Flaghouse1:
[/b]

Omohayek,
Your comment got me thinking for you to say steel is a low margin commodity I believe you must be an expert in this field,we as Nigerians lack research capabilities and most of our business case analysis don't really paint a true picture of the reality,the Ajaokuta plant really needs a major overhaul of all its activities to determine the profitability of the project , i. Worked in Kogi state in 2004 -2007 and I cannot see any meaningful limprovement in its activities during my stay in the state.

If by your statement steel is a low margin commodity why can't we channel the resources to other high margin commodity-Agriculture and others for the time being and see how we could cut down on the cost element in the plant or invite credible investors for the time being to optimize plant potential for say 3 to 5 years and let's see how it goes

Because too many ordinary Nigerians are obsessed with steel as if it were a magic ingredient, ignorance the political class are more than willing to exploit to loot. By far the biggest return investments the Nigerian government could make would be in roads, railways and electricity, all of which would improve economic conditions for all sectors of the economy, but these areas don't have the strange sex appeal steel seems to hold for a lot of ignorant people.

The strangest thing about the steel obsession is that if you look at the fastest-growing and most profitable sectors in the global economy, none of them are based on knowledge of steel at all! AI, biotechnology, drug development and software development have no direct connection to steel, but a single tech firm like Facebook or Google makes more profit in a year than the world's entire steel industry has probably made in the last decade. The steel worshipers seem to be stuck in a 1930s time warp.

omohayek:


Unfortunately, the answer is no. Ajaokuta was already an obsolete Soviet relic back in 1982, and steel production technology has moved on since then. Even efficient European and American steel producers are unable to compete with the Chinese, who have a serious domestic overcapacity problem, which they are trying to solve by dumping abroad.

Steel is a low-margin commodity business, and the Nigerian obsession with it just betrays ignorance and an obsession with prestige projects over economic realities. The truth is that the only people who have benefited from Ajaokuta over the last 40 years are politicians looking for an easy way to steal public funds.

can you name any major economy whose industrial and infacstructural growth rely on foreign steel?

Guyman02:
If you want to fully resuscitate that plant ask Vladimir Putin for help. The Russians who built it can Complete, Operate and Transfer to us, if only we can dare the west and keep them and their institutions of IMF and World Bank aside who misadvised our military rulers to abandon the project because they were then in a Cold War with the Soviet Union.

The West encouraged Nigeria to buy very cheap steel from their allies and our leaders fell for the deception and abandoned Ajaokuta because they knew little of international politics and scheming between the West and Eastern Blocs.
China had access to cheap steel but still went ahead to develop their steel industry which is now heavily taxed in America to discourage importation from China into US. (Why is America and Britain putting so much tax on Steel, why dont they accept cheap steel from abroad but will rather pay more for locally produced steel? that is the question those trying to condemn this move should ask themselves).
I dont support Buhari in many political matters but on this one he has my support.

Every great country must have a functioning Steel Industry even if they can get cheap steel from elsewhere, you cant be taken serious when your local manufacturers such as Innoson and small scale producers in Aba, Awka, Kano, Bida, Ijebu etc foundries, imports all their steel needs from abroad or depend on scrap metal from used vehicle and machine parts.

You are on point! I like that Putin guy, he doesn't exploit other nations like Obama and America. Russia can do it, it's about agreement

vodutive:


at this stage in Nigeria's development, it is better to start with an inefficient industry than to have none at all.

This is 2017, if you start with an inefficient technology, you will never catch up.
There's no point spending scarce resources on a dead plant. The government should give for free the plant to the original builders and use this money for more important things.

AZeD1:

This is 2017, if you start with an inefficient technology, you will never catch up.
There's no point spending scarce resources on a dead plant. The government should give for free the plant to the original builders and use this money for more important things.

At least if you start with an inefficient steel industry you can kickstart other industries and maybe your steel industry can crow large enough to install more efficient plants but one thing is for sure and this you can be sure of ......you cannot catch if you are not even in the race and you will never be in the race if you import.

omohayek:
So they are going to waste another 4.2 billion on this obsolete white elephant of a project, in a world which is already suffering from a glut of cheap Chinese steel? Yet more proof of the utter cluelessness of this government!

Ajaokuta provides a foolproof method for determining whether one is dealing with an economic ignoramus or not: anyone who supports this stupid money-sink can't have the first clue what he or she is talking about.

