PROFFERING SOLUTIONS TO NIGERIA’S PROBLEMS PART THREE

DIVERSIFYING OUR ECONOMY

Diversification has become a matter of public discus owing to over 6 decades of dependence on the petroleum industries. No doubts our crude oil has turned out to be the proverbial golden geese that lays golden eggs and our over dependence on it has done us no good as a nation and as a people. The Nigerian government must encourage the diversification of Nigeria’s economy as a matter of priority and urgency as it is the only viable means to survive the current economic meltdown hurting the globe. With the rage of the Covid-19 it has become obvious that the after effect of the pandemic might be more scorching to Nigeria than the virus itself. The minister of finance has warned that Nigeria might go into recession in 6 month time. And in faraway Germany the finance minister of Hesse state committed suicide apparently after becoming deeply worried of the aftermath of the Covid-19. No doubts this is a trying to every Nigerian both the rich and the poor, the educated and the unlearned as everyone is going through financial struggles due to the effect of Covid-19 and this is because our government has refused to diversify our economy.
Subsequent governments in Nigeria have paid lip service to diversification apparently playing to the gallery just to win elections and more often than not we fall for the trick.
Why should Nigeria diversify its economy you may be pressed to ask
But then let me remind you that it’s only a fool that does things the same way and expect different results. And if our dependence on oil has brought us no meaningful growth and progress as a nation then it is about time we change our methods. As the same level of thoughts that brought us where we are today cannot not take us beyond this present level. A country where its custom service earns more than its federal inland revenue service is in dire need of diversification as that is a sign that the economy is not working. And the earlier we take to diversification the better for us as a nation.
What should Nigeria diversify into?
The Nigerian economy has various sectors that are not yielding income due to the way it is been handled and managed.
One of such sectors is the education sector which is in need of complete overhaul. Our education system have performed poorly over the years, causing the country to have lost over 16 billion pounds in education fee that has been paid abroad to foreign institutions, instead of to local ones, with the estimated amount expected to rise to about 22 million pounds by the end of 2020.
No nation of the world can grow above it education sector. Strong education programs in the area of economics and vocational studies should be of top priority and paramount importance in Nigeria. This will ensure we build a country of people who do not only understand the core tenets of building a thriving society but also people who have the vocational skills to implement and carry out local production in large scale.
Another of such sectors is our health care sector which is in dire need of a revamp so that people would see less of the need to go abroad for treatment whether specialized or unspecialized.
It was estimated by the healthcare federation of Nigeria that the country lost $1billion in 2013 to foreign hospitals. Over 5000 Nigerians travel abroad for medical attention every month and since the return of democracy in 1999 Nigeria has lost over $30 billion in revenue to foreign hospitals. Revamping our healthcare system will save us over $1.5 billion annually.
Until the advent technology farmers were the richest people in the world and until the discovery of crude oil our economy was built around agriculture. We hear of the groundnut pyramid in the north, sugarcanes and cereals, in the south we have the palm, rubber and cocoa plantations. But gone are the good old days when Nigeria fed Nigerians without importing food. Our agricultural sector needs an immediate revamp as we can’t continue to depend on other nations for food.
In September 2018 the former minister of agriculture Chief Audu Ogbeh said Nigeria spends $22 billion annually on food importation and according to the FAO Nigeria loses $10 billion in export opportunities annually which amounts to $32 billion. Agriculture is the highest source of employment in Nigeria and in spite of oil remains the base of Nigeria’s economy and providing the main source of livelihood for Nigerians. Even though agriculture still remains the largest sector of the Nigerian economy and employs two-third of the entire work force, production hurdles have significantly stifled the performance of the sector hence the need for an immediate revamp.
95% of the technology used in Nigeria is imported and we cannot continue to use our scarce foreign reserve to import technology hence the need for technology based education. Our technology based industries are sleeping and need to be re-awakened in order to stop the use of about $3 billion in the importation of various information and communication technology. We must stand up to the production of the machineries needed by various industries if we must grow as a nation. And if we must diversify then technology should be of great consideration to the government.
Since the economic reformation in china SMEs have become one of the driving forces of their economy. In 2019 the number of SMEs was estimated to be 32 million and generating more than $3 billion per annum and if we must diversify it is of a paramount importance that we take a cue from China.
We must do it the Chinese way by empowering our SMEs and providing a market channel for them. SMEs can become a driving force to our economy. China is seven time the population of Nigeria and as such population is not a reason for our backwardness. In China everybody has something doing whether learned or unlearned. It is common to train people and empower them in China if we follow this lead then we might end up among the world biggest economies.
You cannot talk about diversification without power. Electricity must be fixed first if there must be any hope of diversification as that will attract investors. It is not news that foreign companies are leaving the shore of our country to smaller nations because of lack of electricity. And investors are not willing to put in their money in businesses in Nigeria they produce in those countries with constant electricity, pay their tax to the government of those countries and sell their products to us.
It is high time we break this cycle of produce in another land and market in Nigeria thereby leveraging on our population to make large sales. If they must leverage on our population then we should make it compulsory they produce here but that is impossible without constant electricity. Hence the need to fix our electrical problems. If we must attract multi-international firms and investors to Nigeria then we must consider revamping our power sector.
Dependence on oil is not a sin but over dependence on it is a curse. Depending on oil means the buyers control our economy as they determine the price. We should ask ourselves these questions. What shall we do as a nation the day oil dries up in Nigeria or the day every nation on earth discover oil in their lands and have no more needs for our oil, then it will be too late to diversify. It is now or never for us as a nation.

Written by Victor Utomi
He is a writer, an entrepreneur, a business consultant and a speaker
For comments, you can reach him via victom.dmay@gmail.com or 08133933149

If you missed out on chapter one and two and wants a copy please text or mail me to get it

Disjointed write up.

Are you at war with paragraphs and spacing?

Your title is too broad which resulted in you actually grabbing at many points without exhausting any.

sapientia:
Disjointed write up.

Are you at war with paragraphs and spacing?

Your title is too broad which resulted in you actually grabbing at many points without exhausting any.

Thanks I will take note of that