Economist Explains How Nigeria Can Benefit From War In Iran

President Bola Tinubu should put the right policies and people in place, and partner with the Dangote Refinery to enable Nigeria to reap the economic benefits of the ongoing war in Iran. The war, THE WHISTLER reports, has disrupted the global oil sector, leading to skyrocketing prices of petroleum products in the world market.

A renowned economist and Executive Director, Lead Network Africa, Dr Ephraim Okenwa, gave the charge when he featured on Enugu-based Dream FM’s “Political Voices”, monitored by our correspondent on Thursday. Okenwa said Nigeria ought to be rejoicing if the managers of the nation’s economy were not sabotaging the system they supposed to protect in the interest of all.

He said, “The prices of crude oil keep skyrocketing, with the benchmark from around 72.5 dollars to now 11.9 US dollars. A nation like Nigeria that has crude oil should somehow be rejoicing by now. This is because one person’s breakdown is another person’s breakthrough. When you are losing money, someone else is gaining from it. It is not as if people are investing in the war in Iran, but the war disrupted many things. Those who have oil and can bring it to the international market should earn more. What makes it tricky for Nigeria is that as we earn greater, far much more than we projected in our budget for this year, we are also losing much more in terms of importing the ones we need.”

He expressed worries that the federal government has failed to explore the breakthrough of Dangote Refinery towards building the nation’s oil sector. “We are not doing ourselves better,” laments Dr Okenwa. “Nigeria has allowed our refineries to under-perform, if at all any of them is working. Nigeria has an entrepreneur like Dangote, which can refine up to 650, 000 barrels per day, yet the quantity of crude oil supplied to Dangote Refinery is less than 40 percent of the capacity of the company. By now, we should be exporting the refined version, and not the crude oil. But some people are interested in satisfying their business partners beyond the shores of the country, than growing an economy that would work for the generality of Nigerians.”

He said Dangote Refinery is capable of propelling Nigeria’s economy, regretting that “We are under utilising Dangote Refinery”. According to him, “The challenge of the moment is not refining capacity. Dangote Refinery can supply refined oil not just to Nigeria but the entire ECOWAS region and even beyond. We can meet local demands. Researchers have discovered that in every barrel of crude oil sold, Nigeria loses about 800 US dollars. Therefore, Nigeria is losing a lot selling our oil in the crude form. The best of the economic value is in the refined version. The more we refine, the more values we get.”

He attributed Nigeria’s economic woes to rudderless leadership and the non-political will of Nigerian leaders towards home-grown economy. “Our problem is that we prefer exotic things to things produced locally. Quick fixes, like opening up borders to allow free inflow of foods aimed at crashing costs of food items, do not build any economy.”

He likened Nigeria to “a father that farms oranges, but his children love juice”. In his words, “Rather than the father making the juice, he sells it to another farmer who makes juice, and buys the same juice for his children from the farmer he sells to. Nigeria will also borrow from the same juice seller with interests, forgetting that we are the owners of the farm. One wonders if these things are difficult for our leaders to understand. Certainly not.”

The scholar interrogated if Nigerian leaders were aware that they were better off if the country’s economy is stable. “The problem is beyond corruption,” says he. “When people begin to sabotage the economy, you know that there is more in it than the perchance for corruption. They want the poor to remain at the current stages they are: where they labour like elephants and eat like ants.”

He tasked Nigerians to speak up to the country’s leaders, noting that “These things will not change by wishful thinking, but by people placing the right things in their proper places. Nigerians must come to the stage that when they have the ears of the leaders, they should tell them the truth they need to hear. Let them think about legacies. I have not seen any place that it is written that politicians will live from generation to generation. We shall leave all that we have acquired.”

He tasked Nigerian masses to be the change agents to rescue the country from the abuses of its leaders. “We the masses should look out for Nigerians who have the interest of the nation at heart for leadership. There are some distinguished Nigerians who have expressed interest to help in fixing the nation’s economy. Nigerians should begin to clamour for them. It should not just be analysis and talking.”

He however said Nigeria has the right policies, but the implementation remains the problem. He said, “When we say policies, we are talking about making the right decisions. The best option for Nigeria to fix her energy crisis is to properly collaborate with the private sector. There is Dangote already. All these subsidies and no subsidies as well as war in Iran will not affect Nigeria if things are done well.”

He decried the tendency of Nigerian leaders towards palliatives as a means of cushioning the effects of avoidable harsh economic outbreaks. “Nigeria has become a palliative economic system, and it is not sustainable. Imagine removing the oil subsidy in a crude way that it was done without minding its immediate impact on the masses! The next thing was sharing of rice and introduction of CNG buses. How many people can the CNG buses serve? You have over six million people in Enugu State alone. No government has that capacity to provide the buses that the people need.”

He said countries like Kuwait and other Arab countries capitalised on their oil wealth to diversify their economy. “But in Nigeria,” he argues, “Our politicians are distracted already by crude oil, even before we talk about diversification of our economy. We should rather use our oil to build our economy and infrastructure, and then open up other sectors like tourism. Wealth will then follow suit. We need to consolidate our wealth source, which is oil, and then grow the economy.”

He advised Nigerians to adjust in the face of the current hardship, urging them to take a walk or use public transport instead of driving vehicles to reduce their cost of operations.