CONTINUED FROM LAST WEEK
A Statement made at the meeting of the Federal Executive Council at the Action Group of Nigeria held at Ikeja VIP on 18th December. 1961.
‘In regard to introduction of foreign capital, it is my humble but considered opinion that a subject and poor but potentially rich country like ours would be taking enormous and almost suicidal risk to throw its door open to foreign investments without stringent safeguards. We would most probably enjoy a measure of comparative prosperity in the immediate present, but we would eminently succeed in mortgaging our future in the way of economic initiative and freedom. It has been wisely stated that political independence and economic spoon-feeding go ill together. Too much dependence economically, it requires drastic and even revolutionary political action to attain economic independence.
‘Under this heading, I do not wish to attempt any detailed proposals. All I wish to do is to make suggestions about the setting up of machinery by which the Nigerian Government and the three Regional Governments could work out satisfactory and generally acceptable proposals for the economic development of the country.
‘Therefore, I suggest the immediate setting up of a Nigerian Planning Commission, and of a Regional Planning Board for each Region.
‘The main functions of the Planning Board would be
- a) to make a survey of the economic resources of the territory under its charge, and make plans and recommendation about the best’ form of their utilisation; and
- b) to institute measures for the execution of such of its plans and recommendations are approved by the Planning Commission.
‘On the other hand the functions of the Planning Commission would be:
- a) to co-ordinate and harminise the plans submitted by the Planning Boards,
- b) to determine locations of industries,
- c) to lay down categories of industries as is done by the Government of Pakistan,
- d) to regulate the manner in which foreign investors would be permitted to engage in industries, and
- e) to devise means by which indigenous industries would be stimulated, financed, and protected.
‘The supreme aim of the Planning Commission and the Board would be to revise the economic status of the peasant class, to achieve a balanced economy, and to bring about an all-round prosperity for the people of Nigeria.’
‘The Action Group believes that free enterprises should be encouraged and fostered within such limits as will be laid down by law, but it advocates the public ownership of basic industries. It is not necessarily opposed to the importation of foreign capital but insists that such capital shall be introduced into the country only on the basis of partnership with, and active participation by, the people or the Government of the country. Keeping the principle in mind, the Action Group dedicates itself to fashion out and pursue any economic policy that will ensure prosperity and contentment to the citizens of Nigeria.’
In an address entitled ‘Statement of Economic Policy’ which I delivered to the Western Region Executive Committee of the Action Group at Ibadan on 27th May, 1954, I made the following remarks:
‘At this stage, I will now restate what I know to be our policy on this question of industrialization and foreign capital.
- We are determined to raise the productivity of our fanners by the introduction of scientific methods of cultivation and conservation of soil fertility, etc., and expand our output of farm produce by this means and by the establishment of Government-owned plantations.
2 We are determined to diversify our agricultural economy by the cultivation of a larger variety of crops than at present in order that we may cease to be dependent on one or two items of export products.
- We will embark on industrialisation on a limited scale in so far as it is compatible with the two objectives above stated.
- We will welcome foreign capital so long as it enters into Partnership with indigenous capital provided either by Production Boards, the Government or the people, in such a proportion that at least 51 per cent of the total capital is vested in us.
- Wherever possible and advisable we will seek to control the whole capital ourselves and make use of the skilled labour and organization which foreigners alone can at present provide.
- In the future we will seek to nationalize such of the existing industries controlled in this country by foreigners as we deem expedient in the national interest. But such nationalization will be accompanied by adequate compensation.
“In short, the aim of the Action Group is, for the present, to arrest the tendency of our industrial activities being concentrated in the hands of foreigners, and, in the long run, to ensure that all major industrial activities are either vested in the state or in our fellow countrymen.’
Having shown by the above quotations that I am by no means a post-1959 convert to Democratic Socialism, may I now once again urge it upon the Federal Government to adopt in theory and in practice that ideals of Democratic Socialism, and to appoint forthwith a National Economic Planning Commission with one hundred percent Nigerian composition, which will produce a five-year plan for the nation on the basis of these ideals. Well-meaning and expert expatriate, with the correct ideological background or training, and with no vested interests in Nigeria may be invited from time to time to advise the Commission. If merit is the decisive factor in appointing the members of the Commission, I have no doubt that it will succeed in producing a Plan worthy of Nigeria and under which the resources of our land will be exploited mainly for the advancement of the masses of our people.
