DIALO-CONSTRUCTION: NOUVEAU RICHE AND EMBEDDED DIALOGISM WITH POVERTY IN A PROSTRATE ECONOMY.
''if we believe our democracy is worth preserving, we should offer the rich a choice: give up your money or give up your membership of our society''.-Philosophersbeard
I hope we all had a fruitful intellectually challenging week of discourse on ecomomic imperative of devaluation and non-devaluation arguments with mind disorientating statistical prognoses and computer modelling predicated on uncertainty intrinsically inherent in our non-exact discipline of Economics.
It is refreshing to read so many articles on this subject matter written by Nigerians from disparate social-economic cum professional backgrounds as reflected in the multiplicity of approaches and methodologies adopted in making a seemingly difficult subject matter for a layman simplified.
My concern in respect to the direction of the debate cum engagements as I perused most of these articles is the subjective "non-objectivity" embedded in some of the arguments posited as possible panacea to our economic cum monetary policy conundrum.
''We must make our choice. We may have democracy, or we may have wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both''.-Justice Louis Brandeis
My circumspection becomes more pronounced when class and elitist consciousness or rationalism became dominant in the discourse that one can perceptively conclude that an agenda is on the roundtable pushing the discourse towards a particularistic endgame. Essayist cum lobbyist working overtime to push an agenda.
This is however not perculiar to our clime, since it is a common phenomenon known worldwide, "lobbiyism" The act of influencing business and government leaders or policy makers to create legislation or conduct an activity that will help a particular group of people in advancing their positions in a given society.
Let me state here categorically that I am not a disciple of devaluation arguments. My view on this issue would be predicated on John Rawls theory of Justice which incorporated fairness, utilitarianism as fundamentality to achieving just and egalitarian commune.
Please, note that John Rawl's philosophy and it's interpretation is more complex than posited here in this piece but I have consciously adopted a simplistic approach in this article.
While John Rawls was using good and services to illustrate the solution to the problem of distributive justice in other to arrive at socially just society. I would be using the same argument to illustrate how the devaluation debate spearheaded by economic power blocks and essayist cum lobbyist agenda setting influence would consolidate an unfair and unjust society embedded in dialogism with poverty in a prostrate economy if not checked.
According to John Rawls in his treatise. A Theory of Justice, Rawls argues that liberty and equality must be fundamental superstructures of our human society and existential to this position are David Hume, Jeremy Bentham and Immanuel Kant's views.
John Rawls further posited that social and economic disparities must be engineered in such a manner so as to give the greatest benefit to the disadvantaged members of society.
Furthermore, he said that in achieving this every citizen must enjoy equal opportunity in human society in other for such civic arrangement to satisfy the criteria of equality, justice and fairness.
@mbuhari's government social and economic programmes incorporated these elements of equality, justice and fairness as enuciated by john Rawls in my opinion. I do not need to elaborate on the social agenda of the government here since so many people have written about it previously in a well articulated mannerism. Moreover, it is not the subject of this piece.
It is self evident that the nouveau riche are marshalling all energy for consolidation of their dominant economic position by positing an argumentation that blurrily seems pendantic but on a closer look with a deep intellectual inspection, we noticed a genre in self preservation an embedded dialogism with poverty in their economic anthropology.
They want to hold the nation hostage in pursuit of their grandiose consumption paradigm, a materialist bourgeoisie spend thrift as the basis for economic growth, consumerism is their slogan, forgetting that we are in dire strait dialogism with poverty in a prostrate economy
They posit further argumentation in favour of devalution as a panacea for resolving our economic and monetary problem, being speculators they are bound to reap huge benefits to the detriment of the economically disadvantaged in our society and by extension the nation at large.
How can we engineered the greatest benefit to the economically disadvantaged members of our society in an atmosphere wherein economic power blocks acting as pressure groups are using different methodologies in other to advance their primitive accummulation in this case in an attempt to pressure government to accept official devaluation of the Naira.
Is this fairness! Is this justice!! Do we have an objectively good society?
It is imperative to understand here that various empirical studies in cross-cultural settings have shown that our sense of fairness and unfairness is largely shaped by the social and environmental circumstances in which we domicile.