Its easy now
Na to tax the steel coming from china like the way they banned rice importation

Tho successful government can take bribe from government buy flooding the country with china cheap steal

vodutive:

At least if you start with an inefficient steel industry you can kickstart other industries and maybe your steel industry can crow large enough to install more efficient plants but one thing is for sure and this you can be sure of ......you cannot catch if you are not even in the race and you will never be in the race if you import.

No you cannot kick-start other industries because nobody would buy your steel.
Nigeria should be moving towards our competitive strengths not trying to capture the lost decades.

We should be spending any spare money on our power infrastructure and not on reviving dead steel mills.

Anybody who wants to open a steel mill is free to do so but government money should not be used.
PS: Tata is about to sell it's steel mill in the UK because it makes no business sense and that is in a country with light, and transport infrastructure.

What chances does Ajaokuta have?

vodutive:


Abeg leave the fool taking nonsense, I'm sure left to him we should continue importing petrol because our refineries are outdated....slowpoke!

All these idiots that go to school to regurgitate without thinking.

I am afraid your debate/argument lacks substance. Find a way to express your opinion without insult.

Another food on the table of looters

Horlawoomey:


The company is located in the Town called Ajaokuta in Kogi state.

The kind of questions some people ask though

Horlawoomey:


The company is located in the Town called Ajaokuta in Kogi state.

The kind of questions some people ask thoug

omohayek:

Because too many ordinary Nigerians are obsessed with steel as if it were a magic ingredient, ignorance the political class are more than willing to exploit to loot. By far the biggest return investments the Nigerian government could make would be in roads, railways and electricity, all of which would improve economic conditions for all sectors of the economy, but these areas don't have the strange sex appeal steel seems to hold for a lot of ignorant people.

The strangest thing about the steel obsession is that if you look at the fastest-growing and most profitable sectors in the global economy, none of them are based on knowledge of steel at all! AI, biotechnology, drug development and software development have no direct connection to steel, but a single tech firm like Facebook or Google makes more profit in a year than the world's entire steel industry has probably made in the last decade. The steel worshipers seem to be stuck in a 1930s time warp.

Bros you are the ignorant on here... When you hear induatrial revolution what it simply mean is steel revolution. China, Japan, Korea, Singapore, India, Brazil did not get it right until when they got there steel right. Look all around you and know what steel means. Maybe you need to know that all thise bridges and building you see around are steel covered with concrete. Maybe they need to inform you that whenever you hear industrial machineries or agricultural machineries...they are simply referring to steel. You are so ignorant that you listed rail road and electricity as goverment greatest investment without realising that they are all bye product of steel economy. Bros AI, software development, bio tech and the rest you mentioned are not stand alone.... They arw mostly there to enhance performance of machineries that are built with steel.

Guyman02:


Comments like the above was what destroyed Ajaokuta, the Western countries and their IMF/World Bank who were in a cold war with the Soviet Union who built the Ajaokuta Steel Mill advised Nigeria to rather buy cheap steel from places like Australia instead of spending more money to fully complete it and let the Russians have a foothold in Nigeria, our military rulers who did not understand much of international politics quickly bought their idea and get the project in a comatose situation.
The coupists failed to consider the long term benefits of having a vibrant steel industry, now another ignoramus here is advising us again to go to China and buy cheap steel again. The thunder wey go fire you still dey wear singlet.

You are quite right, even if it's cheaper outside, reviving our steel industry would get many people employed, the deserted town of Ajaokuta would become revived and also become an economic city, and with some years of experience in steel production, we would also learn to produce cheap steel too. After all the Chinese who produce cheap steel don't have 2 heads, besides, we also have cheap labour in Nigeria just like China.

AZeD1:

No you cannot kick-start other industries because nobody would buy your steel.
Nigeria should be moving towards our competitive strengths not trying to capture the lost decades.

We should be spending any spare money on our power infrastructure and not on reviving dead steel mills.

Anybody who wants to open a steel mill is free to do so but government money should not be used.

We talk about building infrastructure, building railways....do you know how much steel is used in buildings, bridges etc? do you know how much steel that is required if we were to really build rail across the length and breath of Nigeria over the next few decades? But guess where it is coming from...China and guess who will have jobs...Chinese citizens aand in all of these you will be using your scare foreign exchange for something you have the capacity to produce locally and your people are unemployed?


