Until Nigeria has integrity of policies, our country cannot change!
- Benedict Okorie
If we say we are banning the importation of any product into Nigeria. It should also come emphatically with duration, say 5 months, 1 year, 5 years or even 10 years. This should also be independent of political party at the helm of affairs. So if party A makes the policy to ban a product for a number of years and party B defeats party A in the general election, party B should also allow that ban until that number of years as pronounced by party A. That's integrity!
Anyone willing to go into local production knows the number of years he/she has before the ban is lifted. You will realized that we would have had market leaders before the ban will be lifted.
Another aspect of policy I will like government to look into is 'export of raw materials' to other countries with particular reference to agriculture. In my previous post titled 'industrialization is the key, not primitive agriculture' I made explanation on that. In this exposition, however, I intend to also reason that some of our propositions should come with timelines.
You will ask me what I meant by a timeline. Simple, we export cocoa, yes! Then I expect something like, 'Between 1999 to 2003, export the cocoa', 'Between 2003 and 2006, export the cocoa beans without dirts', 'Between 2006 and 2012, add value to the cocoa before exporting', 'Between 2012 to 2016, preparation to local production of cocoa products', 'Between 2016 and 2020, we would start producing cocoa powder'
'Between 2020 and 2025, we would start making our beverages and chocolate candies/sweet.'
Same thing applies to other raw materials until we've been able to effectively utilize our raw materials thereby benefitting from all the value chains beginning from planting to processing and preservation.
With such timelines, young and aspiring entrepreneurs can position themselves to harness the opportunities of the moment.
With such timelines and integrity on the part of government, corruption at the border may reduce since the custom officials may have one or more family producing that same goods that should have been smuggled in.
You may think this information is valueless until you realize it will solve a large problem called unemployment.
It is important in life and especially business to prioritize ideas. Some questions that will help us as regard priority includes "when should this idea be implemented?" "Do I have all it takes to implement this idea now, if not, when will I have them?" "Won't it be late to implement this idea in so so and so time?" Etc. Many times, it's difficult to run/implement two or more ideas at a time but through priority we can still achieve them all though at different times. It also prevent tying up of capital and that may even affect both businesses. In priority, it's best to do the easiest first or one in which one has more expertise or one better research. In priority, a schedule is also important. When we ask the necessary questions, it would help us know how prepared we are for every idea we intend to implement less we start and encounter problem not anticipated. Some ideas are best implemented now than allowing them to wait while some are bet...
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