Nigeria desperately needs to establish a directorate of mass production

Ayo Akinfe 

[1] Basically, the biggest defect of the Nigerian economy is that we import too many consumer goods. We simply do not produce what we consume 

[2] Any Year One BA Economics student will reveal that this scenario is simply not sustainable. A nation will always have balance of trade and balance of payment deficits when it consumes more than it produces 

[3] I can summarise Nigeria’s fundamental problem in one sentence - As a people we are not productive enough. As a result of this, everyone is chasing after the limited resources available, hence why corruption and crime are rife 

[4] What is ironic is that Nigerians are very innovative people. We always come up with ideas and suggestions but turning these into finished marketable products is our Archilles Heel as a people 

[5] As we speak, Nigerian engineers have designed drones, armoured personnel carriers, coastal patrol boats, Covid-19 ventilators, etc, just to name a few products. However, they all remain at the prototype stage 

[6] Apart from maybe Innoson Motors in Nnewi, I cannot think of one Nigerian company that can produce say 1m units of a product. Until we address this malady, we are going nowhere as a nation 

[7] When I look at the number of Nigerian women who carry Louis Vuitton handbags, I ask myself why we do not have the world’s largest factory. I put it to you all that Nigerian ladies buy more Louis Vuitton handbags than the women of any other nation on earth but alas, to our shame, we do not manufacture one unit of these bags 

[8] Anyone looking for a government solution to the problem here is not familiar with the workings of global economics. With industrial goods, the government commissions prototypes or gets its agencies to come up with designs, then it gets the organised private sector to mass produce such goods. Nigeria simply lacks an organised private sector 

[9] In this photograph, an ingenious Nigerian has come up with a prototype of a wallet that holds your phone while it charges. Now, how do we mass produce this product, churning out 2m units a year?

[10] If you ask me, the Nigeria has no option than to enter into pacts with about a dozen global manufacturers, with an agreement that they will mass produce any prototypes a federal government directorate gives them. Maybe start with a dozen firms like Siemens, Ford, Mitsubishi, Kraft, Renault and General Motors