Nigerians have confused development with industrialization and we are trying to become a developed country without industrializing first.

Most Nigerians seem to think that all the governments responsibilities are building roads, schools, not being corrupt and creating infrastructure, and when this happens Nigeria will be as livable as the U.S. We also seem to think that the government  shouldn't get involved in business leaving it to the private sector.
This is superficial development, because it doesn't involve industrialization. The only way a country can industrialize is by creating several key industries.

Fire brick factory- This is regular brick mixed with kaolin, so it can withstand extreme temperatures. Silica Fire bricks are necessary to build the inside of Oil refineries & steel mills. Fortunately Nigeria is blessed with huge kaolin reserves but we don't have a firebrick factory.

Steel Plant- this is how the American economy industrialized. having a local steel factory is vital for manufacturing because it would help Nigerian manufactures be cost competitive.

24 hour electricity- not so much for people but for businesses  to lower production costs.

Textile factory- this would increase employment and keep Nigerian money in the economy. All the government has too do is put tariffs on clothing imports and sponsor indigenous clothing manufacturers.
Tariffs are the most important tool a government can use to industrialize. The U.S gov at one point had a 45% tariff on European goods, which basically created the manufacturing industry in the N.E


We also need to stop focusing on education,  it wont do Nigerians any good until we industrialize.

Re: Nigeria Is Trying To Develope Without Industrializing.

How possible is that? Develop with industrializing?
It's like jumping before crawling

I've always toed this line whenever Nigerians say they are developing. There is no theory of development which foregoes the industrialisation stage

i don't think nigeria can develop without industrisation

ZnO:

How possible is that? Develop with industrializing?
It's like jumping before crawling

^it's not possible that's why Nigeria is failing. Look at projects like tinnapa.

Building world class schools, hospitals, importing the best cars etc. Instead of investing in a steel factory.

That is trying to develope without industrializing.

the only way nigeria can leave this mess and upgrade is too invest heavly on the innoson cars

that alone would make branches to other areas even electricity

all this textile etc would not do much

once nigeria can invest in innoson cars or a car industry then we would kick off

the workers that employ alone is unimagianble in nigeria terms

pleep:

Building world class schools, hospitals, importing the best cars etc. Instead of investing in a steel factory.

That is trying to develope without industrializing.

no way, that would not go far unless u are using crude oil money ie resources

The other day ekt_bear was asking what business states have owning hotels. How then you u expect us to develop as a nation if we're going to leave everything to the private sector. Taxing these companies may not necessarily take you to where you wanna be.

alj_harem:

the only way nigeria can leave this mess and upgrade is too invest heavly on the innoson cars

that alone would make branches to other areas even electricity

all this textile etc would not do much

once nigeria can invest in innoson cars or a car industry then we would kick off

the workers that employ alone is unimagianble in nigeria terms

innoson cars cannot be mass produced without a steel factory and a steel factory cannot be built without a firebrick factory and the firebrick factory cannot work without 24 hour electricity.

afam4eva:

The other day ekt_bear was asking what business states have owning hotels. How then you u expect us to develop as a nation if we're going to leave everything to the private sector. Taxing these companies  may not necessarily take you to where you wanna be.

I think that the government should provide the proper environment for things, but leave most of the heavy lifting to the private sector.

Anyway, owning a hotel doesn't help in industrializing. I assume the OP means heavy or light industry that actually makes stuff and employs lots of labor. Hotels don't fit that description.

Besides, either (A) a hotel venture is going to be profitable, in which case the private sector will step in and build it or (B) it isn't profitable, in which case the government has no business being in it

alj_harem:

no way, that would not go far unless u are using crude oil money ie resources

I really think you are missing the point.

If the government had 200 trillion dollars instantly what would they do? Embezzle 50% and spend the rest building world class schools and hospitals and universal health care & pensions.


I'm saying that that stuff like that is superficial development, Nigeria needs to focus on building industries.

If 24/7 electricity happens, most of these things will happen naturally. Nigeria will be able to produce goods competitively against the rest of the world. People will open up small textile businesses, food processing facilities, etc.

^^ we need the steel mill also, that is to expenisve for the private sector to do alone.


Nigeria cannot industrialize on the private sector alone, like England did, Because there is to much international competition.

