Our Anti-Productive System of Government, And The Doom of our Economy

By Ajayi Joel

Finally, I decided to push out this post. If you’re my friend on this space and you’re from another African country apart from Nigeria, please signify with your country.

Entrepreneurs, educationists, freelancers and all, there’s a whole lot to learn from this.

I have been pondering on this for weeks, so I decided to lay my back flat to write this. I tell you it will be an eight series post on different topics, and it is not in any way to throw insult at the government. Rather, it is poised to identify how our system of government is ruining our economy.

I will be using Nigeria as a case study and I already have five sub-topics documented which I will list and once I begin the series, it is open for discussion, debate and contribution. Matter of fact, I will love contributions from most of my friends outside Nigeria here, relating each post with the state of government in your country of residence.

I personally feel there are few conversations going on about this at our level which seem intellectual. I will not only talk about the problems but give possible solutions from my angle.

The sub-topic includes:

The Education Disgust

In this post, I’d identify the role of good education in the progress of the economy and relates it with why Africa is still slowly progressing because the governments are hitting the nails on the heads with a piece of paper.

We will examine how the development of teachers is more important than erecting classrooms in every nook and cranny of the society. And how the government needs to understand the role of technology in education and how they have not begun action. Lots of insights to share!

Infrastructural Rottenness

In this post, I will address how we have not prioritized the development of infrastructures. How our government is running after the wind. I will point out how internet and electricity are two major infrastructures that should be addressed.

For our economy to thrive in the 21st century then those two must be prioritized as well as road networks. What drives economic growth is the success of small businesses which mostly depend on those.

Taxes and the Death of Dreams

No country can ever get rich on taxes. Fine, taxes are very important but exorbitant taxes ruin businesses and send them to bankruptcy.

I will give insights into how the governments of other African countries have placed taxes on the internet which is not a good move. That will reduce internet operations hence reducing cash flow for the country.

I will also explain how the government is amassing debts in the name of economic growth which is a death pill to the future of the continent. No government can ever get rich by amassing debts. Neither can they get rich through aids from world organizations.

We will examine how they need to pay attention to industrialization within the country and drive production.

Lack of Structural Ecosystems: Its Contribution to the Success of Un-scalable Business

It is hard to build an industry in Africa. There are so many disadvantages, and lack of structural ecosystems is a major cause. We have too many un-scalable businesses.

How businesses are built for survival and not scaling, and how those do not readily add a coin to the GDP. Why structures need to be put in place in order to help real businesses grow and stand.

Structures are needed in every sector to drive growth.

We Cannot Win Without the Government

Over my past 1 year of trying to found a company, I was optimistic that we could do a lot without the government. However, I have realized that there is so little we can do. There are so many policies that should be addressed, and we cannot do those except the government.

How the government needs to be economic-driven, and focus less on fighting corruption just like my president feels is the best approach but pay more attention to setting up structures which will drive economic growth.

A perfect case is focusing more on quality education and employment, and watch crime rate reduce. Fighting crimes by employing more police officers is a fire brigade approach, and it doesn’t work in the development of a country.