Agboriotejoye:
Dangote is in Lekki free trade zone so no tariffs can be imposed on him Oga Seun

It's a hypothetical, obviously. Did you understand my points?

Seun:
It's a hypothetical, obviously. Did you understand my points?

Oh ok. I did though.
All the attempt to demonise imports is APC propaganda. I've neve paid attention to it.
You say we don't want imports but you export your president!!

COMRADES, I don't think Total ban on importation will do Nigeria any good rather empower the local industry that alone will discourage importation

Do we have all we need to not import? Developed countries rely heavenly on imports, what we need are peope with working heads. All the useless professors collecting salaries should be put to work to earn their keep.

cococandy:
Nigeria will become a drug wasteland

Youth will be in the street like in Philly dazed and bent over . And to make it worse, there won’t even be a modicum of resources to even begin to help like we have in some drug ridden states in America

Not if Nigeria push to law any drug user and pusher caught sentenced to death



People will fear to crosss border with drugs


Population will reduce

Seun:
Discouraging importation is a bad idea. Value chains are global. Top exporting countries import their raw materials from countries that can sell them at the lowest price. If you discourage imports, your cost of materials will be high, and your export products will be too expensive to sell internationally and will contribute to inflation by being more expensive locally.

Dangote is importing crude oil from the US because it's the most cost-effective source for him right now. This will ensure that the petrol he refines will be cheap enough to sell/export and make a decent profit. If we hypothetically discouraged him from importing crude oil by charging high tariffs, his petrol would be more expensive.

We have to import raw materials from the cheapest sources internationally, process them cost-effectively, and then export our finished products at competitive prices. There is nothing you want to produce that doesn't require importation. Even farming needs imported fertilizer, pesticides, herbicides, heavy equipment, spare parts, seeds, etc.

If we want to be an exporting nation, we should have low import tariffs and no export tariffs, like Singapore

You might say that we should have low tariffs for raw materials and high tariffs for finished products. That's not as bad as the current reality of high tariffs for raw materials in an attempt to encourage exportation of raw materials, but it is also a mirage. One man's "raw material" or input is another man's finished product.

Apple laptops and iPhones looks like finished luxury products, but to a programmer developing iOS apps, they're compulsory "raw materials" for production. The more expensive they are, the more difficult it will be for our youths to make clean money by becoming iOS developers.

Import tariffs or restrictions on grains would on the surface seem to help farmers, but they hurt feed mills, poultry farmers, bakeries, breweries, food processors, consumers who have to pay more for their products, and food exportation.

The top 3 exporting nations in the world are China, USA, and Germany. They are also the top 3 importing nations. The thinking of "imports bad, exports good" that leads to import substitution policies is primitive and outdated in the global village. India, which does import substitution, can't compete with China, which imports & exports.

The best thing for Nigeria is for the country to stop importation of many things and allow only machineries and technology....while developing local technology.
I would have suggest we lock ourselves in but that system is archaic..... The world is now a global village

We should also give a maximum 1year to stop food import within which we will invest heavily In agriculture and agro allied industries...... We have no business importing food

Seun:
Discouraging importation is a bad idea. Value chains are global. Top exporting countries import their raw materials from countries that can sell them at the lowest price. If you discourage imports, your cost of materials will be high, and your export products will be too expensive to sell internationally and will contribute to inflation by being more expensive locally.

Dangote is importing crude oil from the US because it's the most cost-effective source for him right now. This will ensure that the petrol he refines will be cheap enough to sell/export and make a decent profit. If we hypothetically discouraged him from importing crude oil by charging high tariffs, his petrol would be more expensive.

We have to import raw materials from the cheapest sources internationally, process them cost-effectively, and then export our finished products at competitive prices. There is nothing you want to produce that doesn't require importation. Even farming needs imported fertilizer, pesticides, herbicides, heavy equipment, spare parts, seeds, etc.

If we want to be an exporting nation, we should have low import tariffs and no export tariffs, like Singapore

You might say that we should have low tariffs for raw materials and high tariffs for finished products. That's not as bad as the current reality of high tariffs for raw materials in an attempt to encourage exportation of raw materials, but it is also a mirage. One man's "raw material" or input is another man's finished product.

Apple laptops and iPhones looks like finished luxury products, but to a programmer developing iOS apps, they're compulsory "raw materials" for production. The more expensive they are, the more difficult it will be for our youths to make clean money by becoming iOS developers.

Import tariffs or restrictions on grains would on the surface seem to help farmers, but they hurt feed mills, poultry farmers, bakeries, breweries, food processors, consumers who have to pay more for their products, and food exportation.

The top 3 exporting nations in the world are China, USA, and Germany. They are also the top 3 importing nations. The thinking of "imports bad, exports good" that leads to import substitution policies is primitive and outdated in the global village. India, which does import substitution, can't compete with China, which imports & exports.

Good thesis.

But it doesn't address the need for indigenous capacity-building and industrialisation, which could be hampered by the liberalist policies you advocate.

