One
of the areas where there is a crying need for the change that Nigerians
voted for is in the manufacturing sector. Each time the diversification
of the economy is mentioned, people readily mention agriculture and
mining but primary production alone is not what will bring the kind of
economic leverage the nation needs now.
Increased agricultural production –
whether arable cropping, forestry or livestock rearing can impact the
Gross Domestic Product more where there is a manufacturing sector to
absorb their products and further process them for higher returns.
The same goes for the mining industry;
sale of mineral ores alone would not give the economy the quality of
complement it requires now to wean itself from its current monolithic
profile. The real competitive advantage comes through value-addition and
that is where manufacturing also comes in.
State
governments routinely lower their caps every month before a Federal
Government that has no real source of sustenance, apart from crude oil.
The crude oil is sold as crude and imported as refined fuel, which
Nigerians scramble to distribute – with subsidy; while the banks
round-trip the accruals; creating a huge percentage of hungry,
unreached, unemployed people. If the gap between oil extraction and
distribution of fuels and other petroleum products is bridged internally
through manufacturing, a significant percentage of the unemployed would
be mopped off the streets, productively engaged to generate valid
wealth.
The benefits of value added venturing
have been ignored for too long to the harm of the economy. The
government can only absorb so many in the civil service. It is the real
sector that engages unemployed persons to generate wealth.
A 2012 Central Bank of Nigeria figure
revealed that the manufacturing sector contributed only a little over
seven per cent to the nation’s GDP whereas in the economies of the
industrialised nations, varied manufacturing activities account for
close to 50 per cent of the GDP.
Mining, our best alternative to crude oil
in terms of employment generation, import substitution, foreign
exchange earnings and so on, presently contributes less than three per
cent.
The nation is still burdened by the
skewed economy created by her colonial past. The colonialists; who
understandably owed and lent their primary loyalty to their homeland,
Britain, crafted an import-dependent protocol that the nation must now
work hard to reconstruct. The steel threads they built as railways were
not meant for our development but basically for the haulage of raw
commodities from the hinterlands to the coastal areas from where they
could be shipped overseas. Today’s economy must now strengthen a
manufacturing and processing sector that would provide finished goods
for local consumption and for export.
The recent award of 65 licenses to
would-be manufacturers of refined crude oil products is a leap in the
direction of progress because it represents a new determination to add
value to our oil resources. The same is possible for our non-oil
resources. Using the words of a former President of the Nigerian Mining
and Geosciences Society, Dr. Marie-Stella Sonuga, at a 2009 NMGS
Conference, “We should wake up to the fact that there is nothing like
‘technology transfer’. We should endeavour to acquire knowledge, steal
technology if we must, and adapt this to our conditions.
“There is need for NMGS, COMEG and the
financial sector to work hand in hand for meaningful mineral
industrialisation, instead of waiting indefinitely for foreign
investors. It would also be useful if the body of professionals could
show confidence in the sector by investing in it. NMGS members could use
our connections with the Ministry of Mines and Steel to obtain loans
from organisations such as the Africa Development Bank, International
Finance Corporation etc. COMEG could serve as a clearing house for any
mining project to be embarked upon by indigenous entrepreneurs. This
will give confidence to any financial institution as to the viability of
such projects”.
One area of manufacturing that can
readily benefit Nigeria’s GDP is the revival of its ceramics plants
across the country. Ceramics products include tableware such as plates,
mugs (some of which we call China yet we can manufacture them locally),
ornamental ware like flower vases, decorative porcelains; sanitary ware
{water cistern units, wash hand basins, bathtubs), floor and wall tiles,
etc. It is projected that the global ceramics market would reach $408bn
by 2018 and Nigeria can corner a significant share of that market.
Locally, the demand is also very high as
the country currently spends about N5bn annually importing ceramic
products. Nearly 100 per cent of required raw materials for ceramics
production can be sourced locally.
Ironically, most of the old factories
across the country were shutting down when the Federal Capital
Territory, Abuja was under construction in the 1980s and 1990s. It is
instructive that the nation spent billions of dollars on imported
sanitary ware for the development of Abuja while local ceramics
industries set up to produce those wares were shutting down.
States can learn from the Kano State
government that have over the years, trained youths in the utilisation
of local resources like kaolin for paint production and in the
processing of gemstones.
The Federal Government, development
partners, venture capitalists and willing entrepreneurs can revisit the
ceramics subsector to create new jobs.
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