This is the real problem with Nigerians...we don't think. It is better to pay more to use Nigerian steel to build our rail lines, our bridges and put our people in work and conserve our forex than to save a few bob importing cheaper steel. It's penny wise pound foolish!!! If people can't understand this, I give up.

Some people are so funny. If this government abandons the ajaokuta steel project you will say they've abandoned it. Now that they are working on it you are here saying they can't compete with China at pricing.

What I want all of you to understand is simple. Yes we can't compete with China but how is importing steal from China helps us with jobs? Exchange rates are what they are today largely because of Nigeria's inability to get more from crude sales that they normally do. We virtually export nothing but crude. We import everything; food, cloth, building materials, TOOTHPICK, petrol (after we sell our crude oil), drinks, etc.

We will never move forward as a nation economically to improve infrastructure and the well being of our own people until we manufacture our own. Steel may be expensive at the beginning but with time more steel companies will come on board which will bring about competition in the steel market in the long run. That will force the price of steel down.

This government is not all about what they can get. I believe the APC and PDP led governments are all corrupt but the APC are more passionate to moving Nigeria in the positive direction than the PDP.

Boko Haram menace almost over, agricultural sector is bn revived now we eat our own rice. Aliko Dangote's refinery to come on board in 2018 which will force down the price of petrol, now the steel company which I think the government after working on it will raise taxes on steel importation to force you buy our own steel which is good (more money in the economy and more jobs), a now functioning mining sector, which I believe in 10 to 15 years from now we will be able to sell what's not crude oil to other countries.

Even though we are marching slow, I believe as the citizen of Nigeria that we are marching in the direction that's best for me and you. We are marching on the right direction. And I believe president Muhammadu Buhari will not put his own interests ahead of the interest of almost 200 million people. We should all be patient as patience is key.

God Bless The Federal Republic of Nigeria
God Bless Us All.

DropShot:

Why are you perpetually bitter and frustrated?

Get it in your skull, this govt is very serious about reviving our moribund industries and has proved it with many actions.

E.g, Abuja Airport, many major federal roads such as East-West road, 2nd Niger Bridge, new fighter jets for the NA, just to mention a few.

What do you know about Abuja Airport--it is not a project--The airport project was design,contracted and built by the immediate past administration--the company is CCEC--with a rail line connecting the new terminal--Take your money and trave to Abuja and find out about the airport before you mis-inform the public
What the minister of state for Aviation is doing is to re-surface the run ways that has a crack-the question is at how much.
Don't try to praise somebody on a project you don't have an idea of--they are not building abuja airport--go to abuja and see it by yourself before you sing this wrong praises.

vodutive:


Firstly i never said govt control is a good thing,it is by definition inefficient. I said if you were to use your brain is that there are some industries that only govt has the capacity to initiate....after which they can sell. Stop trying to be too clever by halves.


Please my friend use your brain and stop wasting your time sending links ....this is common sense. Who is going to establish steel industry in Nigeria if not the govt 2) is an inefficient steel industry that provides jobs not better that expending scarce forex importing nails? 3) do countries all over the world not subsidise their uncompetitive/inefficient industries including steel or protect them? These are the issues.

This is not entirely true, the problem is the government isnt following the right steps; before building industries, the precursors or raw materials should be readily available. At the moment govt is not mining iron ore or allowing private companies to do so. Doing so will bring in the needed investors into the steel industry. The simple fact being even if this govt eventually make this steel industry functional, there will be a great problem of availability or raw materials which in turn mean the revitalized steel industry will remain dormant again pending the availabilty of iron ore through mining.

vodutive:



Like I said people like you read books without thinking. China is government led, Most of the Chinese companies are still govt owned fpr example, CCECC that is building toads, airports and rail in Nigeria is Chinese government owned. There are certain industries that only government handle do for now, either in the form of subsidies, guarantees or directly. The Russia you are talking about established these industries and then sold them off. You only have to look at power to know that there are certain industries that only govt can do for now. Since we sold the gencos please tell me the nigerian company that has invested anything meaningful in power generation? Nigerian companies do not have the capacity. Many industries in the UK were initially govt owned and then sold off. At the stage of our development, there are some industries that only govt can initiate or only viable with govt help so if you take all your oyinbo man theory of liberisation, you will be waiting forever and in the mean time your market will be a dumping ground and you'll create no jobs...which last time I checked is exactly what has happenned to Nigeria!! Alhaji chukwu Onigbanjo is not going to borrow money @27% from Nigerian banks to establish steel industries that don't provide immediate returns. The only industries where Nigerians can play big are Oil and Telecoms because the payback is relatively quick.

