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18 — Vanguard, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2022
ON Wednesday last week, the
Chairman of the Independent National
Electoral Commission, INEC, Prof.
Mahmood Yakubu, once again
reassured Nigerians that the
technological template aimed at
reducing human interference in our
elections in February and March 2023,
will be implemented as planned. interests are plotting to use the court
In particular, he affirmed that the to jettison the technological
Bimodal Voter Accreditation System, arrangement to enable them to steal the
BVAS, the electronic transmission of elections as in the past. CUPP also
results from the polling units, and the alleged plans to sack Prof. Yakubu and
use of the INEC Result Viewing Portal some of his team members to clear the
(IReV), will not be compromised. way for an INEC chairman of their
Coming 100 days before the epic choice.
presidential and National Assembly Pledging loyalty to Nigeria, Prof.
elections of February 25, 2023, these Yakubu also underlined his
reassurances are germane, given Commission’s intention to increase
several reports and apprehensions that interactions with and briefings of
some highly connected and unpatriotic critical stakeholders, such as the
political interests are conspiring to political parties, civil society groups, the
prevent the implementation of these media, and others, to keep them
hard fought reforms.
informed about arrangements for the
According to the Coalition of United elections.
Political Parties, CUPP, these dark We recognise the efforts the
Beyond INEC Chairman’s reassurances
Commission has led towards ensuring
a free and fair election next year. The
Commission and President
Muhammadu Buhari appear to be on
the same page in their serial pledges
to ensure credible general elections in
2023. Nigerians are waiting for them
to walk their talk.
Hopes have been raised that in next
year’s elections, the people’s votes will
count, if the series of off-cycle state
elections are anything to go by. This is
why the youth, who have traditionally
been reluctant to act as agents of
positive change, have come out in force
this time.
We, however, are worried about
certain issues surrounding the INEC
voter’s register. Number one is the
unexplained high number of invalid
voter registrations, which negatively
affected the South, while the North
recorded the lowest numbers in the
just-concluded Continued Voter
Registration, CVR, exercise.
The INEC must explain why the more
educated geopolitical zones of the
South East and South-South recorded
such a high number of invalid
registrations, putting them at a
significant disadvantage in comparison
to other regions.This explanation is to
prevent accusations against INEC of
deliberately beating down the numbers
in the political base of some
presidential candidates, a kind of prerigging
of the election.
Secondly, Nigerians are shocked that
even after INEC "cleaned" the voter
register, there are still a large number
of underage voters. It is INEC’s job,
not that of the public, to remove those
names immediately!
OPINION
Connecting the dots between consumption and production
By DAVID ADONRI
CONTRARY to the widely held
impression, Nigeria is actually one of
the least consuming countries in the world.
The abysmal low per capita income of about
USD 2,100, together with the over 100 million
poor citizens living under USD 1 per day in
Nigeria, attest to this fact. It is difficult to see
any area of human activity where Nigeria
meets the global benchmark for consumption.
Consider a basic necessity like electricity. The
global benchmark for consumption stipulates
1,000 megawatts per day for every million
people. Accordingly, Nigeria, with a
population of about 210 million people, ought
to consume about 210,000 megawatts of
electricity per day, but what the country
consumes per day is less than 10 megawatts
from public and private generation. Many
other examples abound to demonstrate that
Nigeria is among the world's least consumer
of goods and services. From the perspective of
consumption levels, it is not difficult to see why
the county is so poor and the majority of
citizens in abject poverty. It is evident that
Nigeria's economic woes cannot be ascribed
to problems associated with excessive
consumption. Under consumption is a
phenomenon Nigerians should actually worry
about.
Every consumption is accompanied by a
production. Goods and services that are
consumed in an economy must be produced.
Of the numerous goods and services consumed
in Nigeria, very few are produced locally. In
spite of the vast agricultural endowments that
ought to make Nigeria an agrarian economy,
very little output is generated from the country's
34 million hectares of arable land. Rice and
wheat, which are the most consumed staple
foods, are largely imported. Agriculture in
Nigeria is still subsistence-based, with
primitive methods and crude implements.