The third realism which we must face is that the difficulties of the Regional Governments arise primarily from an unusually prolonged depression in the prices of our export commodities. From lack of courage in exploiting every avenue of raising funds; and secondarily from a misguided rivalry in prestige spending. It does not appear that the Federal Government attaches much importance to our commodities. It is these commodities that give us the wherewithal for paying for our overseas purchases. Yet throughout the Economic Mission mounted by the Federal Government little attention was paid by the Mission to giving a strong fillip to the volume and prices of our export products. The Federal Government must now make an all-out plan for boosting the sales of our export crops and for getting much better prices for them. On the other hand, the Regional Governments must never again fight shy of calling upon the people to pay for the benefits they receive or clamour for.
The truth is that those who are able (and there are millions of them) are not being made to contribute enough or at all to the Government coffers in accordance with their individual ability. I shall have more to say on this point later. But it will be helpful for all of us to remember the following figures. According to reliable statistical data prepared in 1957, Nigeria only employs 5 percent of her gross national products on current public expenditure, as against 15 percent in Ceylon and 12 percent in Ghana and Tanganyika. We can only spend as much as we care or have the courage to demand from the people. But is clear from these figures, other things being equal, that our Governments are assuredly very far from getting enough financial contributions from the people.
At the same time, it must be emphasised that the capital and recurrent expenditure on the State Houses in Kaduna and Enugu could have been usefully saved, and the numbers of the Missions we have sent abroad in the outgoing year could have been fewer, and their sizes much smaller.
The fourth realism is that by injudicious political manipulations, we have (all of us without exception) succeeded, albeit unwittingly, in breeding the haves and the have-nots fast becoming more and more mutually antagonistic. Before the two classes harden, in their prejudices, beyond non-violent readjustment, we must embark on the dual operation of leveling down and leveling up.
The fifth realism we must face is that if, at this point of time, we are intent on evoking any patriotic response from the masses for the need to make adequate and additional financial contributions to the Government exchequers, those of us who have the privilege to lead the nation must not only purify ourselves in the eyes of the public, but must also show be example that we too can give the lead in self-sacrifice whenever the circumstances so demand.
Having set out the realisms as I see them, I now proceed to make a number of concrete proposals in addition to those which I have already made in the course of this statement. In the course of my contribution to the debate on the Supplementary Appropriation Bill, during the last meeting of the House of Representatives, I had declared as follower.
‘The present time calls for austerity if we are to get over our financial difficulties and promote the welfare of our ‘people.
This is the keynote of the purely material aspects of my proposals. As it has been our privilege to give the lend in big spending, so it must be our honour to set a noble example in what real austerity in the face of financial crisis truly means.
It will not be proper for me to give the details of what form or forms these austerity measures should take. That is a matter for the Federal Executive Council to consider and determine. But I consider it my duty to warn that our admonition and appeal for sacrifices would sound hollow and hypocritical in the ears of the public, unless those of us who occupy a position of leadership have first of all made the highest possible sacrifices.
The Eastern Region Government is to be commended for its bold efforts in tackling its financial problem. But it has gone about it the wrong way. It abolished Infant I, pegged its UpE scheme to Infant II and Standard I and II and raised school fees in Standards III and IV from £3 10s. od. To £5. os. Od. per pupil, and in Standards V and VI from £5. os. Od. to £8 os. od. The Action Group which has criticized these regressive and crushing measures has been accused of playing politics, and of breaking faith with the agreement reached at the National Economic Council that taxation should be taken out of the arena of politics.
In the first place, the present imposition of school fees is not taxation, because it does not conform with – any of the principles of an enlightened tax system.
