Nigeria And Productivity…

OBI TRICE EMEKA

 

Productivity is a function of economic activities within a given location. Since the 80’s discussions on expanding Nigeria’s productive base have been rife. No government hasn’t made it a talking point yet it weakens every year.

A walk in any mall in Nigeria will give you a quick measure of Nigeria’s productivity. Shelve to shelve you will see tons of imported products with only very little made in Nigeria. Nigeria is a consumption nation.

Over the years many have blamed the unproductivity in Nigeria on infrastructure, access to funding, harsh economic conditions and sometimes unavailability of skills. While all these are true, I believe something deeper is involved.

I believe Nigerians can’t become productive without Nigerians developing patriotism- loyalty to Nigerian creations no matter how imperfect. Remember when we mocked Chinese products just 15 years ago? This is what Nigerians need. I call it trial and error innovation.

Economic growth is a function of the numbers chasing your currency; it is a function of imports and exports. An importing economy will never be productive, rather they will keep supporting the productivity in other countries.

Nigerians have this addiction to foreign products. It is a sign of class and by cultural programming, Nigerians love class distinction. Culture is stubborn. Beyond many listed reasons for our unproductivity, our stubborn culture of addiction to foreign products is often not factored in. I am of a strong opinion that before we can become a productive nation, we must first change the culture of addiction to foreign products.

I know my free-trade advocates will disagree. They will say that we should allow products to compete and the better products in terms of quality and pricing be bought by consumers. This is false. I have never read of any nation that has spurred productivity by relying on free trade. Free and other liberal economic concepts like comparative advantage come only when you have broken the odds and are prospering. In any case, comparative advantage is not a gift of nature. It can and has always been developed.

I told a friend last year, that if Nigeria can not produce the rice it consumes, it better stop eating rice and change its meal plan to reflect that even if it is potatoes. This is why I supported the ban on rice importation. I am happy to see many of my friends making money and being productive milling rice. I accept the trade-off: jobs over higher prices.

Nigerians often want Nigerian products perfect before they purchase them. It will never happen. I like the trial and error production that the Indians are doing. Their machines are not 70% efficient but it allows local engineers to find solutions to local problems using local materials. Almost all Engineering textbooks in Nigerian universities are now written by Indians while ours just go on strike without any addition in value.

This is why I appreciate Egbon Adebayo Ladi for giving me an opportunity to do my trial and error engineering on his farm. I got the defeathering machine wrong but have learnt and adjusted. Building his ranch was the first time I was doing something like that but I succeeded at that.

This trial and error Engineering/ production is what Nigerians must do. It is only when Nigerian engineers and producers become productive and sharpen their skills in Nigeria that we can export them and earn from it . It is through this trial and error and patronage-based on patriotism and not on economics that we will improve, earn more income, purchase better equipment, adopt technology and compete with the rest of the world. Expecting them to compete with the rest of the world from the bottom is fiction.

We have been obsessed with export and our economic development has been about exporting to match up revenue. Fine, but why don’t we try focusing on local consumption? To the best of my knowledge, I don’t know what we can produce that will match up with the European producers of these same items. At best, what we can export are raw materials. A friend suggested textile and I was wondering how we can compete with the Asian manufacturers. We have a large population here and there has a large appetite for consumption. Let’s start with them, let them be the experiment. Learn with them, then gradually move to Africa with Intra-Africa trade still at a despicable 18%. What are we even producing enough in this country? Even the agbado we are not producing enough. I lost money this year betting on the price of agbado to go up only for the FG to allow imports as scarcity of agbado hit in and the price crashed and I lost out.

Think of it, what manufactured goods can we possibly export to Europe at the moment? If we process our cocoa into chocolate bars and all that, it will still not beat the European ones but it can be a great replacement for imported ones in Nigeria and gradually move to the rest of Africa.

My point is this, to spur productivity, beyond all identified issues over the years, Nigeria must become apostles of Nigerian products despite the imperfections. If we don’t change our preferences for anything foreign against that from Nigeria will change.

Economic Development is a tough nut to crack and it requires regulation and bullying of personal choices. This is why many democratic nations have not developed economically in the last 50 years.

 

 

NB: Before you debate and mention countries, factor in population.