BY OIKONOMIA WITH LEKAN SOTE
The rate at which Nigerians relocate to other countries as economic migrants is unbelievable. The tragedy is that even the highly skilled and talented, who should lead in the task of Nigeria’s economic emancipation are the guiltiest these days.
Nigerians with PhDs, professionals of all cadres, who are above middle level managerial positions in the corporate world, entrepreneurial types, who should be building giant corporations that, will raise the country’s Gross Domestic Product, create employment and pay substantial taxes to finance public service projects, are moving out of Nigeria in droves.
Sometime in 2021 Nigeria Bureau of Statistics said the unemployment rate in Nigeria was 33 per cent. It is now being whispered that it has risen to 44 per cent, which, you might like to know, is an extremely dangerous revelation.
What is ironic is that whilst statistics indicate that there is a high unemployment rate, the same statistics also indicate that there is high demand for lecturers in tertiary institutions, and professionals in personnel management, marketing, management, all facets of media production and the digital economy.
What this means, in terms of insecurity, is that the devil will find work for more idle hands. You can expect further increase in robbery, banditry, insurgency, ritual killings and all manners of violence and crime against the Nigerian state and citizens.
It’s a wonder that neither the government nor Nigeria Inc, realises the need to retrain a whole lot of marginally qualified individuals to engage in these areas of employment deficit, both in government and the corporate world.
The digital revolution is birthing android phones, payment Apps and fintechs, electric cars, space travels, micro blogs and a slew of social media platforms, genetic engineering and a whole world of doo-hickies provide new challenges and opportunities.
Incidentally, those who have competences in the new technologies cannot practice in Nigeria because the absorptive capacity of the economy is low. Even those trained in the traditional professions, medicine, pharmacy, architecture and other fields are finding their way out of the nearly moribund economy.
It is increasingly looking as if those who run the economic space of Nigeria –the state actors and the denizens of the corporate world– do not seem to have a clue of what they ought to be doing to put Nigeria to work.
You will probably laugh –fitting to burst– when you view television footages of Kano State Governor, Abdullahi Ganduje, who incidentally has a PhD, is grandly handing over loafs of bread, satchels of milk and beverages, tins of margarine, kettles and coal ports to poverty-stricken individuals, with the explanation that he is given them economic empowerment.
Those who might consider themselves as more serious minded distribute pepper grinding machines or sewing machines, complete with tape rule and scissors, to the appreciative wretched of the earth. If Franz Fanon wouldn’t turn in his grave because of the pejorative use of the title of his seminal examination of the state of the poor of the world is questionable.
All the talk, and flattering reports, about the success of the Anchor Borrowers scheme designed by the Central Bank of Nigeria and its Governor, Godwin Emefiele, who is combining his monetary policy duties with the macroeconomic policy responsibility of the absentee Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, doesn’t seem to be adding up to much.
Government and Nigeria Inc. must look into two things to engage the people. The first is alternative technology, different from engines fabricated at the dawn of the Industrial Revolution to produce sundry manufactures, like textile, automobiles, agricultural crops and other Fast Moving Consumer Goods.
Well, this is not to say the engines that manufacture these products should be discarded. It is not even possible to retire these technologies because the products they produce are still in use. No. You would have noticed that despite the amount of literature warning that fossil fuel is going out of fashion it promises to stay here for a long time to come.
Just imagine the world’s inventory of ships, aircrafts, automobiles, boilers and manufacturing plants that still must use fossil fuel, and be advised that fossil fuel is not going away soon, notwithstanding the predictions of pundits.
“All the talk, and flattering reports, about the success of the Anchor Borrowers scheme designed by the Central Bank of Nigeria and its Governor, Godwin Emefiele, who is combining his monetary policy duties with the macroeconomic policy responsibility of the absentee Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, doesn’t seem to be adding up to much
“
But in addition to retaining the wheel for large scale manufacturing, Nigeria must urgently explore other technologies. There is a report that Vice President Yemi Osinbajo is leading a chase for the wealth of the sea. The aqua-economy is not fully explored.
It should remind you of the way he stared down CBN Governor Emefiele who was about to criminalise the use of crypto currency, simply because he didn’t understand it. Even now that Governor Emefiele discusses crypto currency you can detect evidence of his scanty understanding of the concept.
He speaks about crypto currency in broad strokes and avoids detailed explanation of the idea. That is why conversation about crypto currency is not completely mainstreamed. Maybe Vice President Osinbajo still needs to do some more drilling down for Governor Godwin to double down.
And somebody, preferably Nigerians, should stay back to turn the vast mineral resources of Nigeria into processed products.
If everyone runs to the economies where value is added to raw materials Nigeria will remain poor. Many of those who become economic migrants in other climes have nowhere, or no skills, to turn the mineral resources of Nigeria into processed goods.
That is why Nigeria exports cocoa beans and then turns around to import chocolate.
This brings the conversation to the issue of developing relevant human capital to man the new and old technologies. Experts say that human capital deals with the economic value of a worker’s experience and skills.
The experts also add that human capital development is the gamut of processes used to improve the performances, capabilities and resources in order to achieve enhanced desired results.
Take a look at the concept of a disarticulated economy, whereby an economy produces goods that its citizens do not need, but imports products that it needs. An example is the production of petroleum that is not needed, its crude state by the Nigerian economy, being exchanged for petroleum products that Nigeria’s economy needs. Therefore, an articulated economy is that which produces what it needs.
If you borrow that metaphor for the idea of human capital development for Nigeria, the government and Nigeria Inc. must, as a matter of urgency, develop personnel with a perfect fit for the type of economy it needs, and, this, on the scale of the Marshall Plan.
Remember how the Action Group government, led by Obafemi Awolowo, established teacher training institutions in order to generate a significant number of teachers that will teach pupils who were going to be beneficiaries of its Free Primary School Education programme.
The development of relevant human capital that will run the desired economy that Nigeria needs must be accomplished like yesterday. To achieve this, the government and Nigeria Inc. must thoroughly look into the Nigerian educational system with an intention to rejig it for the type of economy desired.
That way, more Nigerians will be persuaded to stay back and make Nigeria work. Where the right personnel meet the right work environment the economy will progress. Thus begins a virtuous cycle, whereby more good hands stay back in Nigeria because there’s more good work to be done.
Who bells the cat?
