The Social Justice and Human Right Activist, Omenazu Jackson has said that increasing the minimum wage without restructuring the polity is a catalyst for another economic crisis in Nigeria.
According to him, Nigerians must allow effective mutual economic competition among component entities or States that federate the nation.
He emphasized that the idea of lumping all resources together and sharing same among states and LGAs looks primitive and unreasonable when in practical terms, some LGAs can stand on their own and even loan money to some states on single digit terms.
“No nation survives in this type of lousy arrangement where the FG is father Christmas. Our innovativeness is seriously under-tapped due to this top-bottom economic policy which has made some component units incubators without heat”.
He stressed that “Only wayward parents will feed a child of 18 years that is not physically challenge”.
“Our attitude to nation building lacks vision and cohesion. We have been a country for too long. “What is wrong in being a nation where all cylinders will be firing at the same time for easy arrival to our collective destination?
“All nations of the world that want rapid growth, develop their resources by collective ingenuity and not by sitting down on one imported Arabic table to share money monthly like wide monkeys in a wide cherry tree.
“States should be encouraged to pull resources together and venture into productive businesses that will increase their IGR I.e, each zone can build a refinery of their own and operate on their terms and buy crude oil from NNPC even at OPEC approved price. Nothing is wrong with that. It will create zonal employment and reduce the risk of road haulages of finished products within the country”
The right Activist emphasized that the Agro-based industries can spring up on LGAs Economic Mutual Cooperation Treaties ( LEMCTs) with mostly those that share common economic environment even when they are not in the same state, adding that what is important is to develop Nigeria and Nigerians.
“When we privatized, we did it with clay sand mind and blindly sold national assets to those who deliberately mismanaged them.
“States or LGAs where those assets are located should have been given the rights of first refusal. Such States or LGAs are entitled to seek foreign partners if they so desire.
“There is no economic reason why someone in PH should pay the same price per litre of PMS with the person in Bauchi, just as a kilo of beef in Bauchi is not the price in PH. Law of comparative advantage must be allowed to flourish in its natural state else we keep on building our castle on air.
“Some states can afford to pay their hard-working civil servants N100,000 per month if such civil servants can deploy their creativity in generating enough IGR for their state ,so why should someone stay in Abuja and legislate that such hard-working civil servant should be paid the same amount with the one in another state when their economic input/output is not the same?
“That is tantamount to economic rights violation. It is the duty of government to protect the rights of citizens not violate them.
“We must restructure our system in line with our socioeconomic reality or we will continue to live on borrowed money from Asia, Europe and America.
“Our continued dependence on foreign loans and wild concessions of national assets which undermines our economy and national security questions our nationhood in this 21st-century world.
Mr Omenazu Jackson noted that Nigerians must unburden our economy and social security apparatus to encourage creative thinking and hard work. Minimum wage; we can wage it with restructuring the polity.
