For any country of the world, Nigeria is inclusive, to find out why she is blessed by God. She must first obey the very first command God gave to man as recorded in the book of Genesis 1:28 "...be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth and subdue it..." This simply means that anything that God has given you can be developed and used for the provision of your basic physical needs on the surface of the earth. As a nation, Nigeria must be abe to develop her God given resources to satisfy the economic needs of her people. As the popular saying goes, "Show me your friends and I will tell you whom you are", to every nation, this statement can be interpreted as "Show me the living standard of your people and I will tell you where you are economically". The question is what is the economic situation of Nigeria today? And what is her political direction towards a world standard economy?
To look at the economic situation of the country today, we may have to make reference to the recent report in several media house that Nigeria had become the largest economy in the African continent, having overtaken South Africa's economy. The CIA fact backs the report that: "Following an april 2014 statistical " rebasing" exercise, Nigeria has emerged as Africa's largest economy, with 2014 GDP estimated at US$ 479 billion. Despite its strong fundamentals, oil rich Nigeria has been hobbled by inadequate power supply, lack of infrastructure, delays in the passage of legislative reforms, an inefficient property registration system, restrictive trade policies, an inconsistent regulatory environment, a slow and ineffective judicial system, unreliable dispute resolution mechanisms, insecurity, and pervasive corruption.
This report however is based on some international statistics and the country's gross domestic product (GDP) but not on her per capital income. The report also states that poverty level is high and Nigerians live on less than two US dollars ($2.00USD) a day on the average. This value is below world's standard and it shows that Nigeria is rich but her people are poor. To majority of the Nigerian populace, the situation can be likened to being in the sea with so much water yet there is no water to drink. In the book of Revelation 3:1 the Lord said to the church in sardis, "....that thou has a name that thou liveth, and art dead." The earlier Nigeria realises this, the better, because the economy of a country is not just a measure of how much reserve she has in stock, but also a measure of the living standard of her people.
In the past few years, the government of the country has put more emphasis on privatization and public/private partnership as a means of getting people involved in economic development. This has yield enormous results in the national economic growth. The majority of the private sector and partnership investment have come from foreigners due to poor economic power and lack of technical know-how on the part of our citizens. To revive the economy and move it in the right direction, this trend must be checked by enabling a good percentage of the population through various economic policies that put Nigerians at a better advantage. At present, our economic growth does not reflect the strength of its population and it is a clear indication that a huge amount of its human resources are being wasted. A direct result of this is the varying degree of violence recorded in different parts of the country.
A very crucial factor to domestic economic growth and development of a nation is the political will of its government. Hence, the political direction of Nigeria must be redefined as a matter of urgency. Presently, the attitude of the government towards good political development in terms of creating continuity in governance and development of appropriate industrial bills have been very poor. To do this, the current political climate where nepotism, ethnicity, and religion are used as criteria for attaining a political office must be swept aside. When the politics of favouritism is played at levels where critical national decisions are to be made, thing are bound to crumble. Those who lead a country or section of it under the premise of favouritism and the so called federal character, derived from nepotism, ethnicity, and religion, exating mediocrity and abase excellence, are totally blind and as the Bible rightly says in Matthew 15:14, "..... They be lind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch."
Presently, the country is diseased with greed and corruption which has infected almost every nook and cranny of her nationality. This has led to different kind of atrocities being committed in the land, with the worst taking place in thee political environment. In the book of proverb 14:34 the Bible says "Righteousness exalteth a nation, but sins is a reproach to any people" of course, the current politics of self-will, greed, and acrimony being practiced in Nigeria can only bring the country down. To be placed in the right economic and political world scale, Nigeria must repent of her sins and seek for forgiveness from Him who holds the key to every nation and rules the heart of the king. God wants Nigeria to be one of the largest economies in the world that is the reason why He lavished her with so much natural resources and a good land flowing with milk and honey. No matter how deep Nigeria has gone in disgraced of God's commands and laws, if she and her citizens can come out and repent He will do what He promised in the book of Isaiah 1:6-19: "Wash you clean, put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes: cease to do evil; learn to do well; seek judgement, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow. Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: through your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red as crimson, they shall be as wool. If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land: but if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the LORD that spoken."
He (God) is faithfully that promised and will surely cause it to come to pass. Nigeria has a very bright future, all that is needed from her is obedience and her economy will blossom and her people made rich. God bless Nigeria.
Giwa Oladunjoye Victor
08138120674 or 08167858798
Zicosystem2010@yahoo.com
Zicosystem022@gmail.com
