03/09/2017

THE STRATEGY AND TACTICS OF THE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA: Economic objectives (I)



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Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s insightful book about Nigeria’s political and economic survival The Strategy and Tactics of The People’s Republic of Nigeria, which was first published in 1970.
Continued from last week

THAT is to say, farmers who conscientiously practise co-operative farming etc., will no longer need to be burdened with loans either from government institutions, or from money lenders; and the abuses connected with existing loan schemes for farmers will be eliminated.
NOTE: Since concluding the draft of this Section on 1 March 1969, I have had the gratification of reading the comments made by Professor Glenn Johnson, on 26 March 1969, on the Paper, entitled Agriculture and Rural Development, submitted by Professor H. A. Oluwasanmi to the CONFERENCE ON NATIONAL RECONSTRUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT IN NIGERIA which was held at Ibadan from 24-29 March] 969. The following short excerpt from Professor Johnson’s comments is very apposite:
‘I want now to stimulate your imagination by presenting a few projections concerning the possible contribution of ag;iculture to Nigeria’s future.
We estimate that Nigeria can be producing over three times its 1961 GDP by 1985. By then GDP from a properly managed agricultllre would probably make lip about one third of the total as contrasted to 55 per cent in 1966. Conservatively that one third, however, would be over twice as large as in 1966. It would contribute much more foreign exchange, larger amounts of raw material for industry, more and better quality food per capita for up to 100 million people, and more income for savings and investment in both the farm and non-farm sectors. From the stand point of social and distributive justice, we see the possibility of substantially improving the lots of millions of small holders and livestock producers to such an extent that the increase in their effective demand for the products of Nigeria’s urban and industrial economy would be a positive driving force for the industrialization of Nigeria.’

  1. Economic Freedom
At p. 301 of The People’s Republic I define economic freedom as follows:
‘Economic freedom exists when a politically sovereign country, independently of outside control or direction, organises the exploitation and deployment of its total resources for the benefit of its entire people, under a system in which the forces of supply and demand and of marginal utility are controlled and canalized for the common good.’
In Chapters 12 and 13 of the same book, I have discussed this definition in extenso, and I do not wish here to repeat or add to what I have said. Some comments on the targets for self-sufficiency in consumer nondurables and durables and in capital goods are, however, necessary.
In the first place, I cannot conceive of any non-durable consumer goods, which we need, for which we cannot produce a substitute in this country, within a matter of two years at the longest. In this connection, it is apposite to recall what I have already said in The People’s Republic at pp. 193,194, and 327 about the regulation of consumption to ensure that, production or utilization of resources is directed towards essential ends.’ For, though our wants are infinite and incapable of regulation, yet our needs for food, clothing, shelter, and knowledge, in such quantity and quality as to guarantee to us the enjoyment of sound health in body and mind and of human dignity, are limited, ascertainable, and amen-able to statutory regulation.
In the second place, there is not a single item of durable consumer goods which we cannot produce in this country within the next five years provided we proceed, forthwith, to the construction of our projected and much-advertized iron and steel complex, the preliminary work on which has been completed for some two years now. Again, as in the case of non-durables, the emphasis should be on our essential needs rather than on our infinite wants which include conveniently dispensable luxuries.
In the third place, I do not have the slightest doubt that, with rigorous detailed, and scientific planning, which is the cornerstone of socialism and of the materialization of all the objectives contained in this book, we can achieve self-reliance in capital goods and in technology, in twenty years’ time. To plan for less than this target is to proclaim our own intellectual and moral ineptitude and bankruptcy, and to sentence our great country to permanent or long- term economic subjugation. We have worthy examples by ‘which our feet can be guided, in the pursuit of this target. Japan and the USSR achieved complete economic freedom and voluntary economic interdependence in all things inside that period. ‘What they achieved, we too can achieve; more so, as we have their experiences to learn from, in order to avoid their mistakes. It is imperative, therefore, that we should have a twenty-year perspective plan, divided into four operative plans of five years each for progressive fulfilment. To this end, we must, in the meantime, see to it that practically all the capital goods and know-how that are imported into the country are paid for by our exports, as already advocated in Chapters 12 and 13 of The People’s Republic, and in the preceding Section.




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