but recognized and respected. These common assumptions on the right of the individual gave rise to the much acclaimed documentation of the fundamental human rights. Part of that recognition of right is the individual’s right to acquire and own property. This part is the key reference for us because it is the sum total of the individual’s yearnings and aspirations. The concept of “mine-ness” of a property is a good understanding of man’s quest for possession and sustenance of what is possessed. A thing or property is able to have ownership that prided in such. Whether we agree or disagree with Hobbes and Locke in their descriptions of state of nature or state of war, such description was made possible because man wants to acquire and attribute “mine-ness” to property for which he will lay down his life or defend the glory of such life. He is able to say, “…this is mine!” for that he will fight, defend and extend that “mine-ness”. If the individual has right to acquire and own property, then he must be able to acquire and own such under a system that is devoid of conflict in the manner of the Hobbesian State of Nature or the Lockean State of War. The individual must be able to engage in enterprise that will earn him some income that makes him have what to save to acquire and own property. So he has a fundamental right to have means of engaging in acquiring properties if he so wishes. But this right has not been seen as a necessity in the first instance when African leaders speak of reforms. They only think that once they refer to the opportunity to make a few jobs available, they have satisfied their political responsibilities. Property rights must set the pace of economic policies; those policies are set to meet one of the basic and essential rights of citizens under them. Suffice it to say that market economic policy is premised upon the inalienable rights of human being. Another variable in our consideration of market policy is something that is basic and typical and that is the concept of rule of law. Rule of law is the bedrock of sustenance of human rights and the law that bounds everyone under the operations of those laws. It is that sole inheritance of government to use as level playing field for market structures to operate on without frictions. For market economy to make more sense, there must be a high premium placed on the concept and practice of rule of law. This is inseparable from the zeal to create job through the dynamic of market economic structures. By rule of law, leaders must help create the atmosphere where the laws of the land rule supreme and everyone is under the structures and dictates of this challenging concept. Government has no business in business other than creating enabling legal structures that brings order and fair play. Another essential key to liberal concept is market economy itself. By market economy, policies must be made in favor of free and fair level playing field for investment. The government must hands off completely from engaging in business. As the saying goes, government has no business in business. And then the universal call for democratic governance. It is only under a democratic system that the rights of the individual, the privilege of the laws and the atmosphere for level playing fields for investments would be greatly enhanced. THE AFRICAN REALITY Francis Fukuyama once said; Now…I am going to assert the single most fundamental lesson that we have learned about democracy promotion, and I want to begin with that. I will have to just assert it without being able to prove it at first. That lesson is the following: The United States is never the prime mover in promoting democracy in any country around the world. Or, to put it slightly differently, democracy cannot come about in any society unless there is a strong domestic demand by local actors -- elites, the masses or civil society -- that want it (Fukuyama: NED) It is fast becoming apparent that the African nations as at the year 2006 have come to accept the reality that its political administrative structures need to be democratic and not only democratic, conform to the acceptable and universal type of political democracy. Examples abound. No time in its existence have many countries of the continent been more apt to democracy than now. Liberians shunned the “militro-crasy” of Charles Taylor and embraced democracy even with a giant step of electing the first female president ever in the continent. Sierra Leon, Ivory Coast, from the military Jerry Rawlings to a more democratic John Kuffour of Ghana, the dictator of Gnassingbe Eyadema to an “elected” Eyadema Jr. (even if it was stage managed but he went through semblances of democratic process) down to the Nigerian military handing over the reigns of power to a democratically elected President Olusegun Obasanjo. No doubt the peoples and nations of Africa want and have embraced democracy. No time in African history has it embraced democracy in the form in which it has done in the most recent times. To demonstrate Africa’s quest for democratization, APRM; (African Peer Review Mechanism) has been infused as a core part of NEPAD (New Partnership for African Development). APRM is an approach by African leaders to assess themselves on the core essence of universal objectives and millennium goals of NEPAD which are good governance, accountability, democracy and transparency. Henceforth, African leaders will subject one another to these noble goals and where a nation which has voluntarily indicated membership of APRM errs in the aspects of millennium goals, that leader will be called to order his/her peers and where there are shortcomings as consequence of some needs, other richer nations will provide strategic support to meet these needs. “Indeed, the APRM is a self-monitoring mechanism voluntarily acceded to by Member States of AU with the aim of fostering the adoption of policies, standards and practices that will lead to political stability, high economic growth, sustainable development and accelerated regional and economic integration. It underscores