Nigeria needs 40,000MW, if govt were to borrow and build 40,000MW power plants over the next few years and then sell them, the power capacity will be there and cant be taken away irrespective of who owns it and Nigerians will reap the benefit. But if you are waiting for all the new gencos to build capacity, I can promise you in 10 years we will still be under 10,000W and the demand will have grown.
You want to industrialise you build and then you sell or commercialise. Govt has a role, don't believe everything your textbooks say. The problem is not govt involvement, the problem is corruption.

Who cares if the technology is obsolete, is the steel it produces bad steel? If not what exactly is your point?

Better from you this time. This is how you present an argument in a civil way.

Emekamex:


This is not entirely true, the problem is the government isnt following the right steps; before building industries, the precursors or raw materials should be readily available. At the moment govt is not mining iron ore or allowing private companies to do so. Doing so will bring in the needed investors into the steel industry. The simple fact being even if this govt eventually make this steel industry functional, there will be a great problem of availability or raw materials which in turn mean the revitalized steel industry will remain dormant again pending the availabilty of iron ore through mining.

One problem at a time. The 1st thing is to say, we are going to produce our own steel, we are going to build our infrastructure using our own steel, we are going to assemble busses using Nigerian steel. We are going to put our people to work.

Trump is there shouting American jobs American jobs, you think he is a fool? Even he knows the dangers of exporting your factories and jobs to Mexico/China.

omohayek:

Because too many ordinary Nigerians are obsessed with steel as if it were a magic ingredient, ignorance the political class are more than willing to exploit to loot. By far the biggest return investments the Nigerian government could make would be in roads, railways and electricity, all of which would improve economic conditions for all sectors of the economy, but these areas don't have the strange sex appeal steel seems to hold for a lot of ignorant people.

The strangest thing about the steel obsession is that if you look at the fastest-growing and most profitable sectors in the global economy, none of them are based on knowledge of steel at all! AI, biotechnology, drug development and software development have no direct connection to steel, but a single tech firm like Facebook or Google makes more profit in a [b]year than the world's entire steel industry has probably made in the last decade. The steel worshipers seem to be stuck in a 1930s time warp.[/b]

Omohayek,
I quite agree with your postulation above,in reality most of the developed economy we try to emulate today are not really making much from steel production,but in technology,drug development ,software development ,manpower development et al.we are no longer in. The industrial age but technological age where we think outside the box to acheive excellence.
The government realy needs to come up with radical solutions to improving power,roads,rail in the country to be able to increase our GDP without these there. Will be no small scale industries or enterprise developing in order to add to GBP and improve lives of the common man like me and you.Continous injection of scarce resources into the Ajaokuta project without a corresponding northward improvement in return will really be like putting water in a basket.
But our leaders are well read and travel outside why can't they implement some of the lofty projects ,ideas they see when they travel abroad

bisiki2:


Better from you this time. This is how you present an argument in a civil way.

I don't reckon with most people on Nairaland (our educational system being what it is over the last few decades) and if you look at my post history I rarely insult, the guy is obviously a cut above the rest and clearly well educated but his reasoning is so infuriating for someone supposedly well educated. It is us the so called well educated that have failed this country and it is precisely with that sort of thinking that fails to see the bigger picture..

.

vodutive:


We talk about building infrastructure, building railways....do you know how much steel is used in buildings, bridges etc? do you know how much steel that is required if we were to really build rail across the length and breath of Nigeria over the next few decades? But guess where it is coming from...China and guess who will have jobs...Chinese citizens aand in all of these you will be using your scare foreign exchange for something you have the capacity to produce locally and your people are unemployed?


This is the real problem with Nigerians...we don't think. It is better to pay more to use Nigerian steel to build our rail lines, our bridges and put our people in work and conserve our forex than to save a few bob importing cheaper steel. It's penny wise pound foolish!!! If people can't understand this, I give up.

The real problem with Nigeria is thinking Nigerians thinking we can produce everything.
As of today, the Ajaokuta steel complex that has never worked is 30 years outdated. Spending money on it is stupid.
The world is interconnected so anyone making reference to the industrial Revolution is simply out of date.

Let's say we want to compete with the Chinese on steel and in return they decide not to buy our Oil, what happens then?

