Nigeria as an economy has never really got going when it comes to the mass production of consumer goods

By Ayo Akinfe

(1) Like every other economy in the world, Nigeria lives at the mercy of supply and demand fundamentals. We are thus particularly vulnerable to inflation as with a population of 200m, there is always going to be a massive demand for consumer goods

(2) As an economy, we have never been able to produce just one consumer good in sufficient quantities to a point whereby we can confidently say supply exceeds demand. Consequently, inflation - which means too much money running after too few goods - is always going to be a feature of the Nigerian economy

(3) What successive governments have done since independence is open up our borders to imports to allay any shortages. To be honest, I do not think the governments have had any other choice. They were caught between a rock and a hard place. It is either they allow Nigeria to become a dumping ground fir foreign imports or the bony hand of hunger decimates our people as hyper-inflation gallops out of control because we produce very little domestically

(4) Today’s government is keen to reduce imports, hence the closure of our borders. However, we still have the problem of domestic supply seriously lagging behind demand. Apart from quantity, there are also issues with quality, unit costs and consequently consumer price. To know if your domestic supply industry is genuinely working, it must be able to compete with rivals on quality and price anywhere in the world, once the playing field is level

(5) When you have a huge market the way Nigeria has, you simply have to mass produce goods as Henry Ford showed the world. Mr Ford's philosophy was one of economic independence for the US. His River Rouge plant became the world's largest industrial complex, pursuing vertical integration to such an extent that it could produce its own steel

(6) Ford's goal was to produce a vehicle from scratch without reliance on foreign trade. By 1932, Ford was manufacturing one third of all the world's automobiles. It set up numerous subsidiaries that sold or assembled the Ford cars and trucks. Mr Ford’s approach was simple - automate the process to a point whereby you can pick an unskilled labourer off the street and he could fit in, still churning out quality goods in mass quantities

(7) It was this principle of mass production that ultimately won World War Two for the allies. While German Messerschmitt Bf 109 and Focke-Wulf 190 aircraft were manufactured by skilled craftsmen in small quantities, US firms were churning out B-24s and P-51 Mustang fighter jets in their hundreds. What this meant is the US was producing 100 planes a day to say Germany’s 20 a day. In such a scenario, there is always only going to be one winner

(8) Now, prior to the outbreak of World War Two, European nations did not rate America as an industrial economy. They wrote her off kind of similar to the way many people write off Nigeria today. America was seen as an agrarian economy that was only really ever going to dominate the world in showbiz. If Adolf Hitler was told that by 1945, the US would be producing over half of the world’s fighter jets and bombers, he might have thought twice about declaring war on them in 1941

(9) America was simply able to expand because of her potential. Like Nigeria today, she had the land, a labour pool made up of millions, vast natural resources and thus could build greenfield projects from scratch. Now, that is simply what we need to do in Nigeria. Across a whole range of sectors, including consumer household goods, essential food items, clothing materials, automobiles, mobile phones, electrical appliances, machine tools, etc, we need replicate what Henry Ford did in the US in the 1920s

(10) For some reason, state capitalism never succeeded in Nigeria. In numerous other countries, state-owned companies thrived and did well. As we speak, Ethiopian Airlines is still 100% owned by the government. In the Nigerian private sector on the other hand, there simply has not been enough competition for it to expand. Brands like Bournvita, Omo, Sunlight, Peak, Maggi, De Rica, etc have had too much dominance. Our challenge now, has got to be how do we mass produce goods by either attracting foreign investors, developing local enterprueners or floating state-owned firms. I for one am not bothered who produces the goods as long as they are of top quality, cheap and mass produced