The belief being held by Nigerian rulers (there are no leaders in Nigeria) that foreign investors will develop the country is nothing but mere daydreaming; it’s also erroneous if Nigerians must be honest with themselves.
Every elected president of Nigeria since the return to the current quasi and mock democracy in 1999 has always engaged in globetrotting, singing the same old slogan, sound bite or mantra of looking for foreign investors.
It is paramount to state it clearly here that every foreign investor was once a local investor. In the history of the world, there is no foreign investor that didn’t start from his country of origin. Thus, all multinational industries started from their countries of origin.
Thus, for any industry to begin operation at home, stabilize and think of expanding to other countries, the government of that country must have put in place the necessary infrastructures that have assisted such industry to stabilize and grow.
Notably, infrastructures such as electricity, public transportation, telecommunications, good road networks, schools and water supplies are factors essential for industrial growth and development.
Lately, provision of security, though not tangible factor, has become part of infrastructures because without security of lives and property no investment can take place.
Nevertheless, for investments to take place, the above mentioned infrastructures must be provided by the government of the country that is in search for local or foreign investors. The reason is because the capital outlay to provide the above infrastructures can’t be borne by any investor. To this end, if these infrastructures are absent in a country, there is no amount of money spent on traveling across the world by any president in the guise of seeking foreign investors will yield any positive results.
Without doubt, the reason industries are thriving in other countries is because the governments of those countries have invested massively in infrastructures. Certainly, all over the world, serious governments provide adequate electricity, education, health, good road networks, shelter, etc. and also subsidize them in order to make them affordable. The immutable reason serious governments provide electricity and also subsidize same is to ensure productivity.
This is to enable industries to remain in business, productive and provide employments for the citizens. The fact remains that if governments fail to provide electricity and also subsidize it, no industry will be able to bear the high cost of electricity which will lead to closure of industries—this will in turn lead to increase in unemployment. And when the citizens are not employed, they easily resort to crimes and criminalities.
With a gargantuan population estimated to be over 200 million people, electricity supply in Nigeria is mere 3,500 megawatts. How can 3,500 megawatts of electricity encourage investments and industrialization? How?
Industries are exiting Nigeria in their numbers. In the last count, Procter and Gamble Nigeria Limited, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) Consumer Nigeria PLC, Unilever, Sanofi, Bolt Food, etc., have announced their exit from the country. Before these ones, Dunlop and Michellin, two foremost tyre manufacturing industries, had left the country some years back.
The pertinent questions are: how can foreign investors come andinvestin the country when the existing ones are running away from the country? How can investors invest in Nigeria when there is erratic power supply? How can investors invest in Nigeria when there are multiple taxations that are killing businesses? How can investors invest in Nigeria when the judiciaryhas integrity question? How can investors invest in Nigeria when there is high level of kidnappings, killings and general insecurity across the country? How?
There is poor electricity supply in Nigeria yet the alternative means of generating electricity by individuals and industries is the use of generators. Unfortunately, a litre of diesel now costs as much as N1,500! How many litres of diesel will an industry buy in order to remain in business and be productive?
The world is now a global village where whatever happens in one part of the world is seen across the entire world through the media, information and communications technology. In this regard, no investor expects any president to visit their country and beg them before they can invest in such a country if the requisite infrastructures are on ground.
If my memory serves me right, I don’t think the president of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has ever visited Nigeria to seek investors before Nigerians are trooping into that country for investment purposes.
This is so because there is no country that has been developed by foreigners or foreign investors but the citizens of the country. All that the Nigerian investors need for their industries to thrive are regular electricity supply and security of lives and property.
Anya, a public affairs analyst, writes from Lagos
Read the full article here
