Prof. Efemini advocates radical approach to development …Calls for setting up of Cooperative Societies; Says: I feel like crying just being a Nigerian

David T.J. Amusa, Port Harcourt

Professor Andrew Efemini has advocated the setting up of Cooperative Societies in all strata of the society, both in urban and rural areas, to address poverty and improve the standard of living of Nigerians.

Speaking in an interview in Port Harcourt, Professor Efemini, a Professor of Philosophy at the University of Port Harcourt, said that one of the greatest instruments for incorporating people into improved economic life is the setting up of Cooperative Societies.

This, he said would help to fight poverty and improve the standard of living of the average citizen.

Efemini pointed out that if such a system is put in place where everybody in Nigeria including the President would belong to one Cooperative Society or the other, such would improve social welfare, as well as enhance the participation of all and sundry in the creation of wealth.

“One of the greatest instruments of supporting the fight against poverty all over the world is cooperative societies. Every citizen of a country including the President should belong to one cooperative society or the other”, he stressed, noting that such Cooperative Societies operate by workers and self-employed people contributing funds to run the cooperative.

“You can institute a social welfare, contributory levy. The government pays, those of us working pay, companies pay and these resources are channeled to the cooperatives.

“These cooperatives would be in the rural communities to promote economic activities such as farming, fishing, craftsmanship, all sort of things in the rural community, genuinely managed by the people.”

Speaking further, Prof. Efemini stated that such cooperatives represent the bottom-up approach to addressing economic challenges such as inequality, poverty and joblessness.

“Believe me, once you do that, you would begin to see bottom -up approach to the economic life of the people, reduction in inequality, which has reached an alarming proportion.”

He, however, suggested that such cooperatives should be legislated into existence by both federal and state legislatures.

He noted that such cooperatives if well packaged in a state could generate up to 3 to 4 billion Naira every month.

“You will be surprised that in Rivers State, for example, just by doing this you might get 3 to 4 billion Naira every month,” which  money, he said, could now be used for the welfare of citizens and important infrastructure in their areas of abode that will make life more meaningful and enhance economic activities.

“Leave this issue of road, road, road. Those are projects. They don’t mean anything to man. Roads do not mean much to a man that is dying of starvation.  Many communities are collapsing because no economic activity is going on there. That is the reality. People are now begging to feed. You hold small ceremony, people come around looking for crumbs to eat around where you are doing things. I have seen things that break my heart. You see malnourished children in communities”.

He further advocated stringent measures including capital punishment for those who would attempt to steal the cooperatives money.

Furthermore, Prof. Efemini said the bane of our society is that our leaders do not think but want to appropriate public funds to themselves.

“Most things you see going wrong with this country are linked to the poor reasoning that we have. Lack of productivity, religious conflict, all sorts of social conflict, divisiveness, all, is a function of the level of reasoning in our society. Nigeria now has to grapple with so much because basic things are not being put right. Starting from the President, if the President doesn’t appreciate all these things, what we are saying here is that your society cannot start. You are wasting time. That is why Pluto said, ‘Until Philosophers become Kings or Kings become Philosophers, human society will not know peace and progress’.

“In order words, until we become highly rational, analytical, until we have a probing mind, until we avoid dogmatism, until we become persons who open our mind to other people’s views and then reason together. Until we are able to conceptualize what is good for everybody, you cannot be the society that you want.  From the president down to the least person, we need to improve the quality of our reasoning. The kind of reasoning you see today in millions of Nigerians, you can never find in the whole of the United States. You find that in less than one percent of maybe the drug addicts. But the kind of massive illiterate thinking that you find in our society that has weighed down our people is such that makes us live in villages, hamlets all over; doing things that the world no longer recognize.

“Look, I feel like crying just being a Nigerian. I just hope that for once, the next election will throw up very well educated, sophisticated thinkers. In fact, one of the best minds that health did not allow to govern us, for me, is Yar’Adua. He was socialist leaning, very firm, clear, honest but health didn’t allow him to govern us. I hope somebody like Yar’Adua can emerge again.”