Before
delving into the substantive issue this week and the next couple of weeks, let
me first of all let you, the reader, into one of the columnist’s closely
guarded secrets. It is that much of the ideas and inspiration generated for
this weekly column derive from casual conversations with people; I mean just
about any bunch of people. How I wish I could claim it is all due to my own
brilliance, but I regret to say that it is not. The most fertile venues for
pinching ideas are inside taxis, airport lounges and beer/“suya” joints. Others are social gathering with friends,
relatives and colleagues. Sure as daylight, I have picked up an idea from such
a gathering, from a 15-year-old, to generate a topic on financial law for this
column in the recent past. Thus, it is from a similar gathering that the
inspiration for this three-part essay came into being. Writers do not generally
acknowledge the sources of these ideas because it is unnecessary. And in case
you are wondering, it is not plagiarism either. Ideas are free. The way and
manner in (including the context within) which an idea is used, however, are
usually peculiar to the author/writer and, as such, should not be copied
without due acknowledgment. Anyway, that
aside.
At
a cosy gathering of friends in a neighbour’s yard a couple of days ago, a
bright, tall and lanky teenage schoolboy was handed a $100 bill by his uncle as
a gift for clearing his exams. I listened attentively as the overjoyed boy was
bouncing around, soliciting for a good naira rate from amongst the relaxed
evening guests. He plans to go to university next year to study law and was
boasting about his desire to charge his fees in dollars, in future, like Aare
Afe Babalola (SAN) does. Babalola, of course, is an advocate par excellence,
who rose from nothing to the pinnacle of the legal practice in this country.
The boy had read a passage in his memoire: “Impossibility made possible”, where
he talked about charging in dollars. Babalola also cited in the book an
incident that happened at his former client’s, President Olusegun Obasanjo’s
private residence. He had gone to see him for instructions on a pending case,
and as he and the coterie of SANs Babalola had assembled in Obasanjo’s defence
were trooping in one after the other to take their seats, the former President
exclaimed in awe of the battle-hardened wigs: “Ah, Chief, no wonder you charge
in dollars!” This passage made quite an impression on the young man, whose
uncontrolled enthusiasm in turn, spurred me to write this essay.
Since
Aare Babalola and his ilk appear to have turned charging in dollars into a
cause célèbre; the surest indication that one has ‘arrived’ at the dizzy height
of stupendous wealth, it was completely lost on the little boy, indeed a young
man, that the $100 bill dangling in his hand, not that long ago, used to be the
exact equivalent of N100 note used for buying a pack of “pure water” today.
Yes, one dollar used to exchange for one naira; even for less than that at
times, in this same country of ours, and in so many people’s lifetime. At the
material time though, simply being a Nigerian carried with it a lot of pride.
We were constantly dubbed the “Giant of Africa” then. That sounds pretty
outlandish now, of course, but it did not quite fall out of place at the time.
Judging by how much of our wealth has since been squandered, and is still being
squandered, it would be hard to quibble about being dubbed the sleeping giant
of Africa now.
How
is it, then that one dollar is now exchanged for N380 in today’s market? How
come, then, that the Ministry of Finance in this country offers the incentive
of remuneration in dollars for investors instead of the naira; a de facto
“dollarisation” of the country’s economy (albeit by the back door)? It has even
become cool amongst the flamboyant and the well-heeled, to “spray” in dollars
at high-society parties instead of the naira.
How come then that the dollar has become such a reified commodity,
almost as important as the air we breathe in, in this country? Fixated by the
daily bulletin on the Central Bank of Nigeria’s latest moves to pomp more
dollar into the market, most people under the age of 30 in this country see the
ubiquitous presence of the dollar in our everyday life as a given; a fait
accompli. That is, it is just what it is, but my contention is that it is what
it is not because it was inevitable, but because of the choices we have made as
a country. It is not by accident that the dollar has come to be seen by
Nigerian citizens as a better store of value than the naira. That state of
affairs did not happen overnight, our erstwhile leaders created the foundation
for it over a period of time.
It
is thus vitally important for the young man aspiring to earn his legal fees in
dollars (no blame), and the vast majority of Nigerian youths to understand the
trajectory of the dollar as the dominant force that it has become in our
economy, and for that matter, in the overall global trade. As we chart the debate henceforth, I would
urge the reader to contemplate how, if ever, we are likely to witness a return
to the dollar-naira parity again in our country, or, whether that is even
desirable any longer. More alarmingly, could the steady growth of the dollar
transactions (aided and abetted by the Ministry of Finance) in this country see
the eventual death of the naira as a legal tender in favour of the dollar?
Would Nigeria become, in effect, a mere appendage of the United States’ global
economy for all practical purposes? It happened most recently in Zimbabwe,
under the “Marxist revolutionary”, “President-for-life”, Robert Mugabe. How can
we avoid the slippery slope in this country?
You
can reach Tayo Oke via drtayooke@gmail.com
No comments: