ThisDay article
An interesting concept. One question that has gnawed at me for quite some time now is why Nigeria has not decided to become master of its own destiny. Think infrastructure, Nigeria locally retains all the raw materials required for building roads and bridges. While it is now necessary to import the machineries, there is no reason why those too cannot be locally sourced -- Nigeria after all has iron ore is excess, and the blueprint for most of these equipment are now openly available -- the internet is a great thing.
Nigeria has great Universities, eager students and tons of unemployed people (young and older) who will readily resource a massive infrastructure project. So the question is how will this be funded. The answer lies in the American experiment in the lead up to the second world war and during the decades post war. The Federal government simply printed dollars -- here, the Nigerian government would print the Naira.
It is interesting that almost a hundred years after broad availability of electricity, Nigeria continues to import almost all essential electricity generation, distribution and transmission equipment. Why can these not be locally sourced. What is wrong with incentivising local manufacturers and charging a cluster of Nigerian Universities to become the power -engineering base for the nation. Nigerian is rich in iron ore, tin, aluminium, copper and of course wood. The country knows how to make transformers, relays, rods (iron, aluminium etc) and rubber. The nation is capable of making all the components for different types of energy generation and has abundant natural resources including access to the ocean, large supply of wastes, open windy desert lands, abundance of natural gas and of course petroleum --- all ingredients of every known source of electricity. Nigeria has large deposits of plutonium, some uranium, columbite, tin and other rare minerals. Why hasn't the government commission local power sector that is fully indigenous. It can be done.
If the government commits to power and infrastructure, it can incentivise local food production. A key missing element to food security includes a robust food processing and crop preservation infrastructure, and a reliable food transportation network. Just like above, the blue print for food processing is daily available online as is the blueprint for railway network.
Nigeria can build its now railway network, and its own regional food processing plants. Again, all the necessary raw materials are available in the country.
It is true that Nigeria may not have immediate access to the latest technologies and how to for modern (i.e. year 2000 and beyond) manufacturing technologies. But for patents older than 20 years, the blueprints are available online and most of them for free. To be successful, Nigeria need not implement America's or European's current technologies. Even technologies of 20 years ago will help the nation leapfrog it's current malaise and set it on the path to prosperity.
Imagine a scenario where the federal government decides to ignore the world bank, IMF and other Brenton wood organisations, and instead focus on developing home grown capabilities by using open source resources, printing it's own monies and putting millions of Nigerians to work making the things the nation needs. The nation can mobilise up to 5 million people, most of them highly educated, to design and build the required infrastructure and in the process create wealth, develop new and enduring industries, strengthen local food production and set up the economy for long term success.
Another critical issue of course will be force modernisation and regulation. The Nigeria police may have to be disbanded and rebuilt from scratch. Of course that may not require firing every current police officer, but it will require retraining them all and creating enforceable set of new rules for policing. It may require partnering with local institutions of higher education to ensure that every police man or woman has at least two years of post secondary education that includes a lot of training on human interaction, the role of the rule of law and due process and how to properly engage with civil society. It may be appropriate to disband the local mobile police and rethink the role of policing in the society. Would a regional police be better than the current national police structure? If the police is reformed, armed robbery, one of the bane of the Nigerian society will be largely tamed. Today, the police represent one of the biggest security threats. Remove that threat, or better yet, turn it into strength, and you will give the Nigerian economy some breathing room.
Many years ago, almost 30 years ago, then General Buhari's administration resorted to force and the treatment of the populace like some second hand slaves with his then War against Indiscipline. He and others in his government missed the point. Today, he is attempting to achieve the same objective, but without resorting to the barbaric antics of old. And the results have been mixed, at best. The problem is not that the people are undisciplined. The problem is that people are trying to survive. Give them a fighting chance, constant rules and treat everyone equally (meaning punish officials who disobey the law as well as ordinary citizens) and people will respect the law and behave themselves. Make corruption obsolete by making the cost of corruption very high indeed.
All of these can be done. It just takes some political will. And the Nigerian presidency is strong enough to effect these changes. They will lead the path to a successful, and hopefully, a peaceful nation.