In the second place, the agreement referred to has not been made known to the public. At all events, the Action Group and I myself are still to be informed of the said agreement and its precise terms. In any case, I want to assure the Eastern Government that, if an agreement is reached that taxation should be taken out of the arena of politics, they will find the Action Group a very active collaborator in implementing its terms. From the time I took office in the Western Region in 1952, I have consistently advocated this very course in vain. In vain, because the NCNC which is the party in power in the East was implacably bent on playing politics with taxation, with the unsavoury consequences which now stare all of us in the face. I am not at all happy about the present state of affairs. But I am glad that whether we are Jews or Gentiles, Greeks or Barbarians, we now see quite clearly that playing politics with rates and taxes is a most dangerous game. If the NCNC had responded to my repeated calls for unity of purpose in the matter of taxation, and if it had not had reasons to believe that its financial returns from other sources would say good perhaps the Western Region Government would not have reduced rates as substantially as it has done with a resultant heavy financial burden on the Regional exchequer. Similarly, the Eastern Region Government would not have been pressed to the wall as it now is. In the case of the East, the answer to the problem is not increases in school fees. Indeed, I do conscientiously advocate that school fees should be abolished in Primary schools in the Eastern and Northern Regions and that some other avenues should be explored for raising the funds required for meeting the expenses on Primary education. This exploration should be done by all the Governments of the Federation acting in correct and taking their respective parties into full confidence to what and what are proposed to be done. Those of us who by the Grace of God are placed in a position of leadership must be Prepared right now to grasp the nettle. If we unite in doing so, and if, in addition, we set a worthy example and a marat on pace in probity, unselfishness and self-sacrifice, the people will follow, all too readily, in our footsteps.
There is a short poem whose author I do not now remember, but which I pass on to you for its intrinsic value. It runs:
‘The Past is a story told; The Future may be writ in gold.’
Animated by the sage message of this poem, we should, as we enter the New Year, resolve to make 1962 a glorious epoch in Nigeria’s history.
For the year 1962, therefore:
1) We should resolve to make democracy work in Nigeria at all levels of government activities;
2) We should resolve to unite in combating, with all the constitutional resources at our disposal any attempt on the part of any Government or party in power to encroach upon and invade the liberty of the individual
3) We should resolve to exterminate the cankerworm of bribery and corruption, and to evolve effective plans to this end;
4) We should resolve to produce a five-year development plan which will bear the stamp of the genius of Nigerian brains and patriotism, and which is designed for the speedy abolition of disease, ignorance and want, and for the introduction of a new era of abundance for all;
5) We should, in particular, resolve to close, so far as it lies in our power and is compatible with socialist ideals, the yawning gap between the haves and the have-nots;
6) We should resolve to raise the prestige of Nigeria as an economically self-reliant and political dependable nation, to whom the other countries of Africa can look for succor and merited leadership; and
7) We should resolve to rededicate ourselves for the great task ahead and to cooperate with all those of our fellow citizens who see the need and are determined to work for a radical reconstruction of our society.
If we are to succeed in carrying out these resolutions, we must have idealism as our impregnable armour. The idealist is not, as is erroneously believed by some impractical Indeed by adhering to fundamental principles, he is fully armed with unimpeachable yardsticks and criteria by means of which all practical issues are justly and equitably determined. His guiding and dominant motive in his approach to all private or public affairs is self first, self second and self last. The bane of our society is the monstrous growth in 1961 of unabashed opportunism. We must resolve to destroy the monster right now if we are to save this nation from imminent peril.
