This is a counter thread to the analogy earlier posted:

Ebele Ogbuanu the Hunter goes into the bush, kills a very big Antelope and sells it to Mama Ngozi who sells peppersoup. He sold the game for N1,000. He told mama Ngozi to make sure the peppersoup is well made because he is coming along with his friends in the evening to enjoy themselves. When they got there that evening, they ordered for plates of peppersoup. Ebele bought the head for N500, he bought the four legs for four of his friends at N500 each, another person ate the intestines as assorted, he paid N500 for it, three other people also ate N500 worth of peppersoup each. The hunter ended up spending N4,500 to buy what he sold to Mama Ngozi for N1,000. Mama Ngozi made a cool N3,500 profit just by cooking (processing) the meat and selling it back to where she bought it from. That is 350% profit and yet she still had excess remaining to sell to other customers. So who is wise and who is foolish here?

Let us relate this story to our dear country Nigeria. We sell crude oil to UK at $110 per barrel and we are very happy; so happy that we spend the money lavishly, and then go back immediately to UK to buy the processed crude oil in the form of Kerosene, PMS, AGO, Tar, petroleum jelly, wax, petrochemicals etc. At the end of the day we end up buying these products at 12 times the cost of what we sold them. How is it possible Nigeria is not broke. Nigeria sure has been broke since 53 years ago.

Culled

Ayeni Ekundayo
(Inbound Marketer |Google Certified AdWords Fundamentals, Search Advertising, Display Adverts)
https://ng.linkedin.com/in/dayoayeni

I want to believe the pepper soup seller didn't prepare the meat under a roofless home with urine, poo, sand and paper.

I want to believe those buying our oil aren't refining with magic, wave and the expertise of new born babies.

The Question we should be asking is: is it profitable and cost-effective to process our crude oil?

Would you buy 'Agbo Jedi' (herbal medicine) at N200/bottle when a tablet of paracetamol (made in India) costs only N20, just because you want to patronize your local medicine sellers in Nigeria? Note that paracetamol is certified, effective and cheaper.

If the business environment in Nigeria is favourable, everything including refineries would work effortlessly and profitably. Which of these refining machineries do you manufacture in Nigeria? How many Nigerian engineers can operate and run a refinery? Most of these equipment/expertise would still be imported (expensive), so why are we deceiving ourselves?

Until our business environment and knowledge is enhanced, some things would remain cheaper when imported.

Your analogy is not comprehensive reason being that the hunter has no choice! He cannot prepare pepper soup, so if he must prepare one, he has to pay to learn how to prepare pepper soup. The question is, is he ready to learn? At what cost? N10,000? Are you sure he won't go back to invite the woman after paying N10,000 for training?

Do Nigerian engineers travel out for training? Yes. At what cost? Billions! Why do we still run abroad to invite and recruit trainers to run our refineries? Our flyovers? At what cost?

I'm sure the hunter killed the animal with a cheap bullet (that's profit), but the woman can't! Don't you think the pepper soup seller ought to have killed the same animal to increase her profit margin? Of course she can't because she has no access to the bush (oil). It is a win-win deal.

This issue of refinery has been going on for long but Nigerians need to know the truth. Running a refinery is not a child's play. Until we develop our knowledge bank (not money bank), Nigeria will continue to import everything.

Before we build refineries, let's learn to make competitive match sticks. Its N5 per box all the way from China. How many Nigerians can produce such and sell at N3 per box? NONE! Why? We cannot COMPETITIVELY produce, run and maintain the machine that makes match sticks, but we've got the money to buy the entire match stick factories in China.

Is Nigeria broke? YES, knowledge-broke.

laughable.

you failed to bring the effect of corruption in your analysis

.

rottennaija:
you failed to bring the effect of corruption in your analysis

My brother, we lay too much emphasis on corruption.

Let's look at the ceramic industry. Do you know that majority of W/C (water closet) in Nigerian shops were shipped in from China, and other countries?

Do you think corruption is the reason why our ceramics industries have closed down and gone moribund? Nigeria ranks 13th among the worlds consumers of ceramics in 2013 yet we rely so much on imported ceramic wares.

I don't think corruption (in the context of stolen money) is the apex of our troubles. Unavailability of technical equipment, unskilled labour, bad administration, neo colonial acculturation, bad industrial management, poor government policies, etc. are among the top reasons.

I see u encourage we continue to import what about tomorrow

Acidosis:


My brother, we lay too much emphasis on corruption.

Let's look at the ceramic industry. Do you know that majority of W/C (water closet) in Nigerian shops were shipped in from China, and other countries?

Do you think corruption is the reason why our ceramics industries have closed down and gone moribund? Nigeria ranks 13th among the worlds consumers of ceramics in 2013 yet we rely so much on imported ceramic wares.