For an African country to industrialize  the government needs to invest agressivly and put up protective tariffs.  The people must stop importing everything.

pleep:

innoson cars cannot be made efficently without a steel factory and a steel factory cannot be built without a firebrick factory and the firebrick factory cannot work without 24 hour electricity.

ah you see that is the catch, i said heavy investment

now as u know the FG has spent upto 900 billion close to a trilion on ajekuta steel mine ( i brought the thread up sometimes ago)

this money has be swalloed up by the same FG that claim to have invested on it


as you rightly said innson cars is not effiecent without some certain industies being functional

that is what the FG needs to look at

Oil will end soon and the sooner we leave this oil madness and look to out population and how to feed, pay, employ them and still make money off them, the better

if the FG can spend trillions on abuja, then why can they do every thing in there power to get the steel mine working


the steal mines can work on coal  from enugu or wood from the west. it is not neccessary to have the power industry working but if it's works, then that is a bounes

now another point is that the FG can bring in experates to train FRESH GRADUATES on how to build the engines etc

the word Fresh is very important.

if all this is done, the innoson cars will be part private part FG where shares of 90% fg and 10% owner

then watch as nigeria would be the best country in africa and indeed top 10 in the world

pleep:

I really think you are missing the point.

If the government had 200 trillion dollars instantly what would they do? Embezzle 50% and spend the rest building world class schools and hospitals and universal health care & pensions.


I'm saying that that stuff like that is superficial development, Nigeria needs to focus on building industries.

ok, yes you are right on that bolded part

pleep:

^^ we need the steel mill also, that is to expenisve for the private sector to do alone.


Nigeria cannot industrialize on the private sector alone, like England did, Because there is to much international competition.

For an African country to industrialize  the government needs to invest agressivly and put up protective tariffs.  The people must stop importing everything.

yeah but after the investment by the FG they need to sell it to a private investor

Regarding steel mill: For me, I want to get the low-hanging fruit before worrying about the more difficult things. You can create a pretty nice economy and employ a lot of labor even if you just focused on textiles and food processing. And it doesn't require any sort of heavy government investment. Focus on dominating light industry in Nigeria and West Africa before going for heavy industry.

I disagree about Nigeria not being able to industrialize just on private sector alone. If there is 24/7 electricity, all those textile shops which they have in Eastern Asia, I don't see why I cannot have them in Nigeria. What structural disadvantage would Nigeria have? Labor is relatively cheap in Nigeria just like it is in Asia.

ekt_bear:

Regarding steel mill: For me, I want to get the low-hanging fruit before worrying about the more difficult things. You can create a pretty nice economy and employ a lot of labor even if you just focused on textiles and food processing. And it doesn't require any sort of heavy government investment. Focus on dominating light industry in Nigeria and West Africa before going for heavy industry.

I disagree about Nigeria not being able to industrialize just on private sector alone. If there is 24/7 electricity, all those textile shops which they have in Eastern Asia, I don't see why I cannot have them in Nigeria. What structural disadvantage would Nigeria have? Labor is relatively cheap in Nigeria just like it is in Asia.

you see the thing about nigeria is tribalism, no section in the country wants a Nuclear power plant in there area

the north would shout

the west was even the first

it can not be done in the SS because of crude oil

the east would not allow it

the middle belt says they do not want it

so about power, i think that should be forgotten for now

coal can be used for steal mills etc what do u think

There is no need for nuclear in a country with some of the largest natural gas reserves on earth. Would you really trust nuclear power in a country like Nigeria? 

Who wants their village/ethnic group to be wiped or destroyed by radiation when something goes wrong with the plant

ekt_bear:

There is no need for nuclear in a country with some of the largest natural gas reserves on earth.

natural gas that ND would kill any nigerian going to explore there

i think we can go for coal (although ineffiecent) since we are developing the SE as well in the process

think of the industriialstion that would bring to Nigeria as a whole

even other african countries would beg to be nigerians so they can work

i think the FG needs to do this

alj_harem:

ah you see that is the catch, i said heavy investment

now as u know the FG has spent upto 900 billion close to a trilion on ajekuta steel mine ( i brought the thread up sometimes ago)

this money has be swalloed up by the same FG that claim to have invested on it


as you rightly said innson cars is not effiecent without some certain industies being functional

that is what the FG needs to look at

Oil will end soon and the sooner we leave this oil madness and look to out population and how to feed, pay, employ them and still make money off them, the better

if the FG can spend trillions on abuja, then why can they do every thing in there power to get the steel mine working


the steal mines can work on coal  from enugu or wood from the west. it is not neccessary to have the power industry working but if it's works, then that is a bounes

now another point is that the FG can bring in experates to train FRESH GRADUATES on how to build the engines etc

the word Fresh is very important.

if all this is done, the innoson cars will be part private part FG where shares of 90% fg and 10% owner

then watch as nigeria would be the best country in africa and indeed top 10 in the world

The story of ajekuta is very sickening. Part of the reason the project failed was the lack of a firebrick factory   honestly I have a feeling that ajekuta and other industrilization projects are being sabotaged by foreign interests.