INDEX
Africa Unit, 1
Agricultural Development, 63
Anglo-Nigerian Defence Pact, 26
Akintola, S.L.A., 145, 213
Ashby Commission, 65
Awokoya, Hon. S.O., 142
Balance of Payments, 70
Call to Rededication and
Reconstruction, 209
Cameron, Sir Donald, 80
Charter of Freedom, 76
Creation of More States, 146
ECH, 62
Economic Development, 123
‘Economic Development of
Nigeria, The’, 102
Education, 158
Enahoro, Hon. Anthony, 143
FBI, 65
Financial Cross-roads, 46
Freedom for All, 195
Glory of a King, The, 94
Good Government, 121
Ideological Orientation, 184
Ighodaro, Hon. S.O., 143
I1e-Ife, 45
Independence, 151
Independent Nigeria, 9
Industrial Rule, 79
It Isn’t Life That Matters, 206
Lugard, Lord, 79, 80
Macpherson, Sir John, 145
Malan, Dr., 38
Mens Sana in Corpore Sano,164
Motion for Self-government, 164
Nationalisation, 58
NATO, 2, 14
NCNC, 148, 201, 219
Nigerian Shipping Company 56
NPC, 19, 148, 201, 202, 210
OAC, 8
Odebiyi, Chief J.A.O. 200
Okotie-Ebob, Cbief Festus, 75
Ondo, 45
Owo, 45
Pbilosopby for Independent
Nigeria. 9
Political Memoranda. 79
Politics and Religion. 117
Public Finance, 43
Public Finance. 123
Public Relations and Other
Matters, 129
Rapid Economic
Development, 51
Social Services, 121
Speech in Defence of Chief
S.L.A. Akintofa,136
Street Beggar Economy, 35
The Press, 166
Thomas, Chief Bode. 145
UK, 31
UNO, 23
Valedictory Summing-up, 118
Verwoenf, Dr. 2
Bertha M. Clay: LOVE’S GOWEN REIGN
Bertha M. Clay: A WOMAN’S TEMPTATION
Bertha M. Clay: BEYOND PARDON
Bertha M. Clay: IN LOVE’S CRUCIBLE
Bertha M. Clay: LOVE WORKS WONDERS
Bertha M. Clay: MARRIED FOR THE BEAUTY
Bertha M. Clay: A HEART’S BITTERNESS
Bertha M. Clay: ANOTHER MAN’S WIFE
Bertha M. Clay: TRIFLING WITH LOVE
Bertha M. Clay: ON WINGS OF LOVE
Bertha M. Clay: FORTUNATE LOVERS
Bertha M. Clay: SUNSHINE OF LOVE
Bertba M. Clay: LOVERS’ CONFLICTS
Bertha M. Clay: THE WOMAN WHO WON
Bertha M. Clay: THE SECRET LOVERS
Bertha M. Clay: LOVERS’ KNOTS
Bertha M. Clay.: NOT EASILY JEALOUS
Bertha M. Clay: LOVE’S HIDDEN PERIL
Bertha M. Clay: DIVIDED LOVES
Kole Omotoso: TO BORROW A WANDERING LEAF
Bayo Adebiyi: THE BROTHERS
Fola Oyewole: RELUCTANT REBEL
Oladapo Yemiian THE BEARDED STORYTELLER
Dillibe Onyeama SEX IS A NIGGER’S GAME
Dillibe Onyeama JUJU
Louis Johnson NO MAN’S LAND
Thomas A. Kempi THE IMITATION OF CHRIST
- Von Schmid THE BASKET OF FLOWERS
- Barclay A LIFE OF CHRIST
- Ramsey: THE HOLY SPIRIT
- Chapman: SHORT RV BIBLE FOR STUDENTS
- Carey: LAST PLANE FROM ULI
Dan Wooding and Ray
Barnett: UGANDA HOLOCAUST
- Nwachukwu-Agbada NO NEED TO CRY
Temple Omare Boyo: SOMOLU BLUES
Akoli Fenuku: A FATAL CHOICE
Sola Oloyede: THE WAREHOUSE GANG
Sola Oloyede: I PROFESS THIS CRIME
Mary Essex: MY LOVE
Lilian Woodward: FOLLY OF LOVE
Yvonne Gordon: LESSON IN LOVE
Grace Goodwin: LOVE IS THE KEY
Angela Gordon: LOVE HAS MANY FACES
Vera Craig: LOVE IN WARD TWO
The above books are obtainable from all reputable bookshops. For direct orders, add 30k per copy for postage and packing for up to 9 books. Orders in excess of 10 books are sent free of charge.
Send your order to:
Fagbamigbe Publishers,
II Methodist Church Road,
P.O. Box 14,
Akure,
Nigeria.
While every effort is made to keep prices low, it is sometimes necessary to increase prices at short notice. Fagbamigbe Publishers reserves the right to show and charge new retail prices on covers which may differ from those advertised above.
CONTINUES NEXT WEEK
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