I don't think corruption (in the context of stolen money) is the apex of our troubles. Unavailability of technical equipment, unskilled labour, bad administration, neo colonial acculturation, bad industrial management, poor government policies, etc. are among the top reasons.

but corruption is the root of nigeria problem not technical skill. if the minister of labour, power,and energy decides to pocket half of the money budgeted for his ministry do u knw that the companies in nigeria will suffer more e.g
bad road
lack of electricity
and this are the most important things in production. nt to talk of other ministries like information, education and finance.
Have u ever asked urself why the military regime achieved a lot, more than democracy, it its because of corruption.
Corruption is the root of under development

I agree with you op. Our institutions for higher learning are churning out half-baked graduates year after year, we need to get back to the drawing board and set our priorities straight

Chazzyboy:
I see u encourage we continue to import what about tomorrow

No, I'm only advocating that our leaders must stop the deceit. We can only stop importations of finished goods, what about the importation of machineries, experts?

Is it economically sensible to import all the materials and still produce expensive finished goods?

Until we invest more on knowledge, we cannot reap the benefits of "importation bans".

Elosky20:

but corruption is the root of nigeria problem not technical skill. if the minister of labour, power,and energy decides to pocket half of the money budgeted for his ministry do u knw that the companies in nigeria will suffer more e.g
bad road
lack of electricity
and this are the most important things in production. nt to talk of other ministries like information, education and finance.
Have u ever asked urself why the military regime achieved a lot, more than democracy, it its because of corruption.
Corruption is the root of under development

The companies will still suffer even if the Minister vows to work voluntarily without pay.

The military regime succeeded in importing everything, from machinery to experts and all. Today, the equipment shipped in by the military have mostly gone bad, outdated, and dilapidated.

If the military had invested more on knowledge, innovation and R& D, we'll not be talking about importation of new sets of generators to power our street lights.

The military failed, democrats are still failing.

Suigeneris93:
I agree with you op. Our institutions for higher learning are churning out half-baked graduates year after year, we need to get back to the drawing board and set our priorities straight

very true

Acidosis:


The companies will still suffer even if the Minister vows to work voluntarily without pay.

The military regime succeeded in importing everything, from machinery to experts and all. Today, the equipment shipped in by the military have mostly gone bad, outdated, and dilapidated.

If the military had invested more on knowledge, innovation and R& D, we'll not be talking about importation of new sets of generators to power our street lights.

The military failed, democrats are still failing.

they did nt fail. at least the handed over to democracy when N20 is equal to 1 dollar bt today democracy it is N385 to 1 dollar and the refineries were built by the military. so it is democracy that has failed nigeria.

^^ Oh well, you have a good point sir

Acidosis:


My brother, we lay too much emphasis on corruption.

Let's look at the ceramic industry. Do you know that majority of W/C (water closet) in Nigerian shops were shipped in from China, and other countries?

Do you think corruption is the reason why our ceramics industries have closed down and gone moribund? Nigeria ranks 13th among the worlds consumers of ceramics in 2013 yet we rely so much on imported ceramic wares.

I don't think corruption (in the context of stolen money) is the apex of our troubles. Unavailability of technical equipment, unskilled labour, bad administration, neo colonial acculturation, bad industrial management, poor government policies, etc. are among the top reasons.

corruption isnt just about stolen money. corruption has a ripple effect of impacting on other aspects of life. every year, a certain among of money is budgeted for industrial development. who eats the money? who sits on the interest of industrial revolution so that some people will continue to import while they receives commission? when we speak about corruption, it has a wide range of application and a wide range of impact on all things happening in the country

besides, we have enough skilled personal, just corruption that eats away what should be done

rottennaija:


corruption isnt just about stolen money. corruption has a ripple effect of impacting on other aspects of life. every year, a certain among of money is budgeted for industrial development. who eats the money? who sits on the interest of industrial revolution so that some people will continue to import while they receives commission? when we speak about corruption, it has a wide range of application and a wide range of impact on all things happening in the country

besides, we have enough skilled personal, just corruption that eats away what should be done

I still do not agree to the argument that stolen fund is the reason why we remain at this level.

We do not have enough skilled personnel and skilful industrialists. We have many billionaires who cannot delve into certain businesses because of bad policies, incompetent workers and the scary business environment.

We'll be making a great mistake if we keep relying on the government to build industries. They will always run at loss. The government is only good at paying salaries and attending to the needs of NLC. It is a public job funded by tax payers so they are less concerned about productivity and profitability.

Take for instance, we currently do not have any university running a program on biomedical engineering, with NO industry producing sophisticated medical and laboratory equipment in Nigeria. Just look at the number of labs in Nigeria and see how much we spend on importation of hospital, and laboratory equipment, e.g. Autoclave.

Do we have the money for setup? CAPITAL YES!! So why isn't anyone building such in Nigeria? Whoever tries that would fail woefully and spend the rest of his life paying debts! That's why the rich prefer to build gas stations, real estates, hotels and other businesses with steady market and more than enough personnel.

You cannot travel abroad to import biomedical engineers, and still expect your products to be cheaper or stand at equal pricing with theirs.

