State Emissary, November 2017. Issue 1 2017 Edition | Page 26

SM | POLITICS
the wealth of nations, is $2,260 as of 2016. That is just
19% of the global average. Our GDP per capita has
averaged $1648.26 from 1960 to 2016 (a truly abysmal
statistic). You get the picture. Malaysia’s per capita
GDP is $9,360; Brazil’s is $8,727; South Africa’s is
$7,504 and 54% of the global average.
As citizens, we must take our destiny into our hands
and take the political actions necessary to ensure that
we do not remain a poor country. This means that we
must understand that the political choices we make in
leadership selection matter a great deal. As I have
demonstrated here, the decisions taken by political
leaders determine whether we are rich or poor. There
are three ways in which this reality matters.
First, the primary requirement of leadership is the
character, ability and competence to create positive
transformations, to lead a people or institution from
where the leader meets them to a much better place.
Second, an economy cannot make progress beyond the
vision, capacity and competence of the political
leadership, regardless of how many brilliant technical
economists abound in a country. If the political
leadership lacks vision, is venal and focused on other
priorities, sound technocrats can’t achieve very much.
Their full potential contribution will be suppressed
by political decisions above them, usually taken in
caucuses at night in places that are not offices. Third,
the political and constitutional structure of Nigeria
affects its economic management, in our case in a very
negative manner because the potential productivity of
the country’s component regions and states is
suppressed by the rent-seeking politics to control
absolute power at the centre and dispense patronage.
This is part of why constitutional restructuring for a
true federalism is so essential.
When we vote to select our leaders, we must
remember that these three issues are the ones that
really matter for our welfare. It is not, as many of us are
led to believe, falsely, ethnicity, religion or other
primordial considerations (“na my broda”). We need
to begin to elect competent Nigerians with leadership
skills, a clear economic vision, and the capability to
make such visions into reality. This is the only way
Nigeria can become globally competitive.
Some African countries are achieving inclusive
growth economies – Botswana, Ethiopia, Mauritius,
Morocco, and Rwanda. They have not gotten it right
because their elected leaders are angels. Rather, they
have made real progress because their leaders are
24 | NOV. 2017
competent. They are competent because they
understand how leadership can create a shared sense
of nationhood amongst their citizens. They are
competent because they understand political
economy and economic development at intellectual
and practical policy levels. They are competent
because they have a philosophical worldview you can
identify.
As a university professor, one of my favourite reading
assignments to students was a powerful essay in
defense of industrial policy written by the late
Ethiopian President Meles Zenawi. Despite industrial
policy having fallen out of favour in contemporary
economic orthodoxy, which favours unrestrained free
markets and very little state involvement in national
economies, Meles insisted, with sound intellectual
argument, on his vision of an economy powered by
industrial policy in which state guidance is combined
with private enterprise to pursue inclusive economic
growth. He has applied that vision competently to his
country’s economic policy. It is working in Ethiopia.
The country has had a growth rate of 8-11% for the past
decade, and has one of the lowest rates of income
inequality in the world. Leadership.
In Rwanda, Paul Kagame has led his country to some
interesting outcomes, although the political space
remains restricted. Like Meles, Kagame reads wide
and deep, and is intellectually curious. He has a clear
vision which he has been able to communicate
effectively to his citizens, and utilizes performance
contracts to ensure effective governance. Uniquely,
Kagame has empowered women far more than is the
case in most African countries, and women make of
56% of Rwanda’s parliament, the highest ratio in the