By Anote Ajeluorou
NOTABLE poet, polemicist and economic thinker Mr. Odia
Ofeimun has asserted that lack of proper economic thinkers in Nigeria’s
governments have been responsible for the country’s woes. He accused those
managing the country’s economy of myopia, as they fail to take the future into
account and adequately plan for it.
Ofeimun was speaking
two days ago in Lagos at the presentation of a provocative book Economists As Assassins: The Nigerian
Connection written by Dr. Jimanze Ego-Alowes, a political thinker who has
written two other books – Minorities As
Competitive Overlords and Corruption
in Africa: Resolution through New Diagnosis.
Economists, Ofeimun
argued, had done so much harm to the Nigerian economy it would not be out of
place to cock guns when any of them is in sight. He advised that everyone
should learn the rudiments of economics so as to avoid being hoodwinked by
professional economists. He also stated that the government of President
Muhammadu Buhari was already falling into the same error of cluelessness it
accused President Goodluck Jonathan in its romance with western governments
that are battling to stabilize their economies and which will not hesitate to
use Nigeria as buffer.
According to him, “ Ideas,
when they are mixed, destroy lives more than guns. Everyone ought to be an
economist. My father’s vast wealth was knocked off when the banks crashed in
the 1950s; I had to read economics so I don’t get hoodwinked.
“In fact, there are
no proper economic thinkers in Nigeria’s governments. So, we’re in danger of
doing something out of sync with rationality. All Progressives Congress (APC)
and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) are not discussing the Nigerian reality.
When people turn expletives and curses into economics, then there is trouble.
When one party says another is clueless, it means no Nigerian has a clue. The
problem that Jonathan had is exactly what Buhari is having whether to sign or
not to sign economics partnership with Europe. Asking for help from them is asking
for trouble because they are in trouble, too. A country needs to have strong
spines to stand firm”.
Ofeimun also accused
Nigerian economists of failing to take the future into account while organising
the present. As he put it, “Who has done a proper description of the future we
must move into? We haven’t been able to describe the present well either and
the past remains vague. Those managing the economy have forgotten what it means
to plan for the future. Nigeria is the most eminently savable country in the
world”.
On Ego-Alowes and his revolutionary ideas,
Ofeimun said, “I don’t have to agree with him, but I always want him around. He
always takes the broad strokes in his writings and makes you fill the gaps”.
Also speaking was
newspaper columnist Mr. Henry Boyo, who described Ego-Alowes, as a courageous
and creative writer who has a treasure trove of novel and original ideas and
who often leaves his readers stunned with his original opinions. According to
him, “Jimanze must love this country to have written so passionately and
engagingly. You are a great writer, one of the best of your generation. I have
never seen anyone who sees Major Chukwuma Nzeogwu as a thug, but Jimanze did”.
Others present were
former Commissioner for Information in Anambra State, Mr. Tony Onyima, Mr. Nik
Ogbulie who chaired the event and columnist Otunba
Tola Adeniyi among other media buffs.
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