Mr. Olusegun Oshinowo, is the Director-General, Nigeria Employers' Consultative Association, an umbrella body of employers in the organised private sector. In this interview with Dele Fanimo, he x-rays the prospect of the Nigerian economy in the light of the challenges of unemployment, inclement business environment, lack of incentives for the small and medium scale enterprises, industrial disputes and insecurity, among others. Excerpts.What is your rating of the country's economic performance in the last six months'I have not looked at the statistics of economic performance in the last five months and I'm not sure that the government has come out with official statistics. Some figures I have seen are those coming from the asset management company. They are not from the official source. So, one will have to be careful in basing his comment on those statistics.If we are to go by government's projections, I don't think there is anything to cheer. You will recall that when the President, Nigeria Employers' Consultative Association (NECA) was reading his address during our yearly General Meeting in Lagos, he made the point that the performance of the economy should be examined beyond the usual economic statistics that we present, we should be looking at some social indices in determining whether the government had indeed performed.If we are talking about good governance, it is not figures that will showcase such, but the quality of life of the people. We should be looking at things like accessibility to health and additional jobs that had been created in the last six months. To the best of knowledge, from interacting with Nigerians and observing happenings around, one cannot really say that there has been any significant improvement in this economy in the last six months.The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate might be saying something to the contrary. Yes, the government might say that they have posted 6.5 or 7 per cent, but when you really look at the facts on the street; how many jobs have we created' To what extents has the quality of life of Nigerians be significantly improved in the last six months' How many businesses have come on steam'These days, when President Barrack Obama is talking, the focus is on the number of jobs, micro and small-scale businesses in the United States. These are the sorts of things that we should really be looking at. What you see around is decadence. Travel on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, or go to the domestic wing of the Murtala Muhammed Airport among others, they are not anything that will bring joy to anyone.While we still await the statistics of the government for whatever it would be, it will not change our opinion in terms of the fact that this economy is not doing well. And if we factor the Boko Haram mayhem in the North, the truth about it is that companies are beginning to lose steam, sales income are coming down and that will translate into further down-turn in the outlook of this economy by the end of the year. This is because downturn in sales will affect production. If production is affected, companies will have to rationalize their staff-strength.Currently, we have commenced a survey on the health of our member companies, especially those in the North, and from the discussions we've had with them, we've been told that sales had gone down by 25 per cent. And if the trend should continue, by the end of the year, quite a number of them will have to downsize. So, the outlook is grim, I must say.The growth of countries like the United States (US) is tied to manpower development and utilization. Why is it the other way round in this part of the world'The mainstay of the US economy, when you look at how government generates income is quite different from the mainstay of the Nigerian economy in terms of how government generates income. In the US it is basically on taxation, which is why at every election, taxation is always a big issue. On account of that, you will discover that the health of the Americans, the survival of businesses and the government are interlinked. If businesses are not doing well, government will not be able to generate taxation. When you look at the GDP growth rate of the Americans, 75 per cent of it comes from consumer expenditure. For that growth to continue, people must be in jobs and businesses must exist. So we have those inter-linkages.In the case of Nigeria, the GDP growth is not that interlinked. For instance, Nigerian Breweries, Nestle, Guinness and some other conglomerates if they are to go under, it will not affect the health of Nigerian government or the comfort of government officials. This is because the bulk of government's income profile comes purely from the sale of crude oil. So as long as there is peace in Niger Delta and government can realize income from the sale of crude oil, all is well with Nigeria.I think we need to change that structure of economy. That is our biggest undoing in terms of delivering of good governance, because those that have been given the responsibility to deliver on good governance have access to income that will make them not to really bother on the general good of the people that had put them there. So, until we address that issue, we should not be expecting much from anyone in government. Because the survival of any government functionary is not a function of the survival of the main sector of the Nigerian economy.It is not by the survival of the micro and small-scale business also. It does not really matter whether those people pay their taxes or not, government is still run and government officials are still comfortable. So, when an Obama is talking about job creation, micro and small-scale businesses, he is talking about his survival also. But survival to a Nigerian government official is peace in the Niger Delta.In some of the Asian countries, the SMEs drive economy unlike here where SMEs are not on ground and the Multinational companies are even finding their ways out of the country. What is the implication for the country'The problem is our attitude here. Let's look at the typical attitude of a typical civil servant that has regulatory power. For instance, about six weeks ago, the National Lottery Commission went ahead to close the premise of Nestle in Ilorin and one other place and they were making so much funfair of it on the television. As far as the government official is concerned, he has scored a big point, closing Nestle (a company that creates wealth and in the course provide employment, nutrition, income for the government of Nigeria.) You may ask yourself that what is the value of the commission to the economy compared to the value of Nestle to the same economy. The latter is adding more value than a national commission that is more concerned about the survival of their officials.I think