Azuka Onwuka
Azuka Onwuka
The news that Nigeria was rated as the sixth most miserable
country has been on the lips of many Nigerians since the weekend.
As usual, politics was brought into it, as anybody who complains
about the unflattering economic situation in Nigeria is tagged an
enemy of the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari and his
party, the All Progressives Congress.
The report was written by Steve Hanke, who is an economist at
the John Hopkins University in Baltimore, United States, and was
titled, Hanke’s Annual Misery Index 2018: The World’s Saddest (and
Happiest) Countries.
Hanke gave an insight into the parameters used for the ranking
thus:
“My modified Misery Index is the sum of the unemployment,
inflation and bank lending rates, minus the percentage change in
real GDP per capita. Higher readings on the first three elements
are ‘bad’ and make people more miserable. These are offset by a
“good” (GDP per capita growth), which is subtracted from the sum of
the ‘bads.’ A higher Misery Index score reflects a higher level of
‘misery,’ and it’s a simple enough metric that a busy president,
without time for extensive economic briefings, can understand at a
glance.”
Hanke also noted, “The human condition inhabits a vast continuum
between ‘miserable’ and ‘happy.’ In the sphere of economics, misery
tends to flow from high inflation, steep borrowing costs and
unemployment. The most surefire way to mitigate that misery is
economic growth. All else equal, happiness tends to blossom when
growth is strong, inflation and interest rates are low, and jobs
are plentiful. Many countries measure and report these economic
metrics on a regular basis. Comparing them, nation by nation, can
tell us a lot about where in the world people are sad or
happy.”
About 95 countries were ranked, with Thailand emerging the least
miserable country in the world. Other countries on the top six are
Hungary (second), Japan (third), Austria (fourth), China (fifth),
and Switzerland (sixth).
Conversely, the top six most miserable countries are Venezuela,
Argentina, Iran, Brazil, Turkey and Nigeria. While Thailand got 1.7
points on the Misery Index to emerge the least miserable, Nigeria
got 43 points to be the sixth most miserable country, with
unemployment being the most contributing factor to Nigeria’s
status.
But do we need outsiders to tell us that something is happening
in Nigeria that is affecting the people negatively? Since the
middle of the 1980s, Nigerians have been ‘checking out’ in search
of greener pastures. The military regime of General Ibrahim
Babangida (retd.) had to create a TV campaign material featuring
the actor, Enebeli Elebuwa, playing the role of Andrew. In that
video, Andrew complained about the dearth of basic infrastructure
and concluded with: “I’m checking out.” A voiceover told “Andrew”
not to check out, but to stay in Nigeria and join in building the
country.
That was when the exodus of Nigerians started in search of
employment and better opportunities. Before then, Nigerians were
travelling abroad for studies, with many of them returning to
pursue their careers at home. Between 1993 — when the June 12
election was annulled (which also ignited a political crisis and
the repression of opposition by the military) — and 1999, when the
military relinquished power to a democratically elected government,
many Nigerians left the country on political exile.
With the return of democratic rule in 1999, the political exiles
returned to the country. But with the rebound experienced in the
Nigerian economy under the presidency of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo,
some Nigerians returned home with the belief that the Nigerian
economy had created more hope and opportunities for them to
flourish. However, although they never stopped migrating to other
countries, Nigerians were not consumed by the desire to emigrate by
all means possible.
Today, the challenge is not that Nigerians emigrate; it is that
there is a feeling of uncertainty about the fate of Nigerians
living in Nigeria, especially the children. In the past, families
that were financially stable and comfortable preferred to stay in
Nigeria and occasionally travel overseas for holidays and business.
That has recently changed. These days, people working in
high-paying sectors of the economy (like oil and gas,
telecommunications and multinationals) take their families to
Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Germany
and similar countries, abandoning their well-paying jobs in
Nigeria. Some take their families out and remain here.
What is driving this is fear for the future of their children in
Nigeria. Many people are not sure about the fate of Nigeria and
they think it is wise to safeguard the future of their children in
a country whose future is more predictable and where the well-being
of the children — their education, health and safety — is
guaranteed.
For Nigerians who are less financially fortunate, that
desperation shows in the nature and depth of risk they take to
leave Nigeria. That is why, in spite of the horrors experienced in
crossing the Sahara Desert and the Mediterranean Sea into Europe,
many Nigerians still continue to embark on that journey of death.
Their argument is that having experienced the hopelessness of their
present condition in Nigeria and extrapolated that into the future,
it is better to risk death and embark on that journey, with the
belief that if they succeed, their lives will have a new meaning in
Europe.
That hopelessness or uncertainty about the fate of Nigeria is
dangerous. Hope is what keeps people going. The economies of
countries dip now and then. People seek greener pastures abroad.
There are even countries which send their citizens to other
countries to study and learn the technological secrets of those
countries for the purpose of replicating those secrets at home.
However, when some people sink into a state of hopelessness or
uncertainty about their country and they are eager to escape to
other countries with their families, it calls for concern.
This goes beyond the politics of parties or individuals. In the
past four decades, there has been consistent deterioration in all
the sectors of the economy. Sometimes there have been flashes in
some sectors like the telecommunications, entertainment, etc.
However, critical areas like education, health, electricity,
transport, food production, manufacturing, road construction have
been depreciating. Corruption has also been increasing, while
belief in the country has been decreasing. Sadly, there is no sign
that any concrete action is being taken to arrest this descent. On
the contrary, many have argued that we have never been this divided
— not even during and immediately after the Nigerian Civil War. It
is this unchecked descent that has created uncertainty and fear in
many Nigerians.
It shows that, in spite of the efforts made by our present and
past leadership to turn Nigeria around, the wrong solutions have
been used. It is like taking analgesic with the hope of curing
malaria. Sometimes the fever may subside and give one temporary
relief, but the malaria will continue raging in the patient, with
the ultimate aim of killing him if the appropriate malaria drug is
not administered.
Nigerians have been clamouring for a national discussion on how
to live together in peace and progress. But many Nigerian leaders
have snubbed that with the belief that they know what is Nigeria’s
problem and how best to solve it. Even the leaders who attempted to
hold a national conference have remotely controlled the discussion
and tampered with the final decisions made at such conferences.
The need for the restructuring of the country and devolution of
powers cannot be wished away, no matter how long Nigerian leaders
avoid it. The economic and political uncertainty is making many
Nigerians to lose hope in their country, while thinking of which
country to take up its citizenship as insurance against the future.
The earlier a genuine attempt to restructure Nigeria is made, the
better for Nigeria.
— Twitter @BrandAzuka