An interesting concept. One question that has gnawed at me for quite some time now is why Nigeria has not decided to become master of its own destiny. Think infrastructure, Nigeria locally retains all the raw materials required for building roads and bridges. While it is now necessary to import the machineries, there is no reason why those too cannot be locally sourced -- Nigeria after all has iron ore is excess, and the blueprint for most of these equipment are now openly available -- the internet is a great thing.
Nigeria has great Universities, eager students and tons of unemployed people (young and older) who will readily resource a massive infrastructure project. So the question is how will this be funded. The answer lies in the American experiment in the lead up to the second world war and during the decades post war. The Federal government simply printed dollars -- here, the Nigerian government would print the Naira.
It is interesting that almost a hundred years after broad availability of electricity, Nigeria continues to import almost all essential electricity generation, distribution and transmission equipment. Why can these not be locally sourced. What is wrong with incentivising local manufacturers and charging a cluster of Nigerian Universities to become the power -engineering base for the nation. Nigerian is rich in iron ore, tin, aluminium, copper and of course wood. The country knows how to make transformers, relays, rods (iron, aluminium etc) and rubber. The nation is capable of making all the components for different types of energy generation and has abundant natural resources including access to the ocean, large supply of wastes, open windy desert lands, abundance of natural gas and of course petroleum --- all ingredients of every known source of electricity. Nigeria has large deposits of plutonium, some uranium, columbite, tin and other rare minerals. Why hasn't the government commission local power sector that is fully indigenous. It can be done.
If the government commits to power and infrastructure, it can incentivise local food production. A key missing element to food security includes a robust food processing and crop preservation infrastructure, and a reliable food transportation network. Just like above, the blue print for food processing is daily available online as is the blueprint for railway network.
Nigeria can build its now railway network, and its own regional food processing plants. Again, all the necessary raw materials are available in the country.
It is true that Nigeria may not have immediate access to the latest technologies and how to for modern (i.e. year 2000 and beyond) manufacturing technologies. But for patents older than 20 years, the blueprints are available online and most of them for free. To be successful, Nigeria need not implement America's or European's current technologies. Even technologies of 20 years ago will help the nation leapfrog it's current malaise and set it on the path to prosperity.
Imagine a scenario where the federal government decides to ignore the world bank, IMF and other Brenton wood organisations, and instead focus on developing home grown capabilities by using open source resources, printing it's own monies and putting millions of Nigerians to work making the things the nation needs. The nation can mobilise up to 5 million people, most of them highly educated, to design and build the required infrastructure and in the process create wealth, develop new and enduring industries, strengthen local food production and set up the economy for long term success.
Another critical issue of course will be force modernisation and regulation. The Nigeria police may have to be disbanded and rebuilt from scratch. Of course that may not require firing every current police officer, but it will require retraining them all and creating enforceable set of new rules for policing. It may require partnering with local institutions of higher education to ensure that every police man or woman has at least two years of post secondary education that includes a lot of training on human interaction, the role of the rule of law and due process and how to properly engage with civil society. It may be appropriate to disband the local mobile police and rethink the role of policing in the society. Would a regional police be better than the current national police structure? If the police is reformed, armed robbery, one of the bane of the Nigerian society will be largely tamed. Today, the police represent one of the biggest security threats. Remove that threat, or better yet, turn it into strength, and you will give the Nigerian economy some breathing room.
Many years ago, almost 30 years ago, then General Buhari's administration resorted to force and the treatment of the populace like some second hand slaves with his then War against Indiscipline. He and others in his government missed the point. Today, he is attempting to achieve the same objective, but without resorting to the barbaric antics of old. And the results have been mixed, at best. The problem is not that the people are undisciplined. The problem is that people are trying to survive. Give them a fighting chance, constant rules and treat everyone equally (meaning punish officials who disobey the law as well as ordinary citizens) and people will respect the law and behave themselves. Make corruption obsolete by making the cost of corruption very high indeed.
All of these can be done. It just takes some political will. And the Nigerian presidency is strong enough to effect these changes. They will lead the path to a successful, and hopefully, a peaceful nation.
Comments
Post a Comment