This is sequence to my last article ,“The New Dimension; Cultural Revolution” published on 30th November, 2018 and it is the third of the Trilogy. The first being; “What is your Name Nigeria” and the second “The New Dimension Cultural Revolution” which has gone through reviews by comrades who are of the opinion that the title is not apt for the contents and the intention. Well, the jury is still out on that. It is my opinion that the first and the second articles are necessary for the third one. They are the foundation for the Industrial Revolution which cannot be sustained unless cultural awareness is created amongst our citizen.
For example, reggae music which is originated in Jamaica has been added by the United Nations (UN) to its list of International Cultural Treasure. When the Jamaican started this music, it was designated then as rebel music but today, the awareness is felt globally and has gained world recognition.
We need Industrial Revolution in Nigeria at this stage .
According to Encyclopedia Britannica, Industrial Revolution in modern history can be defined as the process of change from agrarian and handicraft economy to one dominated by industry and machine manufacturing. The process began in Britain in the 18th century and from there spread to other parts of the world.
It was during the Industrial Revolution that European started landing in Africa. The main features in the process are technological, socioeconomic and the cultural revolutions. I have dealt with the aspect of culture in the last article published on 30th November , 2018, so, I do not proposed to deal with it again.
From history, no country in the world has ever become successful on reliance of exporting raw materials the way we are doing in Nigeria. Our economy is the type that depends on foreign companies to survive. They buy the crude oil from us lifted by foreign companies like Shell which promised to remain in Nigeria for 1000 years and shipped it abroad, the foreign companies repair our refineries and we have to import refined products back to the country when the refineries are down or bombed by militant groups. In these arrangement, head we lose, tail we lose.
No doubt, we are a country that is blessed with abundant natural resources and raw materials but our deficiency remains in our failure to advance technologically.
At this stage, we should not only rely on exporting Agricultural products like tubers of yam and other things but we must be able to have technological innovation that can process these tubers of yam into other materials . The automobile tyres that we are using are imported yet we have rubber plantations but we cannot produce tyres. I do not see reasons why we cannot send our scientists to China or India to learn how to make the machine to produce tyres. Most new tyres that we are buying in Nigeria now are made in China.
We have many Universities of Technology that are just producing graduates that cannot even produce pencils and toothpicks. In the last three years, Nigeria has spent N26 million importing tooth picks from China according to National Bureau of Statistics. Though this year 2018 , Nigeria has her first tooth picks manufacturing company working and it is situated in Akwa Ibom state.
We rely heavily on oil and known for oil producing area at the expense of technological advancement. The question is how can Nigeria as a country advance when the politicians concentrate so much in enriching their personal empire and looting the treasury to a fault and becoming richer than the State in most situations. The area of technological advancement has been relegated to the background that everyone wants to join politics to make money. The cliché of national cake and urge to make a piecemeal from it is unexplainable. None of the presidential candidates or the two major political parties – Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and All Progressives Congress (APC) has mentioned technological advancement for Nigeria in their manifestos so far.
I rely heavily on technological advancement here because it is the gateway to Industrial Revolution.
There is no doubt that Industrial Revolution is the key to Economic success and greatness. The world is classified into three categories and Nigeria is regarded as 3rd world. That is, country that is under-developed . India was in the same category with us before but they have moved higher and they are now known as Economic Tiger because of their technological advancement.
Where are we Nigeria? A Nigerian man constructed hydro electric power plant for the people in his community at just 32 years old. Augustine Otuokwa Ogar managed to construct 200 Megawatts mini hydro electric power plant in Boki Local Government Area of Cross River State. If assisted by the Federal Government, he can construct 20000 Megawatts for the whole country . Adequate supply of electricity is one of the keys to Industrial Revolution.
If he is not helped, I am quite sure that other country will snatch him from Nigeria as the case has always been. The brains are there, there is nothing we cannot do under good government. The government must step in to tap the brains and use our locally made raw materials for the advancement of Technology. It is a task that must be done.
In my opinion, Restructuring will go a long way to bring about the much needed Industrial Revolution. Each region will be able to develop its local talents and build sustainable industries for the benefits of the Federation.
This is not over statement, the best era in infrastructure development in this country was during the era of regional government in this country. From the Master’s table of the late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo in the Southwest; the great Dr Nnamdi Azikwe of the Eastern region, Sir Ahmadu Bello’s agricultural exploit in the Northern region. No doubt, that era still, in my opinion is the best era of infrastructural boom in the country. If this can be replicated, the country can spark industrial boom in the country. As a matter of fact, it will lead to the overdue Industrial Revolution in Nigeria as a whole .
- Niyi Aborisade is the President, National Movement For Positive Change (NMPC) Worldwide.
