First, the simple question that comes to one’s mind is “what is economic recession?”According to the Cambridge International Dictionary of English; economic recession is a period when the economy of a country is not successful; business conditions are bad; industrial production and trade are at low level and there is a lot of unemployment. From this definition one will see that actually our dear country has been in recession for a long time. According to my own experience, this recession dates back as far as 1995/96. This is because I can remember that some of us with their 1st class (honors) and second class upper in engineering spent noting less than 2 years after NYSC before getting a job. So the recession is old and it has only become more biting in recent times because of the down turn in the price of crude-oil (which has been and is still the main source of our wealth as a nation). Also, in the definition of recession above, the most important word is economy. Turning to the same dictionary, it defines economy as the system of trade and industry by which a country’s wealth is made and used. Hence, there is recession once the wealth being used is more than the wealth being created or made. The more the wealth being used is greater than the wealth being made then the more serious the effects of recession will be apparent for all to see. Also it is said that economy can be macro (large) or micro (small).The micros constitute the macro. Hence the economy of a country is a composite structure of the economy of the units of that country. This means the economy of a country like Nigeria depend on that of the state which in turn depends on that of the local government area (LGAs) which eventually depends on the economy of the home of each man (or citizen) of that country, In essence for a country to have a robust economy on the average each home (or family) in that country should have a robust economy. In other words, once on the average each home or family is in economic recession then the economy of that country will be in recession.
Also in the definition of economy above, there is one word also that is the cornerstone of this topic and apparently the word is wealth. The proper understanding of this word will form the basis of getting out of our recession in a sustainable and robust manner. According to the same dictionary; wealth means a large amount of money and other valuables possessions. In this definition what is apparent is that wealth means valuables. Money according to the same dictionary means coins or notes which are used to buy things or the amount of these (coins or note) that one person has. Deductively, money (as we have it today) is not wealth except for the value of what it can buy. Hence, large amount of money is not wealth if there are fewer valuables to convert to. Then, the question is what does wealth really means in any society or most importantly in our own society. What also makes this question more pertinent is the economic recession in Greece.
According to the information available on the net, the main factors responsible for Greece recession are:
1. Reckless government spending on its workers for politics.
2. Continuous borrowing from EU and IMF to cover government expenses and lying about the deficit to the creditors.
3. Declining GDP (Gross Domestic Product) compared to increasing money in circulation leading to inflation.
Now Greece cannot be compared to our country in terms of its technological and infrastructural development. So where did they get it wrong? It is worth noting that Greece is still in recession and according to forecast the earliest time it can start to get out of this recession is 2020.
Leaving aside all the rhetoric of economics, GDP is another name for the wealth of a country. Hence, there is recession when the GDP (wealth) being created is less than the wealth being used or needed by the government and people of a country. Another case to consider is that of Cuba under Fidel Castro. Cuba was under embargo for almost five decades by the US and its allies but yet the country was not announced to be in recession. Now comparing Greece and Cuba it will be seen that the real and sustainable way for a country to be out of recession is to grow its macro economy from the micro economies of its sub-units and not trying to build its macro economy so that the micro economies of its sub-units can grow out of it. Greece went into recession because its government chose the second option relying on its EU membership but Cuba survived five decades of embargo by the economic super-powers because it chose the first option.
Also, in ranking according to severity of recession, the three countries will be ranked as follows:
1. Greece ----severe
2. Nigeria ----strong
3. Cuba ----mild.
But in terms of their technological advancement the obvious ranking will be:
1. Greece----high
2. Cuba ------Medium.
3. Nigeria----low.
Considering this two rankings, the question is that why was Greece, with its high-tech, not able to resist going into recession. The obvious answer is that high-tech is of no value if it does not make micro economies of a country’s sub-units strong and robust which then in turn makes the macro economy of that country strong and robust. This was also the case when, according to history, before the discovery of crude oil in commercial quantity, our macro economy was so robust that the naira was stronger than the British pounds.
Now the next question is how, in practical terms, can we make our micro economy strong and robust again. That is, making the wealth created exceeds (very well) the wealth used or needed in all the local government areas of the country or more directly in each family of the country. First, as we have seen in the case of Greece, real wealth in each family does not mean a lot cash or high tech-utilities. This now takes us back to that mind bugging question of what does wealth really means to a man in any society? In trying to answer this question I turned to some of the modern sources but the answers did not make my mind settle. This continued until, by special grace of God I stumble on the real answer one day while reading the Glorious Qur’an as recommended for each Muslim. In chapter 3 of the Book verse 14,it was said(in summary) that the real of wealth of a man(or any community) comes from 6 items and they are (in order of their importance or value):
1. The women folk (as mothers, sisters, wives, daughters and other female relatives).
2. The Sons (or youths of that community).
3. Natural mineral resources (then, gold, silver, and others depending on the technology of that age).
4. Beasts of burden(horses ,donkeys, mules, camels and any other means of transport depending on the technology of that age)
5. Forage animals (goats, sheep, cows and their varieties depending on the location).
6. Farm Lands.
If one examines this 6 items scientifically one will definitely accept that they are (as listed in their order of importance) the real wealth of any man, community or country.
Hence, my humble submission is that for our dear country to get out of this economic recession in a strong ,robust and sustainable manner there should be a short-term(quick-win) and long-term (for sustainability) managerial and developmental strategies.
In the short-term(while maintaining the effort in sanitizing the oil sector) the federal government should declare a state of emergency down to the local government areas on 3 items on the above list based on their position on the list, namely; solid mineral resources, forage animals and farm lands. This will allow the government to use its resources to breathe life in to micro economies of the local government areas of the country based on these three items depending on their relative importance and availability in the LGs.
Then in the long-term, the social and economic (all policies) of the federal, state and local government authorities should be focused on these 6 items based on their relative importance as shown by the list.
This means;
1. Our women folk should be well taken care of so that they can produce real men for the nation. It is said”behind every great leader there is always a great woman (or women as mothers, sisters, wives, daughters and other female relatives)”. In fact, to me, this is the real meaning of “ladies first” as it is commonly said. Most importantly, the type of education they will be given should make they realize their roles as the “mold” that cast the tools (or youths). Once the mold is bad then the tool will be bad. When the tools(youths) are bad then the recession continues until it becomes depression(God forbid)
2. The sons (youths) should also well taken care of and should be as of necessity given the right type of education that will make it easy for them to explore and exploit the minerals resources in their locality first for the purpose of making the micro economy of their LGA strong and robust which in turn make the macro economy of their state strong and eventually make the economy of dear country strong and robust.
3. Also, the education that will be given to the youths should also make them masters of both the modern and ancient means of transportation in their area. In fact, the ancient means of transportation (i.e beast of burdens or rivers) should not be neglected for the modern means of transportation because they are more reliable and environmentally friendly.
4. And lastly, the education to be given to the youths should also make them to manage item 5 and 6 together in order to derive maximum benefits from them first for their micro economy and then later for the macro economies of state and the federal government. However, when allocating resources, item no 5(forage animals) should be given preference over item no 6(farm land) unlike what is being said now. The experts in this field can testify to fact that the benefits accruable to any community from forage animals are more than that of plants.
Finally, all that has been said above are eye openers for our leaders and all of us as Nigerians .We should think more fundamentally and out of the rhetoric of our various professions when trying to solve our personal and communal problems.
May God Almighty show our leaders (and all of us) the truth as the truth and give them and us the fortitude to follow it, aamin.
Thank you for this opportunity.

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