Ebonyi state has been ranked 3rd most poorest in the country with unemployment rate of 21.1% and underemployment rate at 19.7%, according to findings from Debt Management Office (DMO) and the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). Writes AMARACHUKWU EGWUAGHA.
A critical look at Abakaliki before the creation of Ebonyi state shows how backwards it was. However, on creation of the state in 1996 doors began to open for better upliftment.
On creation, several military administrators ruled the state before Dr Sam Egwu took over as first civilian governor in 1999. Though the military administration did their best, the civilians since then did more in terms of development.
The state, which was educationally backwards, is coming up to reckoning in some areas though coping like other states created alongside her; it is however worrisome that despite the developmental processes put in place, the state according to DMO and NBS ranked it the 3rd poorest state in the country.
Analysing trend in the state
To this regard, the former secretary to the state government (SSG), Professor Bernard Odoh, who suggested possible means of curtailing this report, had earlier accused the present administration of mismanagement of funds even as he said in what he called Ebonyi fact sheet that, “Under Governor Dave Umahi, Ebonyi Domestic Debt Stock rose by 36.78% from NGN34,168,940,626.65bn in 2015 to NG46,737,752,798.83billion in 2019.
“Within the same period under review, our External Debt Stock increased by 38.22% from USD$47,166,600.06 in 2015 to USD$65,195,266.98 in 2019.
“As our debt grew, our human development index and GDP declined and worsened. Meanwhile, our birth rate is 5.3% and highest in the region. Ebonyi produces more children in the entire South- east and has less access to social services like education, health, balanced nutrition and good shelter despite huge debt and FAC allocations monthly.
“By implication, we borrowed the money we didn’t need to invest in projects that do not serve our needs to impress those who do not care about us. Among every 10 Ebonyi indigenes, eight are terribly very poor with income less than 18,000 naira per month,” he noted.
“In 2004, Ebonyi State was 19th on our National GDP table. In 2010, we slided to 34th position on the National GDP table. By implication, all the gains made under Dr Egwu’s era were all gone. The period between 2007 and 2019 marked the beginning and celebration of Ebonyi humongous investments in needless projects. These mass concrete projects neither stored or transmitted any real value(s) to the lifes of our people.
“As at last week, Ebonyi ranks in the top 3 poorest states in Nigeria with unemployment rate of 21.1% and underemployment rate of 19.7%. On the World Bank Ease of Doing Business. Simply defined, Ebonyi ranks in the top 3 States most hostile and difficult to do business in Nigeria,” he noted.
However, he recognised the fact that government has been doing some empowerments which he argued was a waste of resources, as according to him, the beneficiaries were never trained to utilise the fund.
“The state gave handouts not empowerment. What kind of empowerment does N100,000 or N200,000 give especially when the individuals involved have no skills?”
The way out
According to him, “First of all, let’s get the basics right. Economic growth is measured by an increase in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) which is defined as the combined value of all goods and services produced within a country/state in a year.
“To produce goods and services, citizens must possess requisite skills, know-hows and the right toolsets. Citizens who lack the above-listed requirements cannot create or add any value. Such citizens are simply a burden to the system. In other words, economy and growth has a language. To play in any economy, you must understand the language and skill required to make the desired impact.
“Diverse forces contribute to economic growth. Notable among them are consumer spending and business investment; tax cuts and rebates which are used to return money to consumers and boost spending; deregulation to relaxe the rules imposed on businesses and infrastructure spending for construction jobs.
“All the factors mentioned above demand deliberate investments in human capital to equip citizens to play active roles in the economy. Another strong element is government’s policy of promoting economic growth.
“From 1999 to mid 2000, conscious efforts and investments were made to build capacity of our people. Government’s spending was democratised such that cash flow was available to help small businesses and households thrive.
Residents of Ebonyi at that time had fairly reasonable spending power resulting in increased productivity and contribution to GDP growth. From late 2000, our state’s focus shifted. Less emphasis was placed on human capital investments. Unnecessary regulations brought bottlenecks to small businesses, government spendings became more centralised and less resources were available to businesses and households.
The implications were that more people became redundant and unproductive. “Humongous investment in concrete infrastructure drained government purse and capital flight became manifest. Citizens sat and watched helplessly in anguish. So, over a decade, we travelled the wrong path. Governance became one man choice at the expense of all. Projects were conceived without proper feasibility studies and inputs from end users. Most of these projects guzzled billions from government’s treasury without proportionate values in return. Citizens participation in governance and the economic activities shrank drastically. Summarily, we spent state resources over a decade on wrong policies and the results are the diminished GDP and indexes we have today.
“The signs of looming GDP downfall were incalculable. Over a period of two years that I served in government as SSG, approvals and spending were not on priorities that would help prosper residents and grow the economy. More than 10 massive wasteful projects across the state which yields no income or socio-vàlues received billions of naira. We increased our domestic and external borrowing by over 30% without measurable impacts on the socioeconomic well being of residents. These trends frightened me and I became very restless and unhappy. So, I had to quit the system honourably.
“Economies perish when they fail to produce goods and services. In Ebonyi today, what goods and (or) services do we produce? Private sectors are not encouraged to thrive. Businesses are closing and relocating. How can you grow economy with this kind of style? There is nothing wrong in borrowing to invest in profitable ventures but, there’s everything wrong in borrowing to waste. If we had applied these borrowed funds towards providing our people with capacity and helping private sectors thrive we would not be in the mess we are in right now.
“Two possibilities exist. Firstly, if we embrace radical change that will help citizens build capacity; if private sectors are encouraged to succeed by making the business environment conducive then, we will have a prosperous future with hope. On the contrary, if we go on with the same mindset that brought us where we are now and the philosophy that one man knows everything and everybody must obey, then be rest assured we are heading for a more challenging future.
“We either create society where everyone is adding value through production of goods and or services or we will be doomed.”
He noted that Ebonyi residents must understand the link between the choice of who manages their affairs and their overall well-being. “Parochial mindedness, sentiments, egocentrism and cynicism will not alter our present circumstances. We must seek leaders who know and understand what exactly is required from day one to solve our economic problems.”
State government reacts
However, a release by the state commissioner for information and state orientation who is also the acting commissioner for human capital development, Uchenna Orji, rejected the statistics and rather analysed what he believes should be the correct report.
He said, “The concept of poverty index depends on your conception and perception. There are so many indices for the determination of economic development and it depends on the parameters used; If you use the variables inclusively or exclusively, it would lead to varied outcomes. It must be noted that poverty index is a microcosm of the macrocosm of economic development index. Poverty index is an element in the plethora of economic indices. But the standards, parameters and yardsticks for the assessment of economic developments are many and mutually inclusive.
While in our vision as a state, we are looking at economic development indicators such as per capital income, security, mortality ratio, education empowerment including women mainstreaming, infrastructure and environment, the yardstick used by NBS is consumption expenditures. A look at their survey methodology shows that NBS used Nigerian Living Standard Survey ( NLSS) concept which has to do with measuring living standard using Computer Assisted Personal Interviewing (CAP) soft ware on tablet device.
“The survey is obviously not a perfect model or empirical methodology for the determination of actual economic development of a state or country. At best, I describe it as a neocolonial model for Africa where questionnaires are used on trial and error basis to determine the consumption expenditures of house holds,” he said.
