fmr Tanzania President tutors Nigeria on R&D

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Nigeria needs to invest more share of its GDP in Research and Development (R & D) as well as in the acquisition of quality technology to drive the manufacturing (Industrialization) processes.

The former president of the United Republic of Tanzania, His Excellency, Benjamin Williams Mkapa  stated this during MAN annual lecture in Lagos that Nigeria as the largest populated country in the whole of Africa can leverage technology to make quantum leaps in production of goods for the ECOWAS region and beyond.

Fmr President further said “It will take a commitment from both the Federal Government and the private sector to find the right technological solutions to the many challenges the country is confronted with. I would suggest that Nigeria looks more to China to tap into their vast knowledge in the development and application of advanced but affordable technology for the production boom. Nigerian businesses should aggressively pursue partnership with Chinese businesses that are willing to invest and provide technology transfer agreements.

Mr Makpa pointed out that over time, Nigeria through the pivotal role of MAN can become the next global production hub after china, Thailand and Vietnam. Effective Trade Policies

“This is another area that I think we ought to tread very carefully if we are really serious about our industrialisation drive. Effective trade policies would encourage local manufacturing companies to build better products to compete not only in the regional but also international markets. While our aspiration to pursue development through trade without aid is as ideal as ambitious to any responsible government, the present global paradigm is unfavourably structured for Africa and whether by design or by default, it serves to ensure that we don’t achieve those aspirations and we remain perpetually dependent, he noted.

Fmr president reiterated as he put it “Let us seek reprieve from the wisdom of our Yoruba ancestors. “He who disappoints another is unworthy to be trusted”!

Mr Makpa warns Nigeria over EPA Agreement that some of my European friends are not very happy with me when I characterise EPAs as the modern day equivalent of the Berlin Conference Treaty. While the Berlin Conference of 1884 to 1885 balkanized Africa among 13 European powers as a guaranteed source of raw materials and market, how are the EPAs different from that? In reality, Africa negotiated these EPAs under unprecedented economic duress and coercion. In the process African governments were arm-twisted into glossing over some very pertinent aspects of the agreement essentially for EU’s economic expediency.

Mr Makpa pointed out the common element at both Berlin and Brussels is that Africa is not allowed latitude to conduct trade, industrial and development policies for her own development but for the development of Europe. I am aware that most of African Trade Ministers have privately and tacitly rejected the EPAs, but in fact they have acquiesced. In private whisperings, not many Africans or policymakers are happy with the deal, but there is a certain sense of helplessness.

He said the European Union (EU) has been negotiating the EPAs with the Africa Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries a fully reciprocal trade arrangement between EU and ACP to replace the previous non-reciprocal, preferential trade access of ACP countries to EU. While the exploitation and looting of Africa’s enormous natural resources during the colonial and immediate post colonial times is history, we cannot simply take it as a misfortune borne patiently as though it had not been.

The fmr president however said that, I want to thank you (MAN President) immensely for your correct standing on EPA. Your President calmed my nerves in his speech when he confirmed that the position has not changed, he stressed.

“We must be driven by the plea of the Hausa proverb: It is to stand up that one changes from sitting!!”

He advised the federal government to reviving the manufacturing sector. I only have one final exhortation: The fmr President said “STAY AWAY FROM EPA”; the agreement is antithetical to the industrialization aspirations that you have. The Igbo people have an age-old saying: “Taking thought is strength”


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