Opportunities at our backdoor

Nigeria is a country of many opportunities. But Nigerians rarely exploit them. The major reason is that the government lacks the will to create an enabling environment for entrepreneurial development. The absence of such an environment has led to a poverty of ideas on how to take advantage of the many opportunities at their back door among most ordinary Nigerians. Notwithstanding, some Nigerians have defied this and are making fortunes from the opportunities that abound. But there are still many untapped prospects at our backdoor which can be money-spinners.

The time has come for all levels of government in the country to design how they can create a supportive environment for Nigerians to explore the various potentials for entrepreneurial development. For instance, farmers, especially those in the northern part of the country, produce thousands of tonnes of perishable crops like tomatoes, pepper, onions, lettuce, cabbage, etc. But most of these are lost due to a lack of adequate storage and packaging facilities. To tackle this, the government can establish local fabrication of small-scale storage facilities and packaging machines for perishable crops. There are many young Nigerians with sound technical know-how in the fabrication of simple and small-scale farm machinery; what they need are proper coordination, tools and good workshops.

Nigeria has made a huge error by neglecting technical and vocational schools. Most graduates of technical schools can replicate many types of simple and small-scale machinery imported into Nigeria today. That’s how China started. If the government can take bold initiatives towards organized and well-tooled workshops to encourage technical knowledge development, Nigeria would be on a viable path towards employment generation, industrialization, and increased foreign exchange earnings.

Crocodile farming is a thriving and lucrative business, though it is capital-intensive. When fully established, it brings a lot of foreign exchange through the sales of crocodile leather, meat and other by-products. Zimbabwean farmers are making fortunes from crocs farming. Captive breeding will be an excellent method that can be practised anywhere in Nigeria and the method is recognized by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.

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Despite Nigeria’s immense water resources and a growing number of fish farmers, the country still imports fish. The nation’s demand for fish protein is enough to sustain huge fish farming. Government should establish both indoor and outdoor cage system fish farms and loan them to interested young Nigerians, who will pay back the loans in instalments. This method will increase fish farming and will also have multiplier effects on the fabrication of small-scale fish preservation and smoking equipment.

There has been talking about waste to wealth in Nigeria but not much has been done about it. Waste recycling is a huge source of income. E-waste recycling is also a new way to employ thousands of young people. Experts have said that a large number of what is labelled “e-waste” are whole electronic equipment or parts that are readily marketable for reuse or can be recycled for materials recovery. Cell phones and other electronic items contain high amounts of precious metals like gold, silver, platinum, copper, iron, aluminium, etc. Nigeria is a huge market for cell phones, thus millions of tonnes of cell phones waste are generated every year. E-waste recycling will be a money-spinner and a good way of tackling toxic waste in the country. Cell phones e-waste recycling export to France is employing thousands of youth in Ivory Coast. Nigeria can emulate the Ivorians.

Tax collection in most states and local governments is often very poor. Government should enact a policy that will allow young Nigerians to establish small firms for tax collection on behalf of authorities while such small firms earn commission from taxes collected.

Many African countries are earning revenue from growing several cash crops. Nigeria’s fertile land supports the growth of cash crops like garlic, gum Arabic, onions, ginger, etc, yet the country is not taking advantage of it. Ethiopia is the world’s seventh garlic producer and enjoys huge foreign exchange from the crop; Sudan is the world’s largest single producer of gum Arabic, and the Sudanese are dependent on gum Arabic for their livelihoods. Nigeria is the world’s 24th largest onion producer. Only Algeria and Morocco produce more onions in Africa than Nigeria, yet the country hardly makes reasonable foreign exchange from onions.

These are just a bit of the various untapped potentials in Nigeria. It is high time we explored all other viable avenues, especially in this time of fluctuating oil prices and increasing calls for diversification.

Zayyad I. Muhammad