Tope Fasua sounds like a lone voice crying in the wilderness. However that needn't be the case. If he has been in intellectual touch with his fellow economists of whatever hue, he gave us no clue. People like Henry Boyo and Odilim Basil Egwegbara readily come to mind, not to mention Prof Chukwuma Soludo. A critical mass of economics thinkers arguing the various available options and theories, with lesser beings like us chipping in from the sidelines, will ultimately provide Nigeria with a way out of this mess which is a fifty year old conundrum.
I am a failed engineering designer/manufacturer and so know better that most folks what I am talking about. Tope should have realized that he was not writing for the masses. His obvious target, the elite, are already aware of most of the issues he raised. Hence he could have made his commentary brief while highlighting the opinion moulders on the two (?) sides of the divide. Who said what and on what occasion? Where was he coming from? What would Stiglitz recommend in this situation? I forgot to mention sharp minds like Ms Ijeoma's Nwaogwugwu.
It is a pity that popular and populist writers like Olusegun Adeniyi and Simon Kolawole as well as some wellknown guest columnists often get carried away once they sense the prevailing sentiment. Moving in for an overkill, they settle for hyperbole. Old and settled facts/problems are presented as new discoveries. This is at times quite tedious. For example just last week Adeniyi "discovered" the mess in the rice sector. Excuse me!
There was a time I could not get even one commentator to support my loud call for the removal of fuel subsidy. Now that it is "safe" to do so, the field is patently overcrowded. What I find most obscene is the commentary that starts with "You know, I was one of those who opposed the removal of fuel subsidy, bla, bla, bla." Then followed by a wishy-washy effort at explaining how he/she finally came to see the light. Really? The nation cannot afford slow learners at the helm.
We have enough firewood from these various sources and more to make a roaring fire of discontent about the way things are going. Unfortunately our CBN, as structured, does not have the necessary independence vital for the
proper use of peer pressure and superior argument to push state policy in the right direction, whatever that means. We cannot count on President Buhari to reason it out. This is beyond him. However that does not mean that we should quit trying.
In conclusion, economists must talk regularly and be brutally frank with one another. We the masses should get to hear mainly only about the final communiques. We cannot all be inside the debates. Perhaps we have no choice but to trust them.
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