The Structural Adjustment, Income Adjustment, Feeding Adjustment, National Adjustment and all other Adjustments required to carry on in this perilous times hard to deal with, have one message for us all.
If for instance, a man earns N 80, 000 as Salaries in 2014 with the Naira exchanging for N160 per dollar, today that worker is expected to cut down by more than half his effective demand power. Because at 2014 his income power in dollars is 80,000 ÷ 160 = 500 dollars per month and today in 2016, 80,000÷380 =210.5 dollars per month. He can’t buy what he bought before with his salary.
That is trouble number one: now this man works in an Oil Producing firm which major business is in Crude Oil, the firm at 2014 sell crude oil for $120 per barrel against $40 per barrel in 2016. That is a two time cut down.
Now assuming we are the workers, it is practical to demand for increase in wages to meet up with the Exchange rate and keep our demand relatively constant or a little downwards.
What if we are heads of these firms? The pressure becomes heavy on the Firm, as income drop and demand from workers increase couple with other cost of production.
The firm can’t pay staff, workers are under fear pressure of likely staff down sizing and layoffs. Fela call it, “double wahala for death body.” Spencer say, “Trouble solve is a trouble double”.
Economic Consultant and experts start conjuring with their gods of Money and Forex. Devalue the Naira! No do not Devalue the Naira! Diversify the Economy! No! Band importation of Rice, Pamkade and office pins! No! How did we even get into this situation? It is “Corruption;” ok then face corruption and do loot recovery. Soldier go, Soldier come! The rich speak in tongues, and the poor request for miracles.
My people, the truth is we are on a Cross Road, only the brave keep on the race.
Politics will say bad management, failure, only hope is in 2019 decision to change leaders. But can a good driver make a bad old car system work better?
Every condition, every experience of life is the result of our mental attitude. We can do only what we think we can do. We can be only what we think we can be. We can have only what we think we can have. What we do, what we are, what we have, all depend upon what we think.
The secret of all power, all success, all riches, is in first thinking powerful thoughts, successful thoughts, thoughts of wealth, of supply. We must build them in our own mind first, desire for them, have faith in them and work along that mental attitude.
Until we have this mental attitude, we will depend on petty things that are only but the secondary causation of our economic depression, “Money.”
What is money? Robert Collier call it, “a mere idea of mind, a token of exchange.”
The paper money we have in our pockets is supposed to represent so much gold or silver currency. There are billions upon billions of this paper money in circulation, yet all the gold in the world amounts to only a few billions. Wealth is in ideas, not in money or property. We can control those ideas through our mental attitude of the mind.
No amount of money paid to workers will push the dollar down, but an idea of producing pins cheaper than before in Nigeria can.
Cross Riverians, we are paid salaries as at when due. Yet the economy is still hard. Reason is our ideas are not meeting with the demands of the day.
Assuming we have a Deep Seaport, that will employ 4 out of our 5 dependants, our saving power increase and we gain goodwill and support too from those we have sustained till the time of job. Decisions of money you take alone can now be for 5, more persons with financial power, the less the problem situation on an individual. Life expectancy increases as thinking and hard times reduces.
What of your relatives in the villages where no roads have ever passed through? Today, the superhighway exposes more opportunities in these communities and put jobs opportunities at their door post. Being a corridor rout for the deep seaport, Companies doing import and export business will want have warehouses, processing and repackaging firms, fabricating firm, technicians, professionals and all kinds of labours, skilled and unskilled will be left open.
And the greatest advantage is, with this Superhighway, and the likely congestion of Calabar and environs, workers can comfortably live in their various communities and transport to work by day.
Let think outside the box and solve our economic depression.
~Inok Solomon
