On Nigeria's Rebased Economy - By Reno Omokri

An article by Reno Omokri, Special Assistant on New Media to President Jonathan

The attempts by some individuals to deemphasize the recent rebasing of the Nigerian economy as something that should not be celebrated is most unfortunate as this is a feat that adds value to every Nigerian irrespective of religion, region or political persuasion.

President Jonathan once said “I am loyal to Nigeria’s economy. I don’t have accounts or property abroad. All my children live and school in Nigeria”.

If any of his critics can make that same boast, let him be the first one to criticize the rebasing of Nigeria's economy. Continue...

Never mind that a Chief Economist of the World Bank, Francisco Ferreira, has said that the rebasing "had exposed sectors where Nigeria’s economy was recording dynamic growth, and therefore would be areas of attraction for investment inflows", unpatriotic politicians would want us to jettison this expert opinion for their negative inexpert opinion.

The thing that they fail to understand is that any Nigerian who discredits the rebasing of Nigeria's economy is discrediting himself. It was Nigeria's value that was rebased not the government's value.

But why should I even be surprised? Many of those who have been debased politically would not want Nigeria to be rebased economically. It is a classic case of misery wanting company. 

There is really very little you can do for such folk other than prescribe psychiatric therapy for the management of their inferiority complex because I am not sure that anything is as damaging to their reputation as their attempt to spite their country even as they think they are spitting its leaders.

Nations, institutions and individuals are more likely to perform at their best if you commend them when they do well. 

Unfortunately, many of these people will ignore rather than reward good behavior and performance and find ways to spin good news into bad in order to condemn.

To these people, I would recommend a principle I use in raising my kids. I praise them publicly and scold them privately ensuring that they grow up having a sense of personal value even as they adjust their behavior.

The reason I do this is because I have noticed from experience that when a child is scolded publicly, bystanders remember the negative thing the child did and they never forget it even when the child has matured beyond that deficiency and even when you as a parent have forgotten it. People tend to look on themselves and their children with rose colored glasses and on others with magnifying glasses.

Similarly, when we condemn Nigeria to the outside world on Traditional and New Media platforms, that condemnation sticks to the minds of foreigners and the foreign media and they don't see Nigeria as government and opposition, they just see Nigeria.  

Nigerians are irrevocably tied to the value of Nigeria.

And it is obvious that these nay sayers are confused because in one breath they claim that the rebasing of our economy is fiction while in another they claim that our economic growth is not a result of any deliberate government policy.

Since the World Bank itself as well as the Economist Magazine,  the Financial Times and the New York Times have acknowledged that the rebasing is real, I will now respond to the desperate allegation that no deliberate policy of government is responsible for the economic growth seen in the rebasing.

Now let's get technical. 

When Forbes named the Nigerian Minister of Agriculture,  Dr. Akinwumi Adesina as its African Person of the Year 2013, it was in recognition of his efforts of reducing Nigeria's food import bill by $6 billion annually. 

This $6 billion which used to go overseas now circulates within Nigeria adding to our Gross Domestic Product and lubricating other sectors of our economy. 

Nigeria is  now near self sufficient in rice, wheat and poultry production as a result of the deliberate action of the government in eliminating the corruption in the fertilizer procurement and distribution system, free distribution of high yield seedlings to farmers and extension of agricultural loans to small and medium scale farmers.