Nigeria’s dependence on foreign technologies

The Nigerian economy is in reality a dependent one. This is because the technological basis of the economy is largely foreign. Available statistics show that 80-90 percent of the technologies used in local manufacturing which are also critical to the real sector in the country are imported.

In stark terms, what this means is that, courtesy of variables like consultancies, production machineries and knowledge beyond service, huge sums of money are regularly taken out of the country. Thus, the Nigerian economy can be deemed to be a mere shell.

Two areas of the economy which tragically illustrate this dismal phenomenon are manufacturing and the oil industry. As regards the former, anybody who is familiar with the annual reports of our various manufacturing concerns cannot but notice that there are line-items which provide for the repatriation of huge sums of money relating to payment for the use of technology. In essence, this is a one-way game in which on a consistent basis Nigerian companies, and by extension Nigeria, continue to hold the short end of the stick.

Unfortunately, very much the same dismal scenario can be observed in what passes for the Nigerian oil industry. On this note, our scepticism stems from the fact that the Nigerian oil industry is, indeed, something of a misnomer. Some six decades after the discovery of oil in commercial quantities, the technology of the industry is still largely alien to Nigeria. The ensuing consequence can be seen in some of the oddities which continue to characterise the industry. One of these revolves around the fact that, from 1958 till date, Nigeria is still locked up in the upstream sector of the oil industry. And indeed, as we write, the backward linkages in the industry are still very minimal. This is a sharp and sad contrast to what obtains in other oil producing countries.

Unfortunately, these dismal scenarios have been worsened by the fact that Nigeria has over 100 universities where a lot of the issues relevant to Nigeria’s technological independence are being studied. What it means, therefore, is that there is a disjuncture between our universities and the Nigerian economy.

It is instructive to appreciate that in other parts of the world, there is an organic linkage between the university and industry. Specifically, this linkage can be seen in the establishment of industrial parks which serve as bridges between the universities on one hand and the industries on the other. Such industrial parks are already entrenched in some advanced economies, like the United States, China, Germany, Finland, and the United Kingdom.

However, we dare to say here that all hope is not lost. We need to do the needful by giving a new orientation to our own universities. It must be said here that our researchers have not been idle. They have also made breakthroughs in their respective areas of research. But the snag is that most of these research outputs have not been accorded the necessary scale-up by the government and our entrepreneurs. Matters have certainly not been helped by the fact that most of us have a turn-key mentality which disposes us to the expedient measure of unbridled importation.

It is against this background that we call on relevant bodies like the Federal Institute of Industrial Research, the Raw Materials Development Council, the National Agency for Science and Engineering in Nigeria, the Bank of Industry, etc to close ranks and forge organic linkages with our various universities. The overall aim is to ensure that in the course of time, our economy is weaned away from the various forms of foreign technologies which continue to dominate our economic and industrial processes.