With the highly limited amount of foreign direct investment we are attracting and the slow pace of technology transfer, does Nigeria have any other option that to go for industrial espionage?

Ayo Akinfe

[1] As a nation state, we consume far more then we produce, which means we will always have balance of trade and balance of payment deficits

[2] Africa as a continent accounts for just 3% of world trade and 1% of global manufacturing, despite accounting for 18% of the world’s population. Clearly, that kind of imbalance is not sustainable

[3] In the case of Nigeria, matters are exacerbated by the fact that we just love luxury goods. We spend a fortune on private jets, luxury cars, Gucci/Louis Futton items, etc, yet we produce none of these items

[4] However you look at it, the only way Nigeria will get out of this economic rut is to become a producer and exporter of industrial and consumer goods

[5] Our watchwords have got to be manufacturing, manufacturing, manufacturing.

[6] I hope President Tinubu realises that Nigeria only has an annual budget of $30bn but needs to spend $100bn a year

[7] Unless we start manufacturing, our national debt will just keep growing

[8] During the last election campaign, none of the presidential candidates for once mentioned a plan to acquire industrial technology

[9] Every serious nation they wants to industrialise has to acquire technology by any means necessary

[10] Part of our problem as a nation is we have no think tanks or policy units. If we had, they would have come up with suggestions about how to address this problem. Let us see if President Tinubu can come up with a suggestion or two

Ayoakinfe@gmail.com