From the foregoing I want to say that the social construct in Nigeria is extremely unfair and unjust given the distribution of power, wealth and influence amongst the different socio-economic segements of our nation Nigeria.
Since independence our socio-economic policies have been dominated by free market fundamentalism and the pursuit of profit with disastrous social and economic effects for the economic disadvantaged in our clime.
Here I would want to draw my inference from Peter Corning’s book, The Fair Society as (Reviewed By Roberto De Vogli) wherein he talked about ''biosocial contract'' to create a fair commune that he gave the nomenclature “collective survival enterprise” able to satisfy the “primary needs”: thermoregulation, waste elimination, nutrition, water, mobility, sleep, respiration, physical safety, physical health, mental health, communications, social relationships, reproduction, and nurturance of off spring. A fair society, the author argues, can be created through policies aimed at promoting full employment, ensuring a living wage, strengthening welfare services, reforming the private sector, and developing a more equitable tax system.
This idea has strong philosophical nexus with John Rawl's description of a fair, just, equal and egalitarian society in it's purity as a socio-economic construct. We need to be moving towards that ideal in Nigeria.
The devaluation debate has opened up critical schism in the socio-economic arrangement that we need to de-balkanize in other to move forward, just imagine, the proponent of devaluation went as far as expecting government subsidy for their medical cum educational tourism, again they want the economically disadvantaged in our society to pay for their aspirations in respect of their kids schooling abroad and their medical adventurism by given them forex at subsidised rate.
My tweets on this aspect of the discourse are instructive:
We do know that economist can come up with all kinds of prognoses, models but they are all predicted on uncertainty
OTUNBA ADE ILEMOBADE @pearl2prince Feb 24
Devaluation would only profit the rich and speculators not the poor. Note, ceteris paribus is fundamental to economic prediction.
OTUNBA ADE ILEMOBADE @pearl2prince Feb 24
Devaluation is good for a nation with strong manufacturing base that can compete by exporting quality products not primary goods
OTUNBA ADE ILEMOBADE @pearl2prince Feb 24
If we devalue, what are we going to be exporting, cheaper oil or cheaper primary products since we do not have a strong manufacturing base
OTUNBA ADE ILEMOBADE @pearl2prince Feb 24
I wonder whether people advocating devaluation know what they are talking. It is no panacea to our forex problem.
Parents who have children schooling abroad have not done their home work well, Now they want us to pay 4 their aspirations via forex subsidy
OTUNBA ADE ILEMOBADE @pearl2prince Feb 20
One would expect them 2 have accumulated enough forex for the period their wards would be schooling abroad. That is foresight & commonsense
OTUNBA ADE ILEMOBADE @pearl2prince Feb 20
Alternatively ask those kids in the university abroad to do some partime jobs, most people did that in those days while schooling abroad. Studying abroad is a private matter, if that is your choice source your forex in the open market
OTUNBA ADE ILEMOBADE @pearl2prince Feb 20
Now, we all have 2 source for our forex on the open market, so be it. If you don't have the funds to pay 4 forex recall your kids back home. I don't know any country in d world where govt is subsidising privately funded education 4 kids going abroad unless scholarships
OTUNBA ADE ILEMOBADE @pearl2prince Feb 20
Sincerely speaking kids going to school abroad are not necessarily from poor homes, they are from the Rich/Nouveau Riche no need for subsidy. Too many people are using the window as a vehicle for money laundering. We have reported some to the authority here
OTUNBA ADE ILEMOBADE @pearl2prince
Rich/Nouveau Riche are d people complaning about forex 4 schooling abroad, poor Nigerians are more interested in daily nitty gritty of life. If you want your kids 2 be in the best schools abroad pay, it's your responsibility dont force Nigerians 2 pay 4 ur aspirations.
OTUNBA ADE ILEMOBADE @pearl2prince
This observation raises a fundamental question of fairness and justice in policy direction in our clime given the overriding influence of economic power blocks and essayist cum lobbyist setting agenda that is not in the interest of the economic disadvantaged members of our commune.
We have gone on a squandermaniac jamboree for decades, now is the time to go back to civility.
