My sister, the weekly columnist, Aisha Umar Yusuf has in recent times been legitimately agonizing over Sino/Nigeria relations. In February she advocated “a total boycott of Chinese goods and services because of their gross, officially-sanctioned abuse of human rights.” Last Saturday, 16th May, she revisited China theme with categorical NO to the call of the HRH Alhaji Muhammadu Sanusi II, Emir of Kano on the Chinese to increase their investment in Nigeria while the Chinese ambassador to Nigeria, Mr Gu Xiaojie came calling at the Emir’s palace.
I fully share her concerns that it is time we linked investment to human rights. She rightly singled out the violation of Muslims’ rights in China. But violation of rights in China also includes trade union and workers’ rights. In China independent trade unions are not allowed contrary to ILO conventions. Indeed one factor that confers comparative advantage to Chinese goods and services is relative low wage made possible by “slave labour” without the right to minimum wages and above all unionization. Low wage means lower cost (and lower quality) of production.
Like Aisha, yours comradely had written about China in my reflections more than three times. Indeed Development observers agree that there are three global development challenges in the new millennium; one is China, second is China and third is China .. My take is that we should neither agonize over China nor romanticize China. We should rather copy China’s best practices with respect to Growth and Development and ignore its worse practices with respect to human rights . Why should the Chinese make for us “prayer carpets”, “the long Muslim attires” and “even our prayer beads, among other things, when we can as well produce them too like China, worship Allah, create jobs for our people and replace poverty with prosperity?
We must learn to produce what we consume like China and consume what we produce and even export more like China. No country has recorded remarkable rapid economic ascendancy in the past 25 years like China. With 1.5 billion population and consistent average 10% growth rate in the past 3 decades, China has shown that huge quality human resource is indeed an asset not a liability. Chinese are not desperate immigrants nor voluntary slaves like thousands of Africans sinking into the Mediterranean sea in search of elusive jobs left undone at home.
In China development process is NOT a zero-sum game. Growth is not traded off for jobs like Nigeria where few are well-having and many lack basic well being. China parades no extractive resources (not an OPEC member!) but exhibits value additions and manufacturing. China has more functioning oil refineries than Nigeria!. China’s GDP totals some 10 trillion dollars! And it is job-led unlike madam Ngozi’s rebased GDP with insignificant job content.
China is perhaps the only country since the great Industrial Revolution that has combined consistent aggressive industrialisation drive with high growth rate side by side with full employment making nonsense of neo-liberal/ textbook received wisdom about jobless growth. China has shown that addressing production issues is not mutually exclusive from confronting poverty and coming to terms with distributional issues. Many sub-Saharan African countries, including Nigeria have pushed millions into poverty due to IMF inspired “reform” process, (SAP). Conversely, China like Brazil has lifted as many as 250 million people (twice the population of Nigeria!) out of poverty. China’s goods and services rule the world.
The new America Cold War with China is about articles of trade NOT weapons of mass destruction. Let’s us not agonize about China but copy China! Notwithstanding development gap, Nigeria has a lot in common with China. Nigeria is the most populated country in Africa just as China is most populous country in Asia (and in the world). These are two largest markets in the world. China is one huge working and productive house. Nigeria is weighed down with idle capacity and conspicuous silly consumption fueled by imports and smuggling.
Paradoxically the two countries are undergoing reforms. China’s reforms are delivering on promise with functioning industries, Nigeria’s reforms kill industries and jobs. Yours sincerely recommends for President elect- General Muhammend Buhari (just as I did for late Yar’ Adua!) Joseph Stiglitz’s: Globalization and Its Discontents, (in particular chapter seven). President elect Buhari should appreciate how China’s reform has delivered prosperity compared to how Russia’s reform (read: Nigeria) has promoted despair. The Nobel Prize Winner in Economics shows that the strength of China lies in its home grown policy initiatives. China just like Poland ignored the so-called Washington Consensus (devaluation, uncritical privatization, trade liberalization, removal of subsidy etc) as promoted by IMF and the World Bank and went for creative alternative local policies that reflect national priorities. China employs “gradualist approach” to reforms compared to “shock therapy approach” of Russia which uncritically privatised public enterprises without addressing fundamental issues of infrastructure, corporate governace and goods and service delivery.
China built democratic mass support for reform agenda not through election riggings, political thuggery and mass unemployment as in Nigeria OBJ’s era. On the contrary China shows that stability, political unity of purpose and common wealth (as distinct from private aggrandisement and corruption) are indispensable to reform agenda. China has negative (not just zero!) tolerance to corruption (it engenders capital punishment in many instances).
Lastly, China appreciates the imperatives of labour-intensive industries for a populous nation. Nigeria is boastful with enclave sectors like Telecoms, banks and oil and gas but the labour absorption therein is insignificant. On the contrary China holds on to textile and agricultures where millions are employed. What is good for China is good for Nigeria; macro economic stability and protection of domestic market. The issue is not to be romantic with China nor antagonize it. Let’s us be strategic with China just as China has been strategic in its dealings with Africa.
Issa Aremu mni
