Nigeria: Africa's Beleaguered State

What is the evidence for such a pessimistic assessment? In a period of less than two years, the government introduced a 5-percent value-added tax and increased the price of gasoline by 338 percent. Because the Nigerian domestic economy depends on road transportation for the movement of goods, the gas hike resulted in a corresponding increase in the prices of goods and services. As if this were not enough pain, duties on imported goods and services were increased by as much as 100 percent in some cases. This action resulted in another set of price increases because of the economy's dependence on imports. Apart from food, most consumer goods are imported; manufacturers depend on imported raw materials for more than half of their inputs.

When Nigerians thought they had had enough, the government came out with the mother of all reforms. It effectively devalued the naira from 22 to the dollar to 85 to the dollar. [It was trading at 76.5 to the dollar in mid-Janu- ary.-WPR] Only government ministries kept using the old rate. For every other Nigerian, the value of wages and other cash resources took a 386-per- cent plunge.

The paradox of all this is that Abacha's domestic popularity continues to grow. Ojo Maduekwe, a politician and former member of the National Assembly, believes the economic reforms were inevitable. He says Nigeria had gone through eight years of reckless spending under the Ibrahim Babangida government and believes Nigerians realize that the country would have disintegrated without Abacha's intervention three years ago. Another explanation for the approbation given the military government is the action it has taken against the fraud-ridden banking sector--haul- ing miscreant bankers and businessmen before civil tribunals--and the high profile given to the general fight against corruption.

People like Austin Izagbo, a commissioner in Delta state, give credit to Abacha for the feeling that the country is "more secure than ever it has been." This sense of being protected is more understandable when expressed by those living in thesoutheast, where Nigerian troops chased away Cameroonian gendarmes harassing the local inhabitants. Abacha has also made the most of the feeling of collective defensiveness following the threat of British Commonwealth expulsion and sanctions.

The austerity measures instituted by Abacha have arrested the decline of the economy by stabilizing the currency and enabling government to record a budget surplus and demonstrate that it is fighting inflation. But the speed of the measures has had a devastating effect on the people.

Worst hit are salary earners, especially those in the public sector. A university professor receives a basic pay of $94 a month. On that salary, he would need to save all his earnings for 20 years before he could afford a new car. Although food is rel- atively cheap and is readily available, it takes more than $100 to feed a family of four for a month. This explains why so many people engage in cor- rupt practices to make ends meet. General Oladipo Diya, the chief of defense staff and Abacha's number-two man, has made the extraordinary generalization that "all Nigeri- ans are corrupt."

Social services have been hard hit. Public hospitals are without drugs, while equipment is either worn out or in need of repair. The cost of care at well-equipped private health centers is beyond the reach of 90 percent of the population, Schools are not faring any better. A strike by university teachers that began in April paralyzed university education. Although some universities started classes, fewer than 50 percent of the teachers are back at work. Welfare services have virtually collapsed. In Ondo state, hunger has forced recovering lepers from government rehabilitation centers to solicit a]ms. on public highways.

The country is beset by a collapsing infrastructure. Most of the roads are pothole-ridden. Links between towns in the southeast are cut. The funeral of Nnamdi Azikiwe, Nigeria's first president who died in May, had to be delayed until November to enable the government to repair the access roads to his hometown of Omitsha. Under a presidential directive, the Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF) handled the repairs of 36 miles of approach roads to the town.

The fund has become the government's answer to the de- teriorating social services and infrastructure. It was set up in October, 1994, to manage surplus income from the in- crease in the prices of petroleum products. It functions as a domestic intervention aid agency. So far, revenue accruing to the PTF stands at more than $1.87 billion.

The PTF is about the only government agency executing capital development projects. This has prompted the charge that the fund, headed by former head of state General Muhammed Buhari, is an "alternative government." What- ever the accusations, the fund's activities have drawn acclaim. Johnnie Udofa, a banker with the Cooperative Development Bank in Lagc{s, believes that if all its programs succeed, the fund will improve the quality of life.

Nevertheless, Nigerian nationals are leaving the country in droves either for political reasons or to search for greener economic pastures. Among those in political exile is professor Wole Soyinka, the Nobel laureate who now runs an opposition radio station, Radio Kudirat, named after the as- sassinated wife of the detained president-elect, Moshood Abiola.

Those leaving for economic reasons include highly qual- ified doctors, 2,000 of whom have fled to the United States alone. Another estimated 2,000 are in Saudi Arabia and the Persian Gulf states, Britain, Canada, and Asia. This group includes nurses, university teachers, and other profession- als. Their exodus has created a brain-drain crisis.

Also fleeing the country are jobless youths who are pre- pared to undertake any chore abroad to earn a living. They are very desperate and will do anything to get out. In 1995, a youth hid for 10 hours in the baggage compartment of a Nigerian Airways plane bound for Tel Aviv. He was frozen on arrival.

Unemployment and the overall deterioration in living standards have been accompanied by an alarming upsurge in violent crime. Some of the political assassinations have attracted worldwide notoriety, but there have been macabre killings that have caused intense domestic shock waves. The motives for the killings include settling political scores, busi- ness deals that have gone sour, and ruthless competition for positions in private and public institutions. Bombings, arson, and armed robbery have multiplied to the extent that one Lagos banker has described the phenomenon as "a form of social protest."

Africa Today (Nigerian-owned bi- monthly, London,

Nov.-Dec., 1996.