Insightful thread

when matured people argue! thumbs up guys

Corruption is not the main problem in Nigeria. The biggest problem in Nigeria is foresight and mismanagement. Let me ask you a simple question, is Innoson motors more expensive than Toyota and Honda? When I got to America I noticed there is about 200 refineries in America, even Louisiana one of the poorest state has about 16 working refinery. I decided to do a little research on how this system cab work back home. I decided not to publish because I believe no one will listen. If the senseless Nigerian Government totally hands off the refining business and hand it over to the companies that knows the business I bet you a lot of our problems will be solved. The likes of mobil, total, chevron , shell, valero, Phillips66, will find a way of making refining here in Nigeria cheaper than imported. There will never be scarcity, nothing like subsidy and the naira will stand a better chance. Who says we can only export oil, if Nigeria builds more refinery we can start exporting to our west african neighbours.
Foresight, we never expand or maintain what we already have. The city of Houston is said to be the fastest growing city in America, they have already started expanding some major highways that will connect the cypress suburbs to the main city. That's foresight. I was in Florida and the engineers were working on a road that looks perfect to me. And I asked why and they said, once a road is built, there's always a time chart in which they have to maintain it whether it's bad or not. Some of the buildings in my school were built in 1940's and they still look awesome. Whenever I'm in those building I wonder what would be the state of this building if it is in Nigeria. My point is foresight and management can turn us around, constant expansion and management.

Also what's the job if the LGA and state government in Nigeria? A lot of power and responsibility lies with the federal government.
The federal government don't know what's going on in my village in Imo state.
In America the mayors of counties have a lot of power and responsibilities. The race for mayorship is very intense. That's because the counties brings about the major visible development. But that discussion is for another day.

I'm very disappointed Nigeria is a failed state.

NAIRALANDERS, kindly help me circulate this message throughout social media until Buhari begins to hear word.
Abeg una please.
And feel free to add your own thoughts, eg-

*When will msmes have access to single digit loans? Or-
*When exactly do you intend to implement your 2016 budget of change? Or-
*How come your people can't find tompolo? Or-
*When will all the lying stop?!
-------------------
Baba bubu, pls recall wot led to ur ouster
30years ago.

You've been replicating policies
that are 3 decades old- only this time you're
spending hard currency on needless travel.

You have ambassadors, several attaches and
many nigerians with business interests in all
these nations you've visited. Any one of them
would gladly represent you and nigeria in
whatever forum- unless of course, you deem
them as incompetent, untrustworthy or otherwise unfit for the role.

There are retired armed forces' officers who
haven't been paid their pensions for some
months. Now, rank and file soldiers are
allegedly complaining.

Let us forget that you wasted 6 months looking for saints. At least you could've spent the time meeting with fellow stake-holders of this nation to find out how to solve our myriad problems.

Sit down and face your work.

A word is enough for the wise.

Standozey:
Corruption is not the main problem in Nigeria. The biggest problem in Nigeria is foresight and mismanagement. Let me ask you a simple question, is Innoson motors more expensive than Toyota and Honda? When I got to America I noticed there is about 200 refineries in America, even Louisiana one of the poorest state has about 16 working refinery. I decided to do a little research on how this system cab work back home. I decided not to publish because I believe no one will listen. If the senseless Nigerian Government totally hands off the refining business and hand it over to the companies that knows the business I bet you a lot of our problems will be solved. The likes of mobil, total, chevron , shell, valero, Phillips66, will find a way of making refining here in Nigeria cheaper than imported. There will never be scarcity, nothing like subsidy and the naira will stand a better chance. Who says we can only export oil, if Nigeria builds more refinery we can start exporting to our west african neighbours.
Foresight, we never expand or maintain what we already have. The city of Houston is said to be the fastest growing city in America, they have already started expanding some major highways that will connect the cypress suburbs to the main city. That's foresight. I was in Florida and the engineers were working on a road that looks perfect to me. And I asked why and they said, once a road is built, there's always a time chart in which they have to maintain it whether it's bad or not. Some of the buildings in my school were built in 1940's and they still look awesome. Whenever I'm in those building I wonder what would be the state of this building if it is in Nigeria. My point is foresight and management can turn us around, constant expansion and management.

Also what's the job if the LGA and state government in Nigeria? A lot of power and responsibility lies with the federal government.
The federal government don't know what's going on in my village in Imo state.
In America the mayors of counties have a lot of power and responsibilities. The race for mayorship is very intense. That's because the counties brings about the major visible development. But that discussion is for another day.

I'm very disappointed Nigeria is a failed state.

I totally agree with your viewpoints

I don't get it we all are here pointing accusing fingers and making useless analysis online while the country is going from bad to worse. If one of us here gets an appointment as minister for youth development the next thing you will see is thanksgiving and chanting that God has okay my call, na to buy range rover sport and Prado jeeps. Go out there and do what you can to save country we all are guilty none is a saint.

Nigeria isn't going any where as long as young brilliant minds continue to sit behind their keyboards and make analysis. Our biggest problem is lack of purposeful leadership & mass illitracy. Sadly, the govt will never invest in the education of her citizens cos the current status quo favors them. More illitrates means more people who are willing to exchange their vote for 1k and a derica of rice, more youths who are willing to kill to fulfil the wishes of their pay masters. Since the people who will vote based on stomach infrastructure far outnumber those who make rational decisions, we keep getting saddled with leaders who will never make sound economic decisions.