Practically all the goods used in the education
sector other than a few wooden furniture are
imported. All the machinery and equipment
together with their spare parts used in various
sectors of the Nigerian economy are imported.
Every element used in the aviation industry is
imported.
All the armament and security gadgets used
to provide security are imported. The list of
imported consumer and capital goods is
virtually endless. Coming to services, the
situation is not better. The critical services that
define the fourth industrial revolution, which
drives the Nigerian economy, are outsourced
or imported. Without the software and
hardware backbones hosted abroad, Nigeria's
ICT sector cannot function at all. Even the
digital technology behind CBN's digital
currency is hosted abroad. In spite of Nigeria's
low level of consumption, even the little that is
consumed does not materialise from domestic
production. There is a yawning gap between
what Nigeria consumes and what she produces
locally. This is the bane of the economy. With a
high level of import dependence and a weak
foreign income base, Nigeria's economy will
remain doomed if equilibrium is not
established between consumption and
domestic production. It is gratifying to note
that Peter Obi has made production the
centrepiece of his economic agenda if elected
President of Nigeria. Any incoming
administration that fails to pursue the task of
building a production based economy with
iron determination, will fail woefully, like
previous administrations apart from that led
by Dr. Yakubu Gowon.
Building a production based economy is not
a magical act. The productive economies of
North America, Europe, and Asia were not
built by spirits. “They were built by human
beings like you and I" according to Tafa Zibiri,
a senior Nigerian capital market operator. The
pathways charted by advanced economies to
become productive are not hidden but open
for all to see and follow. They have
demonstrated that modern production is not
dependent on a large population to provide
cheap labour. It is driven by technology.
Technology makes nations rich. That is why
small technologically developed countries
with less than 10 million people like Singapore,
Belgium, Switzerland and others in Europe
give humanitarian aid to Nigeria, whose
population is about 210 million, according to
Rotimi Sankore, a development economist
and erudite socioeconomic analyst. It is double
jeopardy for a nation with a large population
density like Nigeria to lack the technological
wherewithal to manage its excessive
With a high level of import
dependence and a weak foreign
income base, Nigeria's economy
will remain doomed if
equilibrium is not established
between consumption and
domestic production
population burden. Technology and
population control are the reasons why China,
with over 1 billion people, enjoys peace and
prosperity today.
Surprisingly, no presidential candidate in
the forthcoming election demonstrates even
the minutest understanding of the fact that you
cannot plan for development without
population control. If Nigeria is really serious
about production, first, the driving forces
behind modern production must be
understood to guide social and
macroeconomic policy formulations. The first
and primary driver is the availability of
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technically skilled manpower. This goal can be
achieved by building new infrastructure and
adequately equipping existing infrastructure
for teaching science, technology, engineering,
and mathematics across all tiers of education.
Strategies must be devised to mobilize,
motivate, and retain Nigeria's skilled
manpower pool. Without technical manpower,
the knowledge base required to domesticate
technology will be lacking. The next driver is
the development of the mining industry, not
for export purposes but to provide basic ferrous
and nonferrous metals for making machines
in Nigeria.
From my experience in manufacturing, I tell
you that it is wishful thinking to believe that
Nigeria will succeed in production by
depending 100 percent on imported machines
and spare parts. Next to mining, is the
development of the metallurgical industry for
supply of ferrous and nonferrous metals to the
tool and machine making industry, which must
be developed to produce 'Made in Nigeria'
machines. Machinery and equipment are
needed to build heavy and light industries,
along with mechanising agriculture. Every step
described above, from skilled technical
manpower to machine-making capability,
constitutes the engineering infrastructure,
which is the backbone and foundational
building block for the sustenance of the
productive momentum of a virile, competitive,
and domesticated economy in Nigeria.
The availability of engineering
infrastructure will enable Nigeria to build
secondary infrastructure (roads, rail, ports,
housing, and healthcare) from start to finish
from internal resources without borrowing
externally or importing inputs. It will also
internally give rise to the sustainable
development of the electric power, energy, and
chemical industries from start to finish locally.
Continues online:www.vanguardngr.com
* Adonri is Vice Chairman, Highcap
Securities Ltd., in Lagos