And without those, job creation will be limited.

How do you propose we avoid becoming a mere consumerist society lacking productivity and industrialisation, in the face of unrestricted importation?

I don't believe China started from the outset as a free market economy. It was something they implemented a couple decades ago after a century of closed markets, which had enabled capacity-building and a measure of industrialisation prior to the later trade liberalisation of the 90s.

Perhaps we've reached the stage China was in the late 80s and 90s and it's now time to open up like they did?

Maybe.

Paraman:
Buhari tried to discourage importation, it didn't end well. It's one of the reason we are where we are now

Importation on low import tariff would benefit the country more because some of the products being imported are gotten at a very reduced rate. Discouraging importation is very harmful to the economy.

RenaissanceGuy:
There's almost nothing you can imagine today that China is not producing. In fact, you can go to China, meet a manufacturer and give him idea of a product that is currently not existing and ask them to manufacture them for you and it'd be done. We can be the China of Africa, but ordinary agriculture, we have not been able to get right. Let's start with rice and wheat cultivation first, where we can supply the whole of Africa, instead of African countries importing from Russia, Ukraine and India.

You can't export when you don't have enough to export. No country can shut down importation in a bid to promote exportation. It's not a good economic policy.

Acidosis:


Importation is not the issue. The challenge is that we are not exporting enough.

We are not even producing enough for local consumption.

ElSudani:


We are not even producing enough for local consumption.

This week, illegal miners and over 7 truck loads of lithium were apprehended in Kwara state. These are some of the issues.

Do we need lithium for "local consumption"? I don't think so. But people are stealing these products and shipping them abroad illegally without due process (tax, remittances, dues, etc.).

Lithium is a big deal right now all over the world. Tesla needs it. Same as Ford, and other electric vehicle companies all over the world.

People like Elon Musk will pay anything to invest in a lithium zone, but who is going to initiate the talks? Tinubu?

Even if Elon won't invest in a fantastically corrupt country, China has over 20 electric vehicle companies. However, under a fantastically corrupt party and government, these companies would rather cut corners by negotiating with corrupt politicians and obas.

In international business management, corrupt countries (i.e., least developed countries) typically attract useless and corrupt companies.

Acidosis:



This week, illegal miners and over 7 truck loads of lithium were apprehended in Kwara state. These are some of the issues.

Do we need lithium for "local consumption"? I don't think so. But people are stealing these products and shipping them abroad illegally without due process (tax, remittances, dues, etc.).

Lithium is a big deal right now all over the world. Tesla needs it. Same as Ford, and other electric vehicle companies all over the world.

People like Elon Musk will pay anything to invest in a lithium zone, but who is going to initiate the talks? Tinubu?

Even if Elon won't invest in a fantastically corrupt country, China has over 20 electric vehicle companies. However, under a fantastically corrupt party and government, these companies would rather cut corners by negotiating with corrupt politicians and obas.

In international business management, corrupt countries (i.e., least developed countries) typically attract useless and corrupt companies.

Ukraine makes around $30 billion yearly from agricultural export, not to mention Ukrainians are not starving.
Australia makes between 40 to 70 billion dollars annually and Australians are not starving too.
In 2022 Brazil exported about 160 billion dollars worth in agricultural export.
This is just one sector of the economy, not mentioning self sufficiency in food.
This is something you should think about, what do you think 30 billion dollars would do for our own economy today?

ElSudani:


Ukraine makes around $30 billion yearly from agricultural export, not to mention Ukrainians are not starving.
Australia makes between 40 to 70 billion dollars annually and Australians are not starving too.
In 2022 Brazil exported about 160 billion dollars worth in agricultural export.
This is just one sector of the economy, not mentioning self sufficiency in food.
This is something you should think about, what do you think 30 billion dollars would do for our own economy today?

Agriculture in Nigeria is currently overrated. I agree that we need not waste our time exporting the "little" output until we transition from peasant farming to more sophisticated mechanical means.

This is 2024 not 1962. Nigeria only needs to do two things: attract foreign investors or get billionaires like Dangote, Otedola, etc. to invest more in the agric sector.

We need to manage our agric sector in the same way we manage e.g., the oil sector. In the oil sector, employers look for the best and pay them handsomely. You'll usually find many first class graduates, huge capital base, and stringent regulation/regulators. Despite the massive level of corruption in the sector, Nigeria still managed to earn over $11bn in just 5 months (2023) from crude exports.

Somehow, we expect the agric sector (populated with the highest number of illiterates and poor people) to produce the same result. It's never happening.

We have become too archaic and comfortable with the status quo so much that we believe that only AK-47 carrying Fulani and Bororo folks without education can give us beef and fura de nunu (or yoghurt). We never even see poverty. The worst is yet to happen unless we begin to change our thought process.

jmoore:
China imported goods worth 3 trillion dollars in 2022, their export value was 3 trillion dollars same year.


Nigeria actually had a trade surplus in 2022.

