No matter how much I wrack my brains over this matter, I keep coming back to the conclusion that what we desperately need is an Aso Rock Policy Unit created to deal with the menace of low productivity

Ayo Akinfe

[1] We can argue about Nigeria's problems until kingdom but the fact remains that we are simply not productive enough. That is the root cause of all our problems as a nation and nowhere is more manifest than in the fact that manufacturing only accounts for about 7% of gross domestic product (GDP)

[2] Do you know the global average with regards to manufacturing as a percentage of national GDP is 30%? When we only have about one quarter of that, you can see why we are in trouble

[3] In China, manufacturing as a percentage of GDP is a whopping 40% and in developing economies similar to Nigeria such as Indonesia, Mexico, Iran and Brazil, it is 47%, 34.2%, 40.6% and 27.4% respectively

[4] Nigeria currently has a GDP of around $550bn. If we can double the contribution of manufacturing as a percentage of GDP, I think we can easily boost our GDP to $1trn within two years

[5] No matter how many dollars you throw at the naira, any respite is temporary as ultimately, the strength of your economy is what really determines the value of your currency. We import so much that any vagaries in the global currency market automatically has an inflationary impact on Nigeria

[6] We have a lot to leverage on as we can use agriculture as a basis to manufacture agri-based products. We also have enough solid minerals to begin manufacturing finished industrial goods like pipe rods, machine tools, ball bearings, etc. We also have enough oil and gas to become a major player in the global petro-chemicals industry

[7] We simply need to get Nigeria manufacturing to move on to the next rung of the ladder. I am hopeful that this our gas-fired industrial park in Delta State will be the catalyst for the Nigerian industrial revolution

[8] As an economic model, we need the margins from manufacturing to offset the volume of imports. Nigeria then needs to increase her export earnings from the current $50bn to around $100bn and to end this crazy dependency on crude oil

[9] Neither the PDP, APC or Labour Party have any policy units or think tanks that has drawn up any manufacturing plans. When President Yar’Adua assumed office in 2007, he said he could not believe there were no policy units in Aso Rock

[10] If Nigeria can crack the manufacturing nut, watch all her other major problems crumble. Insecurity, corruption, limited power supply, ethnic mistrust, etc are all by-products of low productivity. For me, the fact that we do not have a minister for manufacturing shows we do not really understand what our problems are.

ayoakinfe@gmail.com