So much has taken place in the country’s sociopolitical- economic landscape in the last 18 months that it is difficult to keep pace with them, if you are, to borrow the exaggerated self-intro of many a media writer, a public affairs analyst or commentator on public issues. The speed with which many of these things occur is such that choosing what to write or comment on becomes – and there we go – unbecoming.
Today, we would be focusing on the hypocrisy of the World Bank and their Nigerian puppets vis-a-vis the Nigerian ‘wretched of the earth’ (to borrow from Frantz Fanon, but no deprecation intended). So, if you are ready, this is your meeting hall, The Concourse. You are welcome.
If there is anything that often brought Jesus Christ into sharp confrontation with the religious establishment in Jewry of his days on earth, it was their green hypocrisy. Leading the histrionic class were the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the Scribes. The Pharisees loved showcasing their knowledge of the Mosaic Law. They were on the noisy, showy side, loved wearing flowing gowns, large phylacteries and long beards, to announce their presence wherever they were. They also loved praying long and loud in street corners and to be called rabbi.
Chances are that they were elocutionists with a trove of choreographed locution and gait. They were proud of themselves as experts of the Law, and attracted a good following. But guess what? Christ, whom the scriptures foretold, called them whited sepulchres and hypocrites, and that’s who they were! But why did the “gentle Jesus, meek and mild”, do this? He knew their hearts, saw through their pretentiousness, and noticed how fake they were. He couldn’t just stand their unbridled arrogance and reputation larceny. Did they examine themselves honestly to judge if Christ was right or wrong in His judgment of them? No, rather, they hated Him for it. But truth be told: If Christ says it, then it’s true, but to believe or disbelieve is ours to do.
Now, last week, the World Bank’s Senior Vice President and Chief development economist, Dr. Indermit Gill, while speaking during the 30th Nigerian Economic Summit (NES30), in Abuja, said that President Bola Tinubu government’s economic reforms (which are actually deforming the country’s poor) would take at least 10 or 15 years to turn around the Nigerian economy for the better.
Perhaps to show solidarity with the PBT Government and give a pat on the back to their ‘good economic boy’, Gill remarked, “Oil wealth that should be used for the welfare of all Nigerians, has for too long been used to benefit just the elites.” Really? So, the elites have all died or relocated to New Delhi? But the Indian economist had more to say, “The elites are also being hurt by these reforms that started last year, but they have done very well in the past, and they have built big buffers.”
The University of Chicago PhD man went on, “The ordinary Nigerians are being hurt even more, and they were hurt much more by the policies of the past.” Note the delimited period when ordinary Nigerians were suffering. They are not suffering enough now, or if they are, it is an ephemeral parturitional process that’s about to birth a new cool life! Somebody thumbs up the World Bank!
The man went further, “Nigeria will need to stay the course for at least another 10 or 15 years to transform this economy. Its very difficult to do these things but the rewards are massive. You read it correctly. That’s PBT’s physician talking. Nigeria will have to stay the course of ruthless taxation, roiling malfeasance, dying naira, multiple dimensional poverty, official wastefulness, and you name it. For how long? “At least another 10 – 15 years.” What can I say to all this, if not to hail the WB, our physician-morticician!
A deconstruction of this ‘disclosure’ effectively puts a lie on the, “Be-patient-with-Tinubu; everything will be alright” balloon strong placebo of the go-nowhere-economic policy of this government. It also declares in cryptic tongues the hypocrisy of the WB that parades itself as a global economic care giver, but is an imperialist institution perpetually at war with the economies of developing countries. Addedly, it exposes the insipidity of our economic minders, who are forever willing tools in the hands of such neocolonial organisations like the WB and International Monetary Fund (IMF). These people just don’t think outside their gummy palms, so they are not worried by the Gills of this world. They have stolen so much that they are so insensitive to the wails of their countrymen.
The overly simplistically optimistic ones in what the so-called reforms are about should now realise that what the WB is saying is only a confirmation of what many enlightened Nigerians have always known. That is that there is no light at the end of this dark tunnel. So long as we keep holding on to the hands of the WB for guidance, we will keep groping. It is the same thing the IMF did to us via IBB in the mid-1980s. Nothing regenerative or progressive ever comes out of their economic advisories to Third World countries. In any case, as a bank, this transnational entity is not owned by the world; never mind its deceptive name. It is owned by the West, and is interested in making profits for its owners. There’s nothing altruistic about it, which leaves one to wonder why our state captors ever listen to it.
You know what, any active and aggravating disease that lasts for ten years has become chronic, and if it is there for at least additional fifteen years, it has become terminal. If a physician tells their patient what the WB has told Nigeria, the patient would be suicidal to keep faith in such a physician. But that is where we are now. Tinubunomics is guided by the WB, which makes the tunnel darker. The way out is to feel our way back to where PMB and PBT met us. It was far better then. But are we listening?
