Reason Policies From Different Administrations Keep Failing In Nigeria

A former member representing Kabba-Bonu/Ijumu Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives,  Tajudeen Yusuf has shared his thoughts on the reason the economic policies in Nigeria have continued to fail.

He claimed that Nigerian leaders have been too eager to please economists in the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), without taking into account the nature of the nation’s domestic challenges.

Yusuf stated this in an interview with newsmen in Abuja, yesterday.

The former lawmaker who also doubles as an economist insisted that policies that should be introduced in the country should be those tailored to the needs of Nigeria.

According to him, “There’s nowhere in the world that you have an economic policy from IMF and World Bank being adopted in total in an economy and it works.

“You have a responsibility to gather your own good eggs, to analyze and domesticate it.

“When (General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangoda) IBB, said, all policies he has applied failed.

“I said, no, all policies known to you, that you have not tried our own policies.

“So, I don’t agree, it’s human nature naturally, you want to build hope. Those who are saying that are trying to encourage themselves because discouragement can bring despondency and a lot of things.

“I look at the dollar fluctuation, what have you. It’s only in Nigeria, that the dollar fluctuates.

“A lot of places, a lot of others , even when Zimbabwe’s economy was crashing, you see how dollar rate was sustained for one month.

“But in Nigeria, 10 o’clock is one naira. By three o’clock, it’s only in Nigeria. Go and check, there’s nowhere in the world they have this kind of fluctuation. How?

“Simple; it’s only in Nigeria that some people do speculations on their business. They don’t go to transact anything.

“All they do is they buy dollar, keep to sell. It’s only in Nigeria.

“So, there are things that are common. It’s only in Nigeria that subsidy removal puts more money in the hands of governors.

“States who were taking four or five billion are now taking 11, 12, 13, 15 billion Naira.

“And an average Nigerian is not looking at the state money, we are all focusing on the national. Nobody is questioning that. So you find states, this dollar fluctuation.

“A lot of state governors buy dollars every month when they get their allocation to store wealth. That’s part of the challenge here. It’s only in Nigeria.

“It’s only in Nigeria that the federating unit will come to Abuja every month to share money. There’s no federation anywhere in the world where such is practiced.”