My first point of call is to find out the meaning of the word "conundrum" and according to the latest meaning of the word in the new English Dictionary of 2024 the word means "brain-teaser, enigma, puzzle or riddle".
This writing understands that the game can be described as a political shenanigans. Meaning that the whole issue can be described as a political statement or political rhetoric to satisfy own-self.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has debunked the notion behind the idea for the removal of fuel subsidy in Nigeria. Speaking last week Friday at a press conference on behalf of the IMF and World Bank in an annual meetings in Washington DC, United States, Abebe Selassie, the IMF’s African Region Director, "described the decision to the removal of fuel subsidy in Nigeria by President Bola Tinubu as a domestic affairs". Can this be fact, political statement or political shenanigans with a view to sacrifice and truncate President Tunubu’s chances in elections’ year 2027?
The Washington Consensus was initiated in 1989 by British economist Professor John Williamson, who worked for the Institute for International Economics. This set of economic policy prescriptions was designed for developing countries, particularly in Latin America, and emphasized free-market principles, trade liberalization, fuel subsidy removal, tax reforms, privatization, and finance liberalization.
The Washington Consensus was a response to the debt crisis in developing countries during the 1980s. The major Western powers, led by the United States, decided that the World Bank and IMF should play a significant role in managing this debt and shaping global development policy. And these reforms have been for the economic emerging markets of Africa, Asia, Latin America and all nations in the global South and even in the Eastern European Nations.
The core principles of the Washington Consensus include:
- Fiscal Discipline: Avoid large fiscal deficits relative to GDP
- Redirection of Public Spending: Focus on key pro-growth, pro-poor services like primary education, healthcare, and infrastructure investment
-Tax Reform: Broaden the tax base and adopt moderate marginal tax rates-
-Market-Determined Interest Rates: Positive and moderate in real terms
- Competitive Exchange Rates:
- Trade Liberalization:
Eliminate quantitative restrictions and protect trade with low tariffs
-Liberalization of Inward Foreign Direct Investment:
-Privatization of State Enterprises:
- Deregulation: Abolish regulations that impede market entry or restrict competition
- Legal Security for Property Rights:
While the Washington Consensus was influential in shaping economic policies in the 1990s, its legacy is complex and contested. Critics argue that it led to socioeconomic exclusion, weakened trade unions, and failed to deliver significant economic growth or poverty relief in many countries. In a nutshell, who shall we trust; the World Bank/IMF or Nigerian President Bola Tinubu's government? Remember that Nigeria and other Global Southern Hemisphere has been into economic aridity, meltdown, hardship and precarity.
Hence, in my last writing last week I advocated the admittance of Nigeria into BRICS Nations ASAP. This is for the fact that the organization may likely and positively charge the global economic interplay. With Nigeria within the “World Development Bank” the economic fortune of Nigeria may positively change for the better and may benefit the current generation and indeed, future generations.
Dr. Abbati Bako,Treasurer Kano Chamber of Commerce @[email protected]
Gsm +2349077889959
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