Value re-orientation for good.
OTUNBA ADE ILEMOBADE is a philosopher
Twitter: @pearl2prince
'
I hope we all had a fruitful intellectually challenging week of discourse on ecomomic imperative of devaluation and non-devaluation arguments with mind disorientating statistical prognoses and computer modelling predicated on uncertainty intrinsically inherent in our non-exact discipline of Economics.
It is refreshing to read so many articles on this subject matter written by Nigerians from disparate social-economic cum professional backgrounds as reflected in the multiplicity of approaches and methodologies adopted in making a seemingly difficult subject matter for a layman simplified.
My concern in respect to the direction of the debate cum engagements as I perused most of these articles is the subjective "non-objectivity" embedded in some of the arguments posited as possible panacea to our economic cum monetary policy conundrum.
''We must make our choice. We may have democracy, or we may have wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both''.-Justice Louis Brandeis
My circumspection becomes more pronounced when class and elitist consciousness or rationalism became dominant in the discourse that one can perceptively conclude that an agenda is on the roundtable pushing the discourse towards a particularistic endgame. Essayist cum lobbyist working overtime to push an agenda.
This is however not perculiar to our clime, since it is a common phenomenon known worldwide, "lobbiyism" The act of influencing business and government leaders or policy makers to create legislation or conduct an activity that will help a particular group of people in advancing their positions in a given society.
Let me state here categorically that I am not a disciple of devaluation arguments. My view on this issue would be predicated on John Rawls theory of Justice which incorporated fairness, utilitarianism as fundamentality to achieving just and egalitarian commune.
Please, note that John Rawl's philosophy and it's interpretation is more complex than posited here in this piece but I have consciously adopted a simplistic approach in this article.
While John Rawls was using good and services to illustrate the solution to the problem of distributive justice in other to arrive at socially just society. I would be using the same argument to illustrate how the devaluation debate spearheaded by economic power blocks and essayist cum lobbyist agenda setting influence would consolidate an unfair and unjust society embedded in dialogism with poverty in a prostrate economy if not checked.
According to John Rawls in his treatise. A Theory of Justice, Rawls argues that liberty and equality must be fundamental superstructures of our human society and existential to this position are David Hume, Jeremy Bentham and Immanuel Kant's views.
John Rawls further posited that social and economic disparities must be engineered in such a manner so as to give the greatest benefit to the disadvantaged members of society.
Furthermore, he said that in achieving this every citizen must enjoy equal opportunity in human society in other for such civic arrangement to satisfy the criteria of equality, justice and fairness.
@mbuhari's government social and economic programmes incorporated these elements of equality, justice and fairness as enuciated by john Rawls in my opinion. I do not need to elaborate on the social agenda of the government here since so many people have written about it previously in a well articulated mannerism. Moreover, it is not the subject of this piece.
It is self evident that the nouveau riche are marshalling all energy for consolidation of their dominant economic position by positing an argumentation that blurrily seems pendantic but on a closer look with a deep intellectual inspection, we noticed a genre in self preservation an embedded dialogism with poverty in their economic anthropology.
They want to hold the nation hostage in pursuit of their grandiose consumption paradigm, a materialist bourgeoisie spend thrift as the basis for economic growth, consumerism is their slogan, forgetting that we are in dire strait dialogism with poverty in a prostrate economy
They posit further argumentation in favour of devalution as a panacea for resolving our economic and monetary problem, being speculators they are bound to reap huge benefits to the detriment of the economically disadvantaged in our society and by extension the nation at large.
How can we engineered the greatest benefit to the economically disadvantaged members of our society in an atmosphere wherein economic power blocks acting as pressure groups are using different methodologies in other to advance their primitive accummulation in this case in an attempt to pressure government to accept official devaluation of the Naira.
Is this fairness! Is this justice!! Do we have an objectively good society?
It is imperative to understand here that various empirical studies in cross-cultural settings have shown that our sense of fairness and unfairness is largely shaped by the social and environmental circumstances in which we domicile.
From the foregoing I want to say that the social construct in Nigeria is extremely unfair and unjust given the distribution of power, wealth and influence amongst the different socio-economic segements of our nation Nigeria.
