The Jerrycan Economy
Obayemi Ayoko is one of the young men that look up to me for leadership and we spend quality time dissecting Nigeria’s development challenges.
Like most people his own age, he is evidently bitter about the turn Nigeria has reverted into, and does not fail to emphasise that the country is becoming a frustrating enterprise despite my homilies about the virtues of patience and tolerance.
During the recent fuel scarcity in the country, Ayoko was my companion in the car, whilst driving along Ikorodu Road and I wondered aloud how people, particularly young men who have no cars and thereby have no need for fuel, would be the ones hawking it whilst car owners would have to go through hell without getting the scarce commodity.
Ayoko gave out a huge laugh as he usually does most times he feels that I do seem to be out of tune with the reality in the country. According to him, the boys I see hawking petrol do not delight in my kind of idealism. As a matter of fact, they are dead set on the system, which they perceive as being intolerable and unfair to them.
And the clincher: The fuel these boys hawk may not necessarily have been sold to them willingly. They threaten to light a match and burn down the filling stations if they are not attended to! Since in their own estimation, they are willing to be martyrs in a world where their lives are meaningless.
The impact, consequences and deep undercurrents of the Jerrycan spectacle to the political economy of the country came cascading down whilst also on Ikorodu Road during this last fuel scarcity. What kind of economy would harbour a large retinue of young minds and youths, who can, with bravado, display a commodity that has the potential of exploding any moment and cause maximum damage thereby?
What is the level of self-worth and respectability that is remaining in the fibre of such young men, who are either meant to be in school or engaged in worthwhile ventures? What are the scripts and values handed over to these young and not-so-young ones from the beginning by society’s socialising agents — the family system, the schools they might have attended, peer influence et al?
In undertaking an in-depth analysis, it suddenly dawned on me that the country is harbouring a huge dysfunctionalism in its developmental drive and that sufficient research, insight and undertaking are missing in our desire to travel on the Vision 2020 train.
What should be the role of business in seeking to challenge some of these identified deficits that need deliberate and sustained intervention for meaningful outcomes?
This should put into focus the rather haphazard practice of corporate social responsibility in corporate Nigeria.
What sticks out like a sore thumb is the limited capacity devoted to the application of solutions to Nigeria’s problem.
A Jerrycan economy cannot fulfil its potential. An economy harbouring the great majority of its youths in anti-social ventures is also a disaster waiting to happen. Such hands feel nothing at hitting back at the society and are willing hands in suicide missions. The Jerrycan economy should be engaged like all other seedy economies presently eating deep into Nigeria’s fabric — they are likely the armed robbers that come calling at night and in the daytime, who make investment unsafe and create a state of palpable fear for the citizenry.
To imagine that these boys may be some of the delinquents some of us are ready to give up our life savings in exchange for being spared may well teach us the need to be interested in how any decent young man would be hawking petrol in broad daylight. What kind of educational system is producing potential criminals instead of nation builders?
Recently, Vice-President Goodluck Jonathan described youths development as a central focus of the federal government; and reckoned that the administration has a lot of developmental programmes that would be executed in due course.
Good talk and intention, but I do hope that these progremmes recognise the peculiar developmental challenge we face, which officialese does not usually appropriate.
This makes a strong and compelling case for business used to the platforms of strategic planning and outcomes to fill the void. It is part of the new face of moral capitalism.
Solanke is a Lagos-based solicitor and consultant on corporate governance and transparency |