China did not float its forex.

with a reserve of over 3.2 trillion, consistent yearly positive balance of payment and very strict money repatriation rule. The difference is quite obvious

My ad on nairaland has been pending since,I don't even know how to pay?😥

I don't get it. How will lifting crude from USA to be refined in Nigeria produce a cheaper end-product than the crude lifted from PHC to Lagos ?

Someone should pls enlighten me? Anyone?

Unrelated post:

Seun,

It is very undemocratic to create and sustain an unfair and uequal system on this platform. Numerous examples of this abounds, like the creation of a separate section for a particular religious sect. However, I will stick preferential treatment accorded to individuals.

For whatever reason, the system ensure that nobody is able to either quote or reply to any comments/posts made by MANNABBQGRILL.S. The is totally unacceptable.

I don't know who the person is, and I am not interested, but you can't decide to make an individual here superior to others for God knows why. It's either you make it possible for everyone to decide whether they want to be quoted by everyone (like the block function in our favourite Twitter) or you stop hiding the coward behind MANNABBQGRILL.S except you're the one.

Buying:
▫️ USDT | BTC | ETH
▫️ Payoneer | PayPal
WhatsApp #: Pherule Digitals 07061542292

Seun:
Discouraging importation is a bad idea. Value chains are global. Top exporting countries import their raw materials from countries that can sell them at the lowest price. If you discourage imports, your cost of materials will be high, and your export products will be too expensive to sell internationally and will contribute to inflation by being more expensive locally.

Dangote is importing crude oil from the US because it's the most cost-effective source for him right now. This will ensure that the petrol he refines will be cheap enough to sell/export and make a decent profit. If we hypothetically discouraged him from importing crude oil by charging high tariffs, his petrol would be more expensive.

We have to import raw materials from the cheapest sources internationally, process them cost-effectively, and then export our finished products at competitive prices. There is nothing you want to produce that doesn't require importation. Even farming needs imported fertilizer, pesticides, herbicides, heavy equipment, spare parts, seeds, etc.

If we want to be an exporting nation, we should have low import tariffs and no export tariffs, like Singapore

You might say that we should have low tariffs for raw materials and high tariffs for finished products. That's not as bad as the current reality of high tariffs for raw materials in an attempt to encourage exportation of raw materials, but it is also a mirage. One man's "raw material" or input is another man's finished product.

Apple laptops and iPhones looks like finished luxury products, but to a programmer developing iOS apps, they're compulsory "raw materials" for production. The more expensive they are, the more difficult it will be for our youths to make clean money by becoming iOS developers.

Import tariffs or restrictions on grains would on the surface seem to help farmers, but they hurt feed mills, poultry farmers, bakeries, breweries, food processors, consumers who have to pay more for their products, and food exportation.

The top 3 exporting nations in the world are China, USA, and Germany. They are also the top 3 importing nations. The thinking of "imports bad, exports good" that leads to import substitution policies is primitive and outdated in the global village. India, which does import substitution, can't compete with China, which imports & exports.

Importation of what?
Is it importation of petrol, Garri, Wheat, Okirika, automobiles, Brazillian Hair, I-phone, took picks, wines, canned tomatoe, rice, Iron and steel or 'importations of workers'?

Paraman:
Buhari tried to discourage importation, it didn't end well. It's one of the reason we are where we are now

Nigerians will reduce importation of many products on their own as the economy become unable to afford it. The real reason why Nigeria recorded Trade Surplus in 2023 was because importation fell below the projected value.

bentenny:

The rice and wheat produced here will still be more expensive compared to other African countries because Nigeria lacks an enabling environment for business to thrive!
If there was an open market today within African countries,would Nigerian businesses be able to compete with countries that have constant power supply,security,unified tax system,low transport cost?

It is not about competing or not competing but SURVIVAL.

Can Nigeria import everything and anything that come to their minds? The answer is a CAPITAL NO.

This is just like a 5-year old child who accompanied his parents to a supermarket for shopping but was pointing to any item in the supermarket that caught his fancy and asking the parents to buy. The parents bought the first four items, then the father started hesitating to buy more items. Out of frustration, the boy asked his father, Daddy ,why can't we buy the remaining ones? And the father replied 'we can't just be buying everything. Then he asked the father , why can't we be buying everything? The father replied...when you grow-up, you will understand.

oyatz:



It is not about competing or not competing but SURVIVAL.

Can Nigeria import everything and anything that come to their minds? The answer is a CAPITAL NO.

This is just like a 5-year old child who accompanied his parents to a supermarket for shopping but was pointing to any item in the supermarket that caught his fancy and asking the parents to buy. The parents bought the first four items, then the father started hesitating to buy more items. Out of frustration, the boy asked his father, Daddy ,why can't we buy the remaining ones? And the father replied 'we can't just be buying everything. Then he asked the father , why can't we be buying everything? The father replied...when you grow-up, you will understand.

As much as I understood where you are trying to get to,I am finding it hard to see where it aligns with what I said or the title!