Since independence our socio-economic policies have been dominated by free market fundamentalism and the pursuit of profit with disastrous social and economic effects for the economic disadvantaged in our clime.
Here I would want to draw my inference from Peter Corning’s book, The Fair Society as (Reviewed By Roberto De Vogli) wherein he talked about ''biosocial contract'' to create a fair commune that he gave the nomenclature “collective survival enterprise” able to satisfy the “primary needs”: thermoregulation, waste elimination, nutrition, water, mobility, sleep, respiration, physical safety, physical health, mental health, communications, social relationships, reproduction, and nurturance of off spring. A fair society, the author argues, can be created through policies aimed at promoting full employment, ensuring a living wage, strengthening welfare services, reforming the private sector, and developing a more equitable tax system.
This idea has strong philosophical nexus with John Rawl's description of a fair, just, equal and egalitarian society in it's purity as a socio-economic construct. We need to be moving towards that ideal in Nigeria.
The devaluation debate has opened up critical schism in the socio-economic arrangement that we need to de-balkanize in other to move forward, just imagine, the proponent of devaluation went as far as expecting government subsidy for their medical cum educational tourism, again they want the economically disadvantaged in our society to pay for their aspirations in respect of their kids schooling abroad and their medical adventurism by given them forex at subsidised rate.
My tweets on this aspect of the discourse are instructive:
We do know that economist can come up with all kinds of prognoses, models but they are all predicted on uncertainty
OTUNBA ADE ILEMOBADE @pearl2prince Feb 24
Devaluation would only profit the rich and speculators not the poor. Note, ceteris paribus is fundamental to economic prediction.
OTUNBA ADE ILEMOBADE @pearl2prince Feb 24
Devaluation is good for a nation with strong manufacturing base that can compete by exporting quality products not primary goods
OTUNBA ADE ILEMOBADE @pearl2prince Feb 24
If we devalue, what are we going to be exporting, cheaper oil or cheaper primary products since we do not have a strong manufacturing base
OTUNBA ADE ILEMOBADE @pearl2prince Feb 24
I wonder whether people advocating devaluation know what they are talking. It is no panacea to our forex problem.
Parents who have children schooling abroad have not done their home work well, Now they want us to pay 4 their aspirations via forex subsidy
OTUNBA ADE ILEMOBADE @pearl2prince Feb 20
One would expect them 2 have accumulated enough forex for the period their wards would be schooling abroad. That is foresight & commonsense
OTUNBA ADE ILEMOBADE @pearl2prince Feb 20
Alternatively ask those kids in the university abroad to do some partime jobs, most people did that in those days while schooling abroad. Studying abroad is a private matter, if that is your choice source your forex in the open market
OTUNBA ADE ILEMOBADE @pearl2prince Feb 20
Now, we all have 2 source for our forex on the open market, so be it. If you don't have the funds to pay 4 forex recall your kids back home. I don't know any country in d world where govt is subsidising privately funded education 4 kids going abroad unless scholarships
OTUNBA ADE ILEMOBADE @pearl2prince Feb 20
Sincerely speaking kids going to school abroad are not necessarily from poor homes, they are from the Rich/Nouveau Riche no need for subsidy. Too many people are using the window as a vehicle for money laundering. We have reported some to the authority here
OTUNBA ADE ILEMOBADE @pearl2prince
Rich/Nouveau Riche are d people complaning about forex 4 schooling abroad, poor Nigerians are more interested in daily nitty gritty of life. If you want your kids 2 be in the best schools abroad pay, it's your responsibility dont force Nigerians 2 pay 4 ur aspirations.
OTUNBA ADE ILEMOBADE @pearl2prince
This observation raises a fundamental question of fairness and justice in policy direction in our clime given the overriding influence of economic power blocks and essayist cum lobbyist setting agenda that is not in the interest of the economic disadvantaged members of our commune.
We have gone on a squandermaniac jamboree for decades, now is the time to go back to civility.
Value re-orientation for good.
OTUNBA ADE ILEMOBADE is a philosopher
Twitter: @pearl2prince
'
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