Our potential as a country to achieve development is compromised by several factors. First, we are below the subsistence line and must get close to this line before any serious strategic initiatives can be effective. In addition to this, because the rate of global technological advancement is so high, we must develop our infrastructure base in such a way that scaling up “to the future” will be well ordered, tidy and not unduly expensive or complicated.
Because we are starting from scratch, we have an opportunity to build a more coherent and functional platform than what others that have moved with the times have. We should guard against the tendency to have redundant or obsolete technology dumped on us by developing our standards based on our requirements as a country. This means knowing who we are, what is available, what we want and how to get it. Sadly, in this regard, we are severely compromised by our lack of self-belief.
The practice of allowing the importation of technology from anywhere, in our desperation to catch up, must be reigned in if we are to avoid serious problems of compatibility at critical infrastructure interfaces in the future. We seem to have lost the institutional ability to make a holistic consideration of which technology will be appropriate for us, given our culture, way of life and aspirations. We must find this ability and it must be wholly indigenous.
This risk is worsened by our reluctance as a country to develop and enforce our own codes of professional practice or material standards – no matter how rudimentary.
For example, bearing in mind the carcinogenous potential of continuous exposure to micro-waves, it is not clear what the consequences of erecting cell masts in densely populated places as observed in today’s Nigeria will be on public health. It remains to be explored and debated if there is a link between what appears to be an indiscriminate erection of communication cell masts and the recent outcry and alert from some medical quarters about the rise in cancer patients in the country. What will happen if it becomes clearer in future that our cell mast configuration has been contributing to ill health?
Besides, with our present telecommunications infrastructure, affordable, uninterrupted data and voice streaming is virtually impossible, meaning that the benefits of efficient, modern telecommunications are still a mirage to us in spite of the relatively high costs. For how long and at what cost will these be upgraded? Who pays and who gains?
Government’s attention and effort in attracting foreign investments gives the impression that our main problem is financial. This is arguable. In the absence of a viable system of formal technical or vocational training and badly needed national and cultural re-orientation as regards our value system, our problems run deeper. Therefore, a national determination to vigorously pursue educational and socio-moral refurbishment is indispensable.
Nigeria is not short of the ability to formulate laudable policies. It is the implementation of these policies that are often compromised. This said, existing policies and laws that reflect the needs of the people of Nigeria to boost their political, social and economic independence must be unearthed and enforced.
Perhaps more will be required but right now enforcement of current ones will suffice. Local development partners should be encouraged because they are likely to be more “bankable” for the country in the long run as their profits will be retained in the country. They have more than a commercial stake in the country and will willingly go rural (at a lower cost) to develop the grassroots. Our domestic policies, politics and foreign diplomacy should be realigned to put Nigeria and Nigerians first where benefiting from Nigeria’s resources is concerned.
At this stage of our development, infrastructure should target the efficient linkage of resources from primary markets to secondary and tertiary markets. If planned around key industries and markets from the local government level, the natural entrepreneurial instincts of the local population will most certainly boost the local economy with the development of secondary markets – albeit at our own pace, the dividends will be less flighty.
The feeling that we are a country under detrimental neo-colonialist influences that exclude and disenfranchise our citizens is dangerously palpable. The question of whether foreign “development” partners should continue to enjoy more government patronage than their local counterparts is an inevitable question that a responsible government must ask and answer. On this question, it is in the best interest of the country to enact policies that will ensure that foreign partners bring real value to the table in terms of transfer of technology and relevant skills and through partnerships with local counterparts. We know that technology transfer will never happen so why not be ready to develop ours. Stealing technology cannot be advocated here!
Another not so obvious area that requires attention is law enforcement. The reputation that most of the laws and rules in Nigeria are negotiable hurts all facets of our lives including the ability to uphold professional standards among professionals.
Nigerian entrepreneurs and workers have a responsibility to step up to the plate. Their psyche appears too bruised and battered for any expressive or meaningful self-belief that will enable local capacity building. They have been told too often by their fellow countrymen and governments that they cannot do things right unless they have foreign partners. Consequently, they don’t even try. Something must be done urgently about our self-loathing.
Nigerians are human beings who like all others would take advantage of weaknesses in laws and law enforcement. Foreigners are probably more careful about taking the liberties that Nigerians take because they are in a foreign land and have come from cultures in which crime is punished more decisively. Any system that allows the kind of lopsided, inefficient and negotiable justice system that obtains here begs for anarchy. Upholding and strengthening our law enforcement system is a good place to start our national re-orientation.
Even if this is not news, the absence of a system that deters future occurrences should be a concern that I hope will be given priority when the 2015 electioneering campaigns begin.
In summary, we need to understand who we are, what we want to be and what the real impedances are so that they can be removed. Rural potential must be unlocked and a focus on employment maximisation is key.
Tunde Sodade
