Growing The Economy With Patriotism

Although Nigeria is blessed with a fertile  land enough to grow what the country needs in terms of food, most of the food in Nigeria is still imported.
For example, rice which is a staple dish in all parts of the country is mostly imported and its importation has, between 2012 and 2015, cost the country more than N474 billion.
This was, however, not the norm in the country as the taste for foreign products grew over the years and in turn led to the death and near collapse of many industries in the country as the increasing demand for foreign goods meant lesser sales for the locally made products.
The textile mills, the auto industry, the steel factories, the agriculture sector, all suffered and unemployment increased. This also led to an over dependence on one product for export and an ever increasing demand for foreign exchange.
As an import dependent economy with crude as its major source of revenue, the recent  happenings in the global oil market has made it imperative  for Nigeria to look inwards in order to develop and diversify its local economy to be able to attract meaningful investment from outside its shores. This is considering the fact that a country that used to be one of the world’s largest producers of palm oil, but now import nearly 600,000 metric tonnes despite its vast arable land, spends billions of naira annually to import rice and tomato paste which is in abundance in the country.
Over the years as demand for foreign exchange rose, due to increased importation of goods and services, the Central Bank of Nigeria, as part of its roles of maintaining foreign exchange stability, had taken various steps in the management of the nation’s currency. The main objective of exchange rate policy are to preserve the international value of the local currency, maintain a favourable external reserve position and ensure external balance without compromising the need for internal balance, and the overall goal of sustainable output growth and employment.
From the fixed regime in the 1960s and 1970s, to the different types of floating exchange rate regime in the 1980s, down to the current managed-float exchange rate system, the efforts by the CBN has been to deliver a stable exchange rate system in the country. Past exchange rate policies have been designed with a bias towards demand management as the supply side has always been limited by the monoculture base of the economy, where foreign exchange inflow is dominated by oil export proceeds.
Since 1986, the central bank has implemented different techniques in the management of the exchange rate of the naira. Firstly, the dual exchange rate regime, in which one rate was reserved for official transactions and pegged at N1.5567 to US $1.00, and other rate was largely market driven, was adopted between 1986 and 1987. However, due to imperfections in the market, and operational problems, which hampered the attainment of a stable exchange rate, the dual system was discontinued, with the merger of the official and market rates under the inter-bank foreign exchange market (IFEM) in January 1989.
The exchange rate management under the IFEM also witnessed a number of changes aimed at improving its operational efficiency. Thus, various methods of arriving at the realistic exchange rate, such as the managerial rate pricing system, the average of successful bids system, and the Dutch auction system, were adopted at different times. The apex bank has continued to intervene through its monetary policy tools and other administrative mechanisms to influence the exchange rate movement in the desired direction such that it ensures the competitiveness of the domestic economy.
Considering the present predicament of the country and its currency, many analysts as well as policy makers, have continued to stress the need for Nigeria to diversify its economy from oil and look inwards for its needs. According to the executive director of Sterling Bank, Abubakar Suleiman, Nigeria needs to make what it needs in terms of consumables and services and the citizenry should also be committed towards patronising what comes out of the country.
“For us to leave where we are, we need to make what we need ourselves,” he said, adding that one major resource that is under explored in the country is the human capital which he said is much more abundant among the younger generation.
In the same vein, the director-general of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), Mr Muda Yusuf, said, “Agriculture is a sector we must focus on. We have lots and lots of solid mineral resources and we should focus on developing them. Most importantly, we have to patronise local products. Every Nigerian should de-emphasise the consumption of imported goods because by doing so, we are helping other countries. We should all patronise locally made goods.”
To pull the economy out of its present situation, Nigeria needs the cooperation of the government, policy makers as well as the organised private sector. Monetary and fiscal policies need to work in harmony in blocking leakages and formulating policies that would make the Nigerian business sphere more conducive. Aside this, the country needs the patriotic spirit of its citizenry who may have to endure some hardship before the country gets better.