On the bright side firebricks are not hard to make so the private sector could theoretically handle that.  

Ekt bear you may be right about the private sector being able to do this. . .

pleep:

The story of ajekuta is very sickening. Part of the reason the project failed was the lack of a firebrick factory   honestly I have a feeling that ajekuta and other industrilization projects are being sabotaged by foreign interests.

On the bright side firebricks are not hard to make so the private sector could theoretically handle that.  

Ekt bear you may be right about the private sector being able to do this. . .

ajeokuta is the most saddening thing about nigeria, but on the brighter note the firebricks can be done by someone with some couple of millions not even billions. and yes the foreign powers are in this because of the world trade of demand and supply.

also, ajeokuta still has a long way to go before being profitable

they still need foreign investment because of some machineries and professionals we need

also our Fresh gradutes need to know how this things work so they can be given the resposiblity in the near future

@ topic

industrialized countries have nuclear power.

tpia@:

@ topic

industrialized countries have nuclear power.

well said but we can;t do a nuclear power in nigeria

how sad

This post is the most reasonable and positive thread I have seen on any forum or news media associated with Nigeria since 2007.Nigeria in the 1970s was infrastructurally developed because roads were all in good condition,our schools were some of the best in Africa,there was steady power supply,the naira was competing in value with Dollar and Pound etc,

The mistake we made is repeating itself at the moment.Every state is competing in road construction,fly overs,cleanliness and leaving out the two key elements of development which is industrialization and Agriculture.No nation can develop based on importation of everything including food and tooth pick.

With the way things are going, once the oil price crashes,we are in for another long years of hardship.

This post is the most reasonable and positive thread I have seen on any forum or news media associated with Nigeria since 2007.

I really appreciate that. thanks

Abagworo:

This post is the most reasonable and positive thread I have seen on any forum or news media associated with Nigeria since 2007.Nigeria in the 1970s was infrastructurally developed because roads were all in good condition,our schools were some of the best in Africa,there was steady power supply,the naira was competing in value with Dollar and Pound etc,

The mistake we made is repeating itself at the moment.Every state is competing in road construction,fly overs,cleanliness and leaving out the two key elements of development which is industrialization and Agriculture.No nation can develop based on importation of everything including food and tooth pick.

[size=14pt]With the way things are going, once the oil price crashes,we are in for another long years of hardship[/size].

very well said

good


this is what i am seeing in the near future, i tell you

also, don't forget that in the 70's we had the zice, tin mills in plateau which boosted nigeria in ways  tht even jos is still multiethnic tell today

we need to look at industral farming

car maunfacturing by investing in the ready made on like innoson cars]

go back to that ajeokota project

uranuim and gold mineing in sokoto and kano

coal to power the power sector.
etc

oil is going

@alj harem and @tpia: I don't think nuclear power specifically is that important. You just need power. Btw, some of the countries which use nuclear power get a negligible amount of their electricity from it (see China at less than 2%, SA at 5%): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_power_by_country#Nuclear_power_output_in_megawatts

So it isn't that big a deal.

ekt_bear:

@alj harem and @tpia: I don't think nuclear power specifically is that important. You just need power. Btw, some of the countries which use nuclear power get a negligible amount of their electricity from it (see China at less than 2%, SA at 5%): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_power_by_country#Nuclear_power_output_in_megawatts

So it isn't that big a deal.

ok, then coal is there then

oil and gas is a no go area

I wish our thinking will remain on how to developed the country rather than spewing hatred,bigotry and tribalism. In 2006/ 2007 when Nigerian banks are declaring wide profit, i was scare of the banking activities, coz there's no way in a country where there's no industrial developments banks will earn what Nigerian bank are claiming. As time goes we  find out na magu magu. That's what will happen, when industries are not developed i don't know which development we would be proud of,

Abu-Maryam:

I wish our thinking will remain on how to developed the country rather than spewing hatred,bigotry and tribalism. In 2006/ 2007 when Nigerian banks are declaring wide profit, i was scare of the banking activities, coz there's no way in a country where there's no industrial developments banks will earn what Nigerian bank are claiming. As time goes we  find out na magu magu. That's what will happen, when industries are not developed i don't know which development we would be proud of,    

that is if there is any development at all