the commitment to implement the codes and standards contained in the Declaration on Democracy, Political, Economic and Corporate Governance” (APRM Implementation process, pp5) MARKET ECONOMY POLICY IN NIGERIA Before becoming the president of the federal republic of Nigeria, President Olusegun Obasanjo was a recipient of grants and supports from the free market organization Friedrich Naumannn Stiftung from the FDP party in Germany. He understands the rudiments of market economic policies. When, as soon as he became the president he started pursuing market economic policies, his actions were not surprising. President Obasanjo’s policies deregulated the downstream petroleum sector (something that most previous heads of state had been too afraid to do because of the public outcry), he, as a true believer in market economy, re-energized the BPE (Bureau for Public Enterprises) which had the mandate to offer for sale, all government moribund corporations (the lucrative corporations are firmly and remains firmly under government i.e. Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation- NNPC) to the private sector. Then he deregulated the communication sector by introducing GSM which was remarkably done even to the pride of his critics. In most of his immediate policy focus of deregulation, President Obasanjo faired considerably well. However, when it came to rule of law, the president decides which judicial judgment to accept and which not to accept. He tried to influence constitutional changes to make him run for presidential elections for more than the required 2 terms. He has often been accused of waging selected justice on some people who oppose him or his policy directions through his various anti-corruption mechanisms. CONCLUSIONS The idea of deregulation is alien to the mass of Nigerians as a viable policy. When the downstream sector was introduced there was a massive outcry and there were no credible image launderers to sell the idea that it would bring about more jobs and stability in petroleum supplies. The government still holds the monopoly of information. Alliances and allegiance to the ideas of free market is still not growing as oppositions are using poverty rates to judge the credibility of the policy. Rather than bringing reforms and reducing human traffic on the roads, the creation of GSM created a new monopoly worse than the previous National Telecommunication Limited-NITEL as the few operators seemingly agreed to charge the same rates on their minute calls. There is no law accessible and at the door steps of consumers to challenge the subsuming power of the business magnets and over rated investors. However laudable free market as a policy is, if the rule of law is not operated in its characteristics, if the justice is not similarly deregulated to make assess to justice simple and easy, allow peasants to challenge conglomerates like the case of ENRON Executives, if law is not made supreme but under the wimps and caprices of a ruler, then the policy of reform remains myth because public outcry will mean that a new leader will abandon the few achievements of market economy and re-glorify welfarist policies as more humane than market economy. In our case reference, Nigeria, the country that is currently taking the lead in policy reform to deregulate and create a market economic structure, laws are in some cases, supreme and in other cases, not supreme. Government feels bound to take some laws and in other cases not to accept the rulings of the court. Market economic policies cannot operate in this kind of atmosphere. There must be the rule which must be binding to its citizens, government and foreign investors. In spite of the few hiccups in the practice of market economic policy currently, it still presents us with the modest policy to help teeming population of poor Africans out of joblessness and lack of hope. In the first year of operation of GSM in Nigeria, several tens of thousands of jobs in street vendor was created and it flourished. To those who got engaged in one form of vocation from deregulations or the other, market economy is ideal. However, for market economy to work on a sustained level in Nigeria and indeed Africa, political parties must be taught of the need to develop partisan policies on the basis of strong and coherent ideology that takes care of the right of citizen to own and possess properties. Once this is seen as the core essence of discourse, sustaining market economy is easier than before. Political parties must see the connections between the rights of citizens with the rule of law that is supreme and blend such with an economic structure that helps citizen take part in activities that will increase their chances of owning properties. Once these are in place, salaries will rise, expenditure will increase and Africa will begin to move towards the El Dorado. Market economy remains an ideal policy to pursue and aim at. However, no government in Africa has the liver to risk taking its hands completely off market enterprise and avenue of reducing competition especially in key sectors. This is because in a country where minimum wage is still under 100 USD a month, where educational level is grossly low, where traditional conflict resolution still reigns supreme over modern strategies like judicial system, total adherence to market economy policy might be suicidal. However, as an ideal, market economy is an objective to set as a goal. And it is in human nature, to aim at an ideal. There is no doubt that with the current zeal across the continent; the will to move forward; and the readiness of leadership to peer review on acceptable governance standards, Africa will merge to a more appreciable level of development. It will be historical and landmark effort if market economic promoters encourage African policy makers, legislators, executive branch officials and academics that market economic policy will help Africa move faster than earlier anticipated. Dele A. Sonubi
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Posted by Robot| 02.06.2006 14:24