A civil rights activist, Nze Kanayo Chukwumezie, Wednesday, blamed increasing unemployment and naira depreciation in Nigeria on ‘our leaders’ lack of capacity to transform our country from consuming to a producing nation’.
Chukwumezie was reacting to a video portraying industrial production of mats in China using bamboos. He regretted that rather than replicating same in Nigeria with her rich bamboo resources, ‘Chinese bamboo-mats would soon find their high patronage in Nigeria’.
According to him, “Bamboos grow everywhere on our lands, but we shall end at only watching the video. That has been our practice. People will start scrambling to go to Chinese embassy in Nigeria to get visas, then pay heavily on flights, and import those mats taking money in foreign currencies from here to there, bring the goods, sell them here, buy up more foreign exchange to go back to buy more, and more people will continue queuing in the embassy to get visas at exorbitant costs to join the madness.
“That is the same way we export our crude oil and import fuel, diesel, kerosene and other petroleum products. That is the way we export lithium and import batteries and things that use rechargeable batteries like mobile phones, power bikes, laptops, motorcycle, solar systems, electric toothbrush, scooters, etc. Now we are talking about electric cars. Even airplanes use lithium batteries.
He advised African leaders to borrow a leaf from the clamour of Mr Peter Obi ‘to transform from consuming nations to producing ones to avoid perpetual servitude of a race’.
Quoting him, “Let Africa consider the wise counsel by Mr Peter Obi to shift from consumption economy to production economy. It is the only magic wand that will save our continent and keep our youths here in Africa gainfully employed. Nigeria with its huge potentials should be in the forefront of this.
“If we stop exporting our raw materials, people from those countries we spend huge amounts (in visas and flights) will have no options than to site the industries in Africa, employ our people, produce the goods here and export them, paying us taxes and using our ports. In all these huge and quality jobs are created in all cadres.”