Evidence has shown that the more energy put in such wasteful venture, the farer the achievement. The reason is that development exists everywhere in the world, provided you develop your own model and improve on it.
Those clamouring for imported development or technology will continue to be disappointed because development is not imported or transferred as the case may be. As a matter of fact, Japan, one of the Asian Tigers shut its borders for a hundred years within which it developed Japanese cars, electronics and every technology or development Japan is today noted for.
It is instructive to state here that it you want to steal my property, it will be foolish to alert me. Therefore for such plot to succeed, it must be well planned and executed in top secret.
No wonder Ajaokuta steel project has remained uncompleted for several decades because Nigeria has been banking on technological transfer which can never materialize.
Therefore any theory that favours imported development does not mean well for Nigeria and should be discarded in its entirety.
Nigeria has been battling with the turn-around maintenance of the four refineries without much success, because the job can only be done by expatriates who always make huge demands on the country to carry out the contract. It would have been better for us to develop the now illicit refineries, popularly described as ‘bunkering’ to tackle once and for all the lingering petroleum products scarcity in the country.
In other words, these bunkering spots could be developed to cater for our refined crude oil need and at the same time create enough jobs for the teeming population of unemployed.
It is often said and rightly too that if one can produce fake or toy, he can as well produce original with little effort or support.
Aba for instance has been described as Japan of Africa, but whether anybody believes it or not, Aba can produce original materials with little support from the government.
Similarly, Niger Delta as the hub of oil and gas can become great in producing and refining crude oil with little support from the powers that be.
The most acceptable theory of development therefore is the locally based and people driven development. Afterall the so called developed nations of the world today did not import their technology from outside their territories.
We therefore do not have any hesitation in recommending the home-grown developmental model for our dear country, Nigeria.
Time they say waits for nobody, therefore the earlier we start, the better for all of us. ###
previous post
