By Adefolarin A. Olamilekan
In the last few months, the upsurge in food prices and related items has become so worrisome; that whatever budget one enters the market with, one is bound to get lower than the plan purchased. The situation is becoming more overwhelming on daily basis.
Equally, also is that the Nigerian state over the years has always find it difficult to deal with the microeconomic, especially taming the bothersome food price increases. Whereas it is a challenge to the government, the citizens are living under the serious uncontrollable, delibrate and cruel pricing system. This has bestowed by capitalist economy system of private ownership of means of production and properties.
Better still; the Nigerian economy today face not just the incapability of policy makers making appropriate decision. Just like every economy system, Nigerian economy is a reflection of the various centrifugal and centripetal forces that combined to shaped the direction of things. Our modest review of the impact of capitalism on Nigerian economy and its preponderant threat would help us to understand the trends of incessant and unabated food price upsurges now and before. Although, expansionary economic reforms were deplored, this has even gone to create more problems in the citizen’s standards of living.
Extensively, the Nigerian economy has a historical experience of slavery, colonialism, neocolonialism, imperialism, and the contemporary globalism. Grippingly, prior to her contact with the British colonial government, the economy of Nigeria was rich and based on agriculture and it was primarily for consumption. However, the introduction of currency and commodity boards were to incorporate Nigeria and by extension African economy into global capitalist expansion. Perhaps, this over the years compound the Nigerian state as a mono-cultural economy that depends on oil as the major sources of revenue generation, thereby living her in the contradiction of oil price slum and shock dilemma.
Chiefly, we can grasp the problem of poverty and rising inequalities that constitutes the moral core of the crisis of Nigeria and that of the established world system alongside problems of insecurity, diseases and hunger. Consequently, also is the problem of unemployment, inadequate infrastructure, illiteracy, and corruption that Nigeria and other African countries contend with.
Explicitly, the Nigerian economy on paper is good but it’s inconsistent with the reality on ground. The government penchants for large sum of recurrent budget instead of capital oriented in a way struggle the economy into recursive trends. Inadvertently, this has weakened the economies of new ideas and perspectives of goods and services to meets desire need of citizens. The underlying fallout from this is government inability to envision its economy diversification beyond agriculture and ICT with less priority on the role of the informal market on the microeconomic and macroeconomic constancy. This in short underpins the problems of food prices in contrast.
For instance, the Nigerian economy is tailored on oil with neglect of other sectors, although agriculture forms the basis of the economy before and shortly after the attainment of political independence in 1960s. Incidentally, agriculture remained the dominant economic activity in terms of economy and this should have made the country largely self sufficient in food supply without importing any.
Fundamentally, this now bring us to the core of this polemic, the crushing food price upsurge.Interestingly, many would argued that certain economic factors were responsible. The argument put forward by majority of economist and traders is the increased in pump price of fuel over the years contributed majorly to food price increased. Another, argument is the herders farmers clashes, bad roads, banditry, kidnapping and the recently insecurity in the southern part of the country. Understandably, this are contending argument that evidently in one way or the other compound food price rise in the country. On the other hand food items that needed further process and that required importation of complimentary raw materials complain is around depreciation of the naira against the dollar. We cannot agree less that all this play vital impact on food price. However, truth be told, even though majority of Nigerians subtly affirmed to this argument.
We must demonstrate that the price of goods and service is not determined production cost as claimed by economist. Rather, it is not a charitable exercise of the traders or producers to sell their products relatively it is the motive to make profits. Consequently, velocity of profits is the deep-seated factor determining the level of which traders and producers fix prices. As Karl Marx contends, “profit rises to the extent capitalist survival depends on profits which derive from exploitation”. We agree with Marx, that exploitation for profits by traders and producers is the paradox of deepening food price upsurge in the country.
Here two points need to be made. First, that beyond our early assumption, the question about the unethical practice from middle men, distributors, traders and producers is greatly at the cranium of food price increased. Secondly, we acknowledge government inability to tame the nation microeconomic challenges as result into the prevailing food price surge courtesy the continual integration into global capitalist economy practices. It is essentially for us to grapple the penetration of our economy from that end is causing ripples in domestic’s food prices. In other words, we are under the leniency of global capitalist exploitation perpetuate at the home front.
What then is to be done? It is pertinent for Nigerian state at this point to show leadership and engage in state intervention with comprehensive policy to tame incessant food prices upsurge.
Adefolarin A. Olamilekan
Political Economist and Development Researcher
Yahuza Mohammed
Media Consultant
Email: adefolarin77@gmail.com
Tel: 08073814436, 08107407870
