Maybe Nigeria needs to adopt the Philippine formula on Infrastructural development

Ayo Akinfe

[1] Do you know that on April 23 1946, Manuel Roxas, was elected the last president of the Commonwealth of the Philippines. His reign lasted until 1948 and as from then onwards, the country became a fully fledged independent state, adopting the structure it has until this day. The Philippines was America’s only real colony, which explains why it is the only Christian nation in Asia today

[2] Originally a Spanish colony, the Philippines gained independence from Spain on June 12, 1898 but lurched from one crisis to another as it was in a permanent state of transition. It was not really until 1948 that she became a sovereign, independent nation

[3] If you notice, I always try to compare Nigeria with countries that have a similar history, population, economic prowess and future outlook as us. The Philippines is one of such countries. For starters, it is also very complex and diverse as Spanish rule brought political unity to the fragmented states of the archipelago, kind of similar to the way Frederick Lugard united over 250 nation states, empires, city states and fiefdoms into what is Nigeria today

[4] When you look at the history of the Philippines and Nigeria, there are remarkable similarities. They also suffered from a long period of dictatorship as between 1965 and 1986, Ferdinand Marcos ruled the country like it was his personal property. Just as we suffered under military rule, he declared a state of emergency, assassinated political opponents and appointed his family and cronies into public office

[5] His wife Imelda, is known as the woman with the most pair of shoes in the world. At the expense of the state, Mrs Marcos took extravagance to unprecedented heights. I would say there are only about half a dozen countries in the world where such extravagance by public officials is acceptable. Nigeria and the Philippines are among them. The fact that there is no public outrage when our leaders go and spend our state resources on lavish weddings in Dubai just tells you who Nigerians are and highlights the fact that we deserve the misrule from which we suffer

[6] Like Nigeria, the Philippines has enjoyed some prosperity of recent. For instance on January 20 2001, President, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo began a nine year tenure and during her term in office, the economy experienced growth of between 4% and 7% averaging about 5.33% from 2002 to 2007. This is kind of similar to the annual 6% growth rate Nigeria enjoyed between 1999 and 2015

[7] In June 2016, former Davao City mayor Rodrigo Duterte became president of the Philippines. In many ways, he is similar to President Muhammadu Buhari as he is tough no-nonsense man who has launched an all out war in drug dealing. Between June 2016 and February 2019, the death toll from the Philippine drug war is 5,176. President Duterte has made it clear he is not interested in human rights accolades. He will execute anyone involved in the drug trade

[8] What I like about President Duterte though is his Build, Build, Build programme, which aims to usher the Philippines into a new golden age of infrastructure. Do you know the Philippines construction industry needs 2m extra workers to sustain the programme? It is made up of 75 projects, which includes six air transport projects, 12 rail projects and four water transport projects. It also includes four major flood management projects, 11 water supply and irrigation projects, four power projects, and three other public infrastructure projects. Altogether, the country is expected to spend between $160bn and $180bn between 2016 and 2022 on public infrastructure. Now, this is the model Nigeria desperately needs as we have an annual infrastructural deficit of $100bn and our budget is only $28.8bn. We should ask the Philippines how they implemented their programme

[9] Do you know that the Philippines has a smaller economy than Nigeria? Their GDP is only $371.8bn compared with our $450bn. Their population is about 100m and being a tropical country like us, compete with Nigeria in the production of numerous crops like coconuts, palm oil, cassava, cashews, etc. They are also an oil producer but of late have really stepped up diversification. Last year, tourism accounted for 7% of their GDP

[10] Let me embarrass our rulers here. Manila, the capital of the Philippines has five railway lines with 49 stations across 96km of track. Their port is not gridlocked like Apapa and there are plans to build more. Nigeria needs to twin herself with several countries like Indonesia, The Philippines, Vietnam, Mexico, Turkey, South Africa, Egypt, etc and make sure we never fall behind when it comes to infrastructure. If not, we risk lagging behind as an unbridgeable gap opens up