Growing The Nigeria Economy: Increase Entrepreneurship and Decrease Moral Hazards. by Cletus E. Olebunne

 Growing the Nigeria Economy: “Good Greed” is good for Our Competitiveness

The solution lies on the removal of moral hazard, and moving away from reliance on the State and toward strong familial and other private network. Rich country, poor citizens, is a result of moral hazard that must be mitigated. In the waste management industry, removal of environmental hazard and hazardous materials makes for a healthy living and work place environments. Same thinking, practice, and solutions when applied to moral hazard in both the public and private sectors will definitely improve the way business is done in Nigeria, and ultimately help move the nation ahead and allow it to compete successfully in the global economy.

The removal of moral hazard means that projects are initiated and management to completion, and that the people benefit from the ideas of entrepreneurs. Greed is the number one source of moral hazard, even though there are good greed and bad greed. Just as cholesterol is the number one culprit for most heart related illnesses—result of arterial blockage—there is good cholesterol (HDL) and bad cholesterol; one just has to know which cholesterol is good for his or her well being.

The ability toward private network and the managing of integration of business/private sector into the life of the civil society tends toward the good greed. The integration of business activities into the account of morality, justice, and the common good offers a fuller treatment of the role of business in a society and of its moral obligations. It upholds the importance of business, fulfillment of private goods, and also outlines the ways in which entrepreneurs contribute to the common good. The entrepreneurial vocation is the incomparable dignity of human and the sanctification of the world through human work. Everything made today is the result of in-depth thought through and design to pathway of production/manufacturing—that thought person is the entrepreneur. Some get the call for entrepreneurship at a very young age, and some get the call at a very later age; regardless of when a person gets the call, at the bottom of most successful entrepreneurs are the passionate to achieve, and the desire to make their own way in life. While entrepreneurs are optimists who accept responsibility, and hard work, they are also profit-driven, and focused on the needs of others—customers/consumers and employees.

So often, envy of their eventual success leads society to see them as “greedy” and “opportunistic.” Regardless, this is the good greed; as the entrepreneur has chosen to meet people’s needs through the provision of goods and services—the jobs they create, and the salaries they pay to employees—so employees can improve their standard of living. With more entrepreneurial activities and increased salary, a nation’s standard of living will ultimately improve—this is the human face of any economic policy. By shouldering the risks, entrepreneurs make society’s future a little more secure and a whole lot easier for everyone. So, when you see an entrepreneur, thank him or her for good job he or she is doing and see the good greed side of what they do. To grow Nigeria’s economy, entrepreneurship must be encouraged at all levels.

The moral hazard of the bad greed in corruption is the greatest scourge that affects the proper functioning of any economic system. Tragically, the bad greed is pervasive in developing nations—found often on the part of public officials who delay the issuance or processing of public documents unless a monetary inducement is offered—a major bottleneck for entrepreneurs to successfully operate. Moral hazard is found in the typical mismanagement and appropriation of national budgets toward the personal gain of political leaders. And it is found in ordinary individual transaction in the form of fraud, price gouging, and organized crime. The effects of moral hazard also have legal ramifications, often undermining the rule of law. Moral hazard is symptomatic of the original sin that marks the heart of every person, hence the difficulty in the removal of moral hazard—the bad greed that is squarely in the moral realm of personalities found in developing nations. The endemic and institutional nature of moral hazard will almost be impossible to reform. A very determined society with the goal of securing a better future for its next generations has no choice but to increase the good greed of the entrepreneurial activities as it decreases the bad greed of corruption for a healthy business environment, allowing it to successfully compete in the global economy.

As the good cholesterol level increases with the decreasing bad cholesterol level, a person is less likely to die of arterial blockage heart related illness, allowing for a healthy living. So also is Nigeria’s global economic relevance—increasing entrepreneurial leadership will allow Nigeria to reach its goals in the vision 2020. The bottom line remains our ability to mitigate the moral hazard that prevents good ideas in economic project implementation to their fully effectiveness and their benefits to the general public.

BY: Cletus E. N. Olebunne

June 24, 2009.