The first of the 2012 US presidential debates between Obama and
Romney has come and gone and I think we should learn from it.
The first of the three debates scheduled between President Barack Obama and Former Governor Mitt Romney ahead of the United States presidential election in November 2012 has been held on the 3rd of October at the University of Denver, Colorado. I think lessons should be drawn from it for our politics and governance in Nigeria.
I do not wish to focus on the
important fact that our political parties, unlike the American ones, lack
clear-cut ideologies, which are the political foundations upon which leaders
place their plans (or blueprint) for the nation. This point is glaring, it is
simply clear for all to see.
Another point that I will mention
in passing is that it is also clear (from the debate) that the best way to
drive and grow the economy is to massively invest in the middle class, and
elevate people into the middle class, through education, training and creation
of jobs.
However, my real focus is to
highlight three (not-too-obvious) points or analogies, hoping that the Nigerian
leadership will draw lessons therefrom.
Number 1: Social Security
(Medicare and Medicaid)
Obama and Romney did not talk
about scraping Medicare and Medicaid, though both are part of the
factors causing the U.S.
national deficit, even when it has been identified that some fraud is embedded
in the programmes.
Obama talked about tackling the
programmes’ loopholes (fraud) aggressively in order to save money and reduce
the national deficit, while Romney talked about sending Medicaid to individual States for effective administration. Obama’s
argument was that Romney’s approach would overtime cut Medicaid by 30%, which is not good. Also Romney thought Obama’s
approach to Medicare, cutting $716
billion so as not to overpay hospitals and providers (Obama’s way to plug
loopholes of fraud), would cost citizens Medicare
benefits.
The lesson here is that none of
these statesmen wants to scrap a programme the citizens benefit from because it
costs the Federal Government, FG, too much money. They rather want to make it
more cost-effective. But in Nigeria
instead of the FG to address the fraud in the ‘Fuel Subsidy Scheme’ or look for
ways to better manage the programme, they want to scrap it.
Number 2: Role of the FG
Both Obama and Romney agreed that
the first and foremost role of the FG is to keep the citizens safe, protecting
lives and liberties of the people. They were passionate about this, especially
Romney, understandably.
The FG of Nigeria has not been
decisive enough about the security challenges in the nation. I did point out in
one of my write-ups that the publicized ‘backdoor dialogue’ ongoing between the
FG and the Boko Haram, BH, has not been effective, since in spite of the
dialogue, the Bauchi September 2012 attack happened.
Also, the Mubi student massacre
in Adamawa State
occurred the night of our Independence Day Anniversary. This kind of inhuman,
BH-like behaviour will continue as long as the FG refuses to seriously crack
down on terrorists - the real terrorists. I also mentioned that the FG has not told Nigerians the BH,
out of the three identified by the President (the Religious, Political and
Criminal BH), that it is in dialogue with.
Number 3: Tax and Job Creation
Romney was against Obama’s
raising of tax on successful individuals or businesses, saying this would cost
jobs. Obama said that maths, common sense and America’s
history shows that Romney’s tax ideas would not grow the economy, but he
indicated, while expressly attacking the Medicaid
part of Romney’s approach, that on paper the idea might not seem bad.
One cannot say such line of reasoning does not hold water, considering the credibility of President Obama and the calibre of the economy about which he said it.
The analogy is that
theoretically, the introduction of high denomination note, i.e. N 5000 note the Central Bank of Nigeria,
CBN, wanted to push into the economy, may not cause inflation but common sense
and Nigeria’s
history shows that it will cause massive rise in the cost of goods and
services, and hence will not grow the economy.
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