The year is 2017 not 1930.

vodutive:


One problem at a time. The 1st thing is to say, we are going to produce our own steel, we are going to build our infrastructure using our own steel, we are going to assemble busses using Nigerian steel. We are going to put our people to work.

Trump is there shouting American jobs American jobs, you think he is a fool? Even he knows the dangers of exporting your factories and jobs to Mexico/China.

You still dont get it, we cant produce steel if we are not presently mining iron ore. It is just like building a refinery without mining crude oil first.
The basic steps in industrilization should be followed. Govt should invest more in raw materials and then allow the private sector to convert them to finished products.

AZeD1:
.
The real problem with Nigeria is thinking Nigerians thinking we can produce everything.
As of today, the Ajaokuta steel complex that has never worked is 30 years outdated. Spending money on it is stupid.
The world is interconnected so anyone making reference to the industrial Revolution is simply out of date.

Let's say we want to compete with the Chinese on steel and in return they decide not to buy our Oil, what happens then?

The year is 2017 not 1930.

You need to understand the difference between how a govt makes decisions and how a business makes decisions.

A business makes decisions solely of the basis of costs and profit but a government makes decisions based on the greater good. The jobs it will create, capacity building, social welfare etc I can go on and on.

In any advanced country, the number 1 priority is jobs, nit just jobs for jobs sake but quality jobs and until Nigerian understand that and protect local jobs in every policy decidion they make we will never make way as a country.


Forget GDP, forget currency, JOBS is the most important metric in any economy. People without jobs cannot pay taxes or purchase goods from other industries and the better the quality of jobs the more your people have to spend. Successful countries know this and protect local jobs fiercly!!!!

Emekamex:


You still dont get it, we cant produce steel if we are not presently mining iron ore. It is just like building a refinery without mining crude oil first.
The basic steps in industrilization should be followed. Govt should invest more in raw materials and then allow the private sector to convert them to finished products.

you are rehashing the same ol thing and my answer remains the same. The most important thing is to decide the journey, once youve decided your destination, then the next question is how do I get there? But you have to decide your destination first.

reading through comments here makes me wonder what the future holds for our youths. the proposed leaders of tomorrow.
how can we move Nigeria forward when we reason this way? now I see why it's easy for politicians to woo us into recycling them in power.
.
we celebrate China to be among the world fastest developing country yet we fail to see the reason why. which country can be great without industrialisation?
.
every year, graduates emerge from metallurgical and materials engineering discipline without jobs to suit their profession yet we are here playing politics with a steel factory that will better the life of a nation if functional.
.
if graduates can reason like this then it means we have no future. . . England, USA, Germany and Co knows they can get steel cheaper from China yet they all have steel industries and foundries in their respective company. they are not foolish...
.
the difference between the whites and the blacks is that they think about the future while we think about the moment.
.
d most irritating was someone questioning the value of steel in Nigeria. saying facebook and google are making money than steel companies. I weep for NIGERIA.
.
Industrialisation cannot be achieved when u depend on another country for something that is in ur back yard. our problem has always been management and corruption.
... God help us Al.

vodutive:



You need to understand the difference between how a govt makes decisions and how a business makes decisions.

A business makes decisions solely of the basis of costs and profit but a government makes decisions based on the greater good. The jobs it will create, capacity building, social welfare etc I can go on and on.

In any advanced country, the number 1 priority is jobs, nit just jobs for jobs sake but quality jobs and until Nigerian understand that and protect local jobs in every policy decidion they make we will never make way as a country.


Forget GDP, forget currency, JOBS is the most important metric in any economy. People without jobs cannot pay taxes or purchase goods from other industries and the better the quality of jobs the more your people have to spend. Successful countries know this and protect local jobs fiercly!!!!

The money quoted here cannot get Ajaokuta to a working state, so it's scarce resources down the drain.

The government should give Ajaokuta out for free to the original builders.

omohayek:


Unfortunately, the answer is no. Ajaokuta was already an obsolete Soviet relic back in 1982, and steel production technology has moved on since then. Even efficient European and American steel producers are unable to compete with the Chinese, who have a serious domestic overcapacity problem, which they are trying to solve by dumping abroad.

Steel is a low-margin commodity business, and the Nigerian obsession with it just betrays ignorance and an obsession with prestige projects over economic realities. The truth is that the only people who have benefited from Ajaokuta over the last 40 years are politicians looking for an easy way to steal public funds.

