That Zamfara sells gold to the CBN

By Bayo Ogunmupe Nigerian states went aglow recently over the sale of a bar of gold to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) at N5 billion by the Zamfara State Government. deputy Senate President, Mr Ovie Omo Agege and Ijaw youths kicked against the perfidy that allowed a state to sell a mineral resource to the Federal Government. when the buyer is the constitutional owner of the commodity. Senator Omo Agege described the sale as a breach of the laws guiding the exploration of mineral resources in the Nigerian federation. Moreover, the youths under the aegis of the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC), accused the Federal Government of double standards and injustice for allowing CBN to buy the gold. The deputy senate president faulted the transaction while contributing to a debate on the 2021 Appropriation Bill. He told senators that his district in Delta State and the Niger Delta people are worried about the development since all proceeds from oil mined from their territory solely go to the Federation Account. The senator insisted that the proceeds from the sale of Zamfara gold ought to be remitted to the federation account and not credited to the account of Zamfara State. Omo Agege added that the solid mineral sector is another avenue for funding the budget apart from oil and foreign and internal borrowings. He frowned at the sale of gold to the CBN by Zamfara when the states of Niger Delta are forbidden from selling oil since all minerals belong to Abuja. In the same vein, from Port Harcourt, the IYC accused Buhari of injustice by allowing artisanal mining of gold in Zamfara while forbidding a similar practice for gold in Osun State and crude oil in the Niger Delta. It was further observed that in Northern states where there are gold and other precious stones, indigenes were allowed to mine them unmolested to enrich themselves. However, the Federal Government, sometime ago, told state governments that they could not control the mineral deposits in their domains. The Minister of Mines and Steel Development said it at the sensitization meeting with state commissioners of justice, minerals and environment from the North Central geopolitical zone. The issue of resource control came up with the unveiling of the Zamfara state plan to establish a gold reserve through buying of gold from artisanal miner indigenes. Reacting to calls for resource control by the states, the minister said doing so would amount to selfishness which would be detrimental to Nigeria's economy. he told the commissioners that attention was now being focused on the development of the mineral sector for revenue generation, it must be used for the common good like oil. This age-long demand for resource control erupted again during the senate debate of the 2021 budget. It was fuelled by the injustice of government allowing Zamfara to sell gold to the CBN. The crux of the matter is that injustice being perpetrated by our leaders through their refusal to enforce the law, has been the cause of Nigerian disunity, instability and underdevelopment. Among the issues not being paid attention to are resource control, the reform of the security architecture, rising unemployment, increasing wave of banditry, kidnapping, pension scam, the N2.67 billion school feeding money found in a private bank account and lots of other atrocities. Among the solutions offered by various authorities are those proposals given by the head of the department of Urban and Regional Planning, Osun State University, Professor Samson Akinola, who foresaw the impending crisis due to increasing youth unemployment. He has many research based books,monographs, given in lectures, conferences, economic summits but all to no avail, Nigerian leaders never listen. From interviewing him we got: "You never change things by fighting existing reality. To change society, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete," Richard Buckminster Fuller of Oxford University. "You can't solve a problem by using the same kind of thinking that created the problem. There is in effect, a bankruptcy of ideas," Albert Einstein. The last quotation avers that the Nigerian crisis cannot be solved by the current politicians who created it. What then are the solutions to the current impasse in Nigerian politics and economy? First, to assuage youth unemployment and such other problem of dwindling revenue, herewith is an existing framework in Europe and North America. It is the bedrock of the emergence of Germany from the destruction of World War 11. Let federal government inaugurate a collateral free, interest free loans of between N10,000 and N1 million guaranteed by the government for every category of the unemployed. Such a loans scheme launched by the German chancellor Ludwig Erhard (1897-1977) while he was the Minister of Economic Affairs of Germany. It culminated in the German economic miracle which lifted Germany to the pinnacle prosperity in Europe till today. The success of the scheme was supplemented by the American aid under the Marshall Plan. It is significant that this debate about injustice started while the senate was debating on the 2021 budget. What then did economic theory tells us about economic growth and development? Arising from Fuller's reasoning that to change society, you have to build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete, is the theorem of Inclusive Growth (IG). The failure of the social market economics brought in its wake, a new set of theories, with distribution to every strata of society as its mainstay. This macroeconomic tradition emerged from the 1980s through distribution to the poor; like the banker to the poor, the People's Bank of Mohammed Yunus of Bangladeshi; who won Nobel Prize therefrom. It created the rallying cry of inclusive growth of today. Unlike the past, this new paradigm emphasises the importance of growth in every facet of society. The winner takes all mentality of the market economy is rejected. To be sustainable, growth must carry a large number of people along as participants as its beneficiaries in the outcome. In this regard, a growth rate of 7 percent, which benefits about 90 percent of the population is preferable to a 10 percent growth rate that benefits only 10 percent of the population. Beyond enriching our understanding of the growth dynamic, inclusive growth addressed the problems of abject poverty. It showed that in a given economy distortions exist at any time. Thus, an option for policymakers, is to target all distortions for removal every time. Sadly, the Nigerian economy is saddled with many distortions. Corruption is one of them; nepotism is another. Worse still, the welfare subsidy to the parliamentarians, foreign exchange subsidy to very important personalities are part of the distortions of the Nigerian economy. Another aspect of the inclusive growth perspective is the virtue of appropriate sequencing of reforms. President Buhari ought to have removed fuel subsidy immediately after gaining his second term victory, unfortunately his recent fuel removal came as an afterthought. Thus, costing him the Edo State governorship election. The national impasse comes down to the Einstein aphorism that you cannot solve a problem by using the same kind of thinking that created the problem. Current Nigerian leadership in politics and public service are out of date too ignorant and obsolete. They cannot therefore, bring forth the prosperity we desire.