that is just one of those things that is killing micro and small-scale businesses in Nigeria. We have created an atmosphere in the country where those that have been given authority are misusing it to the detriment of businesses that are creating wealth and can generate employment.When you look at Lagos for instance, (and I hope those running businesses in Lagos are able to see the enormous power in their hands), by the income profile of the state government, it is the state government that is generating the highest internal income. Much bigger than what it gets from the federation account. For me, that translates to power in the hands of the private sector in Lagos state. Because if anything should happen to the private sector, it will affect the capability and ability of Governor Raji Fashola to deliver on good governance.On account of that, the private sector in Lagos should be able to engage the state government on a very robust, constructive and productive discussion on how the state government can improve the environment to create more wealth. Even the governor would realize that there is need for the supply of resources to sustain us. If a Fashola, as we have experienced in last Five years, is having an interactive section with the private sector three or four times in a year, it is simply borne out of the realization of the fact that these are the people that provide the resources for the state to deliver on good governance.The environment, I can tell you, is not too conducive for most businesses to thrive. Things could be better if we get our regulatory bodies to be more responsive, responsible and disciplined. And also realize the fact that every action of theirs that does not support wealth creation is retarding the progress of Nigeria.From the Organized Private Sector's (OPS) perspective, what has been the strength of synergy between the financial sector and the private agencies in terms of accessing facilities'For the big players, it is not much of a problem. Though, they make so much impact in terms of value addition and number of employment. But how many of them' When you look at the number, we have more of the micro and medium scale businesses. These are people that extremely find it much more difficult to access finance to drive their businesses. Of course, I can understand the dispositions of the financial institution in relation with the risk involved.We need to look beyond the mainstream financial sector, even though they should be the first point of call in access to financial assistance for micro and small-scale businesses. The various interventions that the Federal Government has come up with have been of tremendous help to those that have been able to assess their funds. Through the fund, some of them have been able to restructure their loans with the bank, some were able to crash the cost of fund, and some had some breathing space and working capital to turn around their businesses.The mainstream banking sector, as far as micro and small-scale businesses are concerned, is still a big challenge in terms of easy accessibility to funds, cost of fund, but the big players have been able to muscle their way through in terms of access and getting some concession to a large extent on the cost of fund.Businesses have roles to play in politics. Do you think OPS should come out of its shell and join politics to influence policies'In any clime, what you probably find is that business sector is apolitical. Though, that does not imply that the sector is docile in shaping policies. It makes sense for business sector to be apolitical but it should be active through advocacy in shaping policies and if that will entail interacting with lawmakers, then let it be.When we examine our environment, the question we should ask ourselves is 'to what extent really have we imbibed transparency, positive value, norm in the process of law-making'' But because we have not created a clime that will respect those values and enable the private sector to actually influence policy and law formulation, quite a number of untoward things happen in that process, which most private sector will not want to be a part of. And that in itself is a challenge.What we are finding more, especially in the legislative aspect, is that our lawmakers are not there for us but for themselves. They are against business and wealth creation. When you examine some of the things that our lawmakers are doing in the name of oversight function and investigative panel, they are anti-business. These are the people that should be looking at the bigger picture as to how to create an environment where we will attract foreign direct investment, where there will be meaningful and real growth, but are involved in petty activities that are creating further problem for businesses to grow.For instance, the House Committee on Finance wanted to carry out the work of Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) by appointing a consultant to move from one company to another to check books of companies. But there are bigger issues on the ground. One would have expected this house committee to invite the business sector and ask how they can be of help to them in their quest to create wealth.I'm looking forward to a legislative arm of government that will invite the private sector and ask what their challenges are, and things they can do to grow the economy. I've not seen that disposition from them. They are not pro-development, I'm sorry to say. And one cannot engage that kind of legislature because your interest is not their interest.The executive arm of government has fared better in terms of interacting with us, but for us, it is not a matter of dialoguing. What of the actors and their actions' Yes, they will always find a way around issues arguing that there are other contending issues, but that of business should be bigger. That is often the challenge of advocacy, where output does not justify input. It is not just about talking, what is the outcome of the discussing' and in that we have our frustration.Do you agree that there is a major crisis in the employment market, worsened by security challenges and capital flight due to companies moving out of the country' What is going to be outlook in the next two or three years and what is the best approach stemming the alarming trend'The unemployment situation can be likened to the Russian roulette. In the Russian roulette, you put just one bullet in the chamber of the gun, point the gun at your head and hoping that when you pull the trigger it will not activate the bullet. That is what we are doing. We are playing platitudes and rhetoric as to how the unemployment should be addressed. In resolving our unemployment problem, we've got to look at the structure of our economy as a starting point.
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