Policies, economists’ recommendations ruining Nigeria’s economy -Boyo

TAYO SALAMI
Renowned economist, Mr. Henry Boyo has agreed with Dr. Jimanze Ego-Alowes that economists are truly assassins despite the fact that he is also one.
Boyo made this admonition at the book presentation "Economists as Assassins: the Nigerian connection" authored by Ego-Alowes held in Lagos recently.
While allaying his fears on the damage economists have done to the nation, Boyo said, "The Nigeria economy has suffered as a result of the policies and recommendations of economists. It is impossible to believe that the government borrows back its own money and we live in a country where inflation continues to abide, in spite of resources and facilities or infrastructure we should counter for development. The reason this book is a success is because journalists are not well conversant with what the economy should be. For example, they have celebrated failures in the past, they continue to tell Nigerians that it would make sense for government to borrow money. They also continue to tell Nigerians that it is possible for naira to depreciate even when we had resources. They continue to tell us that it is possible to remove fuel subsidy without improving the value of the exchange rate and they say this with all conviction. Unfortunately, they are lying and that summarizes the veracity of what Jimanze has said in the book."

While commending the efforts of the author, he noted that Ego-Alowes is a very well researched and creative Nigerian who has made interventions in the Nigerian literary and economy environment that would be difficult to match, adding that, "Jimanze is gracious, very intelligent writer and his substance of his interventions has very deep relevance in the country."
While fielding questions from journalists, the famous poet, Mr. Odia Ofeimun pointed that bad economy is ruining Nigeria. According to him, "We have to look for better people to help us save this country. Nigeria is an eminently save-able country because we have too much wealth in human and material terms to take us out of the rot we are in, it is possible to do it and it does not require the high campaigns that we are hearing all over the place, it requires calculation and planning.
"Our politicians are too busy doing partisan rabblerousing. This is not what this requires, it requires genuine planning. A country that cannot count the graduate it produces yearly or the number of students that gained admission into the higher institution of learning is not very likely to be able to determine how to build proper industries to meet the needs of the populace. We have no respect for information statistics and therefore, it is difficult to plan Nigeria. You can’t even determine how many people we have in the country and some people take pride in it. It becomes a means of throwing stones at your opponent. It is possible to put every child at school, give a job to every hand that demands it and truly industrialize Nigeria. The two political parties are too similar for us to be hearing the type of strong language we are hearing. Nigeria is competing with the rest of the world and they are dealing with us."
He advised the two major political parties in the country to sit down and realise that this is between Nigeria and the rest of the world. It is not really between us, the fight between us is useless and empty, and it is nothing to them."
In his own words, Akogun Tola Adeniyi, the former Managing Director of Daily Times newspaper crave the indulgence of Ego-Alowes to launch the book as it is not meant for the small unit of the society.
Adeniyi who has had the opportunity to read the book before it was presented said, "The book, Economists As Assassins: the Nigerian connection is not just about philosophy, but about the philosophy of thinking; it’s not just about economics, but the application of economics; it’s not just about politics, but about the application of politics. The book is the originality of the author's thought and that makes him a good writer."
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The Nigeria economy has suffered as a result of the policies and recommendations of economists. It is impossible to believe that the government borrows back its own money and we live in a country where inflation continues to abide, in spite of resources and facilities or infrastructure we should counter for development. The reason this book is a success is because journalists are not well conversant with what the economy should be. For example, they have celebrated failures in the past, they continue to tell Nigerians that it would make sense for government to borrow money. They also continue to tell Nigerians that it is possible for naira to depreciate even when we had resources.