Ok, the whole world should close down their steel factories and turn to China to buy steel.......
Since it's cheaper to buy from China.....
We can as well shut down our manufacturing base in naija and turn to China
Since it's cheaper to produce there......
Ajaokuta or not, Nigeria must produce steel....
It's the bedrock of any industrialization blueprint......

Instead of letting private investors take over by encouraging them with good policies these ones wants to waste the scare finance in this country?? God deliver us from these criminals

omohayek:

Save your pathetic sarcasm and learn a little basic economics. No country on earth produces everything it needs domestically, and steel is not a particularly valuable or high-tech product; it is a commodity, which is produced by many countries, and currently nowhere at a profit.

Your obsession with "forex" simply betrays your lack of understanding of economics: there is no point in hoarding "forex" if the end result is that you can't produce any export goods to earn more "forex": you might as well hoard your salary at the end of the month and grow your own food, sew your own clothes, etc., that's how misguided your thinking is.

Finally, here's a challenge for you and all the other obstinate defenders of this ridiculous black-hole of a project: seeing as Ajaokuta has never functioned properly in 40 years, let alone managed to make a profit, why do you think it will be different this time?

so as fg left the already built plant its a very good idea right? U see u are not wise enough y didn't China and other developed countries stop produces steel and start importing it since its cheap Its people like u that made Nigeria like this !!! U don't think about the employment opportunities it would provide !!! U don't think about the money it would generate !! U don't think about how it would give us fx all u think about is tnonsense and note that there is no country that develop while depending on importation !!!! U need to produce at least 60% of what u consume #fact

intruder15:
reading through comments here makes me wonder what the future holds for our youths. the proposed leaders of tomorrow.
how can we move Nigeria forward when we reason this way? now I see why it's easy for politicians to woo us into recycling them in power.
.
we celebrate China to be among the world fastest developing country yet we fail to see the reason why. which country can be great without industrialisation?
.
every year, graduates emerge from metallurgical and materials engineering discipline without jobs to suit their profession yet we are here playing politics with a steel factory that will better the life of a nation if functional.
.
if graduates can reason like this then it means we have no future. . . England, USA, Germany and Co knows they can get steel cheaper from China yet they all have steel industries and foundries in their respective company. they are not foolish...
.
the difference between the whites and the blacks is that they think about the future while we think about the moment.
.
d most irritating was someone questioning the value of steel in Nigeria. saying facebook and google are making money than steel companies. I weep for NIGERIA.
.
Industrialisation cannot be achieved when u depend on another country for something that is in ur back yard. our problem has always been management and corruption.
... God help us Al.

My brother Quite unfortunate. Imagine people requesting government to invest into better roads, rails, infracstructure etc yet they are advocating against steel. They failed to realize that 80% of whatever investment government put into rail would be shipped to Ukraine or china or wherever the buikding steel came from. They ignorantly look at steel as a business comodity instead of industrial revolution comodity. I dont think they are playing politics with their position, it is a simple reflection of what is being thought in most bussiness schools all around. The same ideas that is turning US into an import nation with $19 trillion debt from $5 trillion less than 10 years ago. A country that is loosing high profile jobs in drift but churning out millions of restaurants jobs. They fail to explain why US debt profile is growing despite boom in profit of comoanies like Apple, facebook, google and the rest of tech jobs. They fail to realise that California despite hosting all these tech companies is the most indebted state in US. They want Nigeria to start creating our own google and facebook because fixation with steel is stucking in the 1930s... They forgot that 1930s was when companies like ford, general motors, Boeing, Mercedes etc experience their boom. They forgot that 1930s was when cities like Detroit and the likes were built. They forgot that our society and infracstructures are still stucked in the 1700s... Bad roads and poor electricity. We cant even feed ourselves. Companies like facebook are social medias... I dont think we deserve fun or socializing when we are suppose to be building our nation out of 1700s. Anybody with a logical mind should know the fate of companies like Apple, Facebook, google etc if they were indigenous Nigeria company...we cant even launch satelites, infact the ones they helped us with had gone missing...we have Nairaland sha... We like deceiving ourselves...we are comparing ourselves with country where departments in tiny universities have launches multiple satelites. I want to admonish Mr AIs and bio tech... That we cant jump from 1700s to 2000s just like that... We have to follow same route as others before us china india brazil singapore name it... Industrial and agric revolution first before tech revolution...