The examples of industrial success of the Gulf region countries and Mexico highlight the point that a country can do better even if it is corrupt or under dictatorship so long the leaders are patriotic enough.
In fact, Mexico also manufactures and exports aircraft parts, medical equipment and pharmaceuticals, electrical and electronics, including mobile telephone and et cetera.
The reason why it became so attractive to outside investors is the provision of infrastructure and support from governments at all levels.
States compete in sourcing for foreign investment, while the communities give maximum cooperation. What it has in common with the Arabian Gulf countries is that it invested heavily in electricity generation and is still owned by the government.
In Nigeria, apart from the lack of power which is the most essential for factories to operate, communities come up with all kinds of unreasonable demands from investors.
Bureaucrats, traditional rulers, community leaders, militia, thugs and all sort of groups want to be bribed before an investor puts in any infrastructure and must continue to pay illegal levies perpetually or they run to the NGOs and CNN and claim environmental damage.
Some states government have completely abandoned their responsibility of providing the basic necessities of life to the people and transfered that burden on the foreign and local firms that operate within.
These companies are forced to provide electricity, build roads, build schools, hospitals, sports facilities, give scholarship and many more, all in the name of community relations.
The greatest drawback for this country however came as a result of the premature privatization policy carried out by the Obasanjo administration.
Nigeria was not ready at the time, but the egg heads he drafted into his government from the Bretton Woods institution dominated influence. Nigeria Airways, NITEL, government housing and they even wanted to privatise roads and the NNPC, but ran out of time.
Subsequent administrations balkanied and sold off PHCN and many more viable public companies for peanuts, thereby rendering thousands of Nigerians out of jobs.
This was after the government sunk in billions to rehabilitate them and also paid off outstanding debts “in order to attract buyers.”
To this day, we generate less than half of our country’s need, and the companies that “inherited” PHCN are still feeding fat on the federal government through alleged approvals of dubious financial interventions.
They have become a cartel and the government cannot afford to revoke the sale because of the trillions it must pay in claims.
Iyawa is former Nigerian Ambassador to Mexico
