Economics is really simple. The only reason we have all the models and projections and that curve and this curve is because we are unwilling to accept that indeed everything have very simple underlying phenomenon to them and we try to make them complicated.

Nigeria for example.

You don't need an economical projection to tell you Nigeria has been and is heading for the dog house. And not because we have a complicated problem. Multifaceted yes, but complicated, no. Not in the least sense.

The basics of mathematics is 1+1=2

When 1+1x=22 becomes the equation, it's easy to forget that x is not the problem. 22 which has been presented as the solution is still the problem. So once you find a way to make the solution 2 again, the problem find x solves itself. 2 is still the answer not 22. x is the why.

Without this base knowledge, you'll never understand how the solution of 22 came to be. It's as simple as that.

Why is our economy heading for the dog house. Because we have forgotten that 1+1= 2.

Jobs+Jobs= Income (personal)
Jobs+Jobs= Products (country).

It's that simple economically speaking. A country where people do not earn is a country that's going nowhere.

A country where no production takes place is country with no income.

Aggregate production= GDP.

Before we move on to the myriad of other variables. This our own version of 1+1=2.

Jobs and entrepreneurs who create jobs are one and the same.

Without Jobs or opportunities for entrepreneurial undertakings, there can be no income. The more jobs and entrepreneurs we have

the more we earn. The more we earn, the higher our standard of living. The higher our standard of living, the more we spend, the more we spend, the more opportunities for jobs and entrepreneurship present itself. It is a full circle, the absence of the first variable breaks down

the circle.

And this is why I have concluded that Nigeria has an income problem before any other problem. A good percentage of our multitude of other problems can be directly traced back to the income problem. The income problem has come to be because their are no

opportunities for jobs and entrepreneurship.

Jobs!! Jobs!! Jobs!! is a mainstay campaign line in the American economy which we all know and agree is the OG of economies. It is because they have not forgotten that, that is the foundation of everything else.

If I earn and you earn and a good percentage of us earn enough. Then we can afford to spend more. Which means we can create arbitrary jobs like dog walking, imagine getting paid to walk a dog. It's a function of an economy that's doing well and there are thousands of such jobs.

The more a country produces, the more it earns. The more it earns, the more money it can put back into the economy to raise the standard of life of its citizens, so now they don't have to spend all that money fixing their cars that are constantly spoilt by the bad road.

Which means more money to be spent, which means more products get consumed, which translates into more income for those doing the production. Maybe they have to expand, more jobs. More jobs, therefore more income to aid even more spending which results in even more jobs......

Get the drift?

If there's little income, there's little purchasing power. When we don't spend, it results in another vicious cycle where we can't earn. We earn to spend. You pay me for this, I pay you for that. The more we earn the more we can

pay eachother. Which means the more we earn. All these is a function of jobs available for productive capacity to lead to revenue for income. Even businesses cannot survive where there's low purchasing power. Businesses fail when they can't generate revenue.

The more businesses fail, the less jobs are available, the less products are created, the less revenue is generated, the lower the income.

Its all part of the 1+1=2.

2-2= zero.

This is why we are headed for the dog house.

The next question is whose job is it to start the job creation process. I believe it is the job of the people who we have voted and pay to manage our small resources and turn it into more. Which means ideally the economy should be run by businesses men not lifetime politicians.

When we got data that said 27.1% of Nigerians are unemployed, and 26.8% are underemployed, a total of 55.7%. Then that should bother us because that data will have ripple effect on the rest of the country. That's the sort of data a sane county will heads to the streets.

Dismal quality of education, insecurity, low life expectancy, all these and more can be traced back to the income problem.

Yet, we vote people that have never ran a business in their lives. Who have no idea what it takes to make a barbershop profitable, much more a country.

We need a revolution and I don't mean the one with placards and singing. I mean a revolution of thought. Our thought pattern needs to be radically altered for good. The doghouse is no place for humans and we are headed there fast.

A government intent on killing businesses, the productive sector and education which opens people's minds to analyse their situation with adequate references should not win a single vote.

Prioritize job creation and most of our problems disappear.

Olóyè from #theCoucilofChiefs