It’s widely agreed that the deep recession that Nigeria now faces is an abysmal failure of public administration, economic policy and execution. It is, in effect, the triumph of corruption – one of the cheapest commodities with which the Fourth Republic is commonly associated. Indeed, recession has weakened the confidence of workers, taxpayers and voters in both government and politics. It is a recession that is of unique character, in that there has been a dearth of sorely-need funds, such that 27 out of the 36 states in the country have been declared almost insolvent – unable to pay the salary of their workers. It is a development that has enfeebled the morale of workers in general. It has, besides, tended to question – on the part of would-be local and foreign investors – the wisdom of investing in the country’s economy.

But that is almost forgetting the fact that the Nigerian economy is exquisitely famous for its resilience; for which it is sure to bounce back. It has often been the argument of development economists, since the past four decades, that Nigeria should not have predicated her economy and national development solely on the fortunes of oil, because it was fraught with, sometimes, calamitous danger that comes with a steep dip in the market price of the product. It does seem that, probably, because of the boom years of the post-civil war era, public policy-makers have tended to think, with a laid-back attitude that “for Nigeria, oil is the panacea to any question of economic challenge.”

Since the Biafra war, it would seem that Nigerians have been living in self-denial that the age of agricultural boom was over, that the country needed to rely, quite comfortably, too, on crude oil. The openly hostile reality of today’s recession is one that deflates whatever confidence of those who say that crude oil is the answer to any economic challenges that Nigeria may be confronted with.

For development economists, to see crude oil as having the Midas touch that could neutralise the unfriendly effects of today’s deep recession would be unrealistic. It would be courting a catastrophe of a gargantuan proportion for Nigeria to lean still, openly, heavily on crude oil, in maintenance of her preference to be seen as a mono-product economy. Nigeria does not, whichever way you look at it, compare favourably, with any of the conservative, oil-rich, sheikhdoms of the Middle East, which make up the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) – including Saudi Arabia; all of which are, primarily, dependent on crude oil.

With fat times fast receding into history, Nigeria would do well by heeding the advice of development economists, who argue that it was high time she diversified her economic base; that it was time that she launched, beyond policy pronouncement, what could be akin to a renaissance in expanding – and very firmly, too – her economic base to non-oil products to cushion the unkind effects of today’s deep recession.

Thus, the Buhari era is an auspicious period for Nigeria to retrace her former giant economic steps to the era of cocoa in what was then the Western Region; groundnut, hides and skins, Northern Region; palm oil and coal, Eastern Region; rubber and timber, Mid-west Region, and other untapped minerals and cash crops – zinc, gold, iron-ore, kaolin, copper, yam, cassava, rice, beans, sorghum, beniseed, corn, banana, plantain, citrus fruits of diverse kind – including oranges, amongst others.

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There is, therefore, a pressing need to revive the textile industries that were forced to fold up during the structural adjustment years of the late ’80s and early ’90s. There is, also, a need to construct a network of all season roads that could withstand the huge traffic of trucks and industrial vehicles that would ferry cash crops and foodstuffs from rural areas to the urban centres and the ports. The Nigerian Railway Corporation would have to be empowered to fit well into the new economic diversification programme. It will also be necessary to rejuvenate the river basin authorities, created during the era of Directorate for Food, Roads and Rural Infrastructure (DFRRI) and the National Agricultural Land Development Authority (NALDA).

Still, with her vast endowment in mineral and cash crops; her ballooning demography of highly skilled individuals and rich agricultural lands, Nigeria has all that she needs to ease her out of recession. She needs to exploit the pre-oil resources – cocoa that was used in building the Cocoa House in Ibadan, provide free education for children in the late ’50, set up radio station and the first television station in Africa, during the premiership of the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo; the funds from ground-nut that was used in setting up the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria; palm oil, coal, rubber, timber, etc. that were put to good use, in other parts of the country, in the promotion of good governance.  All that was to cement the bond of an enduring affinity between the government and the governed, between the palace and the village square, between the tax-payer and the exchequer, who ensured that public fund was put to use in the interest of the majority – not that of a selfish, if parasitic, few, whose disservice are conspicuously manifest in today’s deep recession.

In looking beyond crude oil, Nigeria should strive hard to regain her comparative palm oil advantage from Malaysia. Should there be, anytime, hence, a cocoa renaissance, a groundnut revolution, a boom in the production of palm oil, rubber, timber and other cash crops, one thing is certain: The Nigerian economy will be a lot better for it. The country’s ports would witness a healthy armada of local and foreign ships – from far and near – that would come here to ferry such non-oil products to consumer destinations, within Africa and beyond.

Within the distance, there might be a compelling need for the Nigerian government to revive the Produce Marketing Boards of the days of regionalism, and sculpt out a veritable tourism attraction programme from the groundnut pyramids and other sites – armed with a new security architecture, so as to steel the confidence of prospective investors in the industry. Thus, in a glorious future time, you never can tell, the Apapa Port in Lagos, may race past Durban or Algiers, as the largest and busiest in Africa. For that, it is estimated that Nigeria could earn as much as $150 billion annually, in the first five years. There is a projection of nearly $380 billion, a decade later.  Then, all the parties involved in the economic renaissance – producers of cash crops and those involved in the extractive industry – beyond non-oil products – would have become a reliable source of tax revenue – alongside custom duties for government.

In the economic diversification era, it is expected that a new alliance, involving the well-motivated producers of non-oil products — farmers, manufacturers and miners would emerge. This will be a renascent community of economic interest, whose activities would dictate the structure, content, management and sustainability of the new market. This is an alliance, further, that would be so powerful — it’s hoped — to the extent of dictating what Nigerians consume. 

• Ighoyivwi is a Mass Communication student at Bishop Ajayi Crowther University.