By: Nnabugwu Chizoba (Charismatic
Chizy),
 |
| One of the machines of Timothy Manah |
Recently, I hosted a team of quite
amazing, highly talented and very skillful Nigerians in my office. According to
them, they have followed very keenly my commitment to entrepreneurship and
business development efforts and are particularly in alignment with my constant
call for a change of strategy in the efforts of governments to develop Small
and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), in Nigeria.
To say that I was highly elated and
still basking on the euphoria of their accolades is an understatement,
especially with their announcement of me as a Patron of Agricultural and Machinery
Equipment Fabricators of Nigeria (AMEFAN). I can confirm to the reader in clear
terms that this elegant, heartwarming, ego tripping and confidence bolstering,
sweet coated praises amount to nothing immediately one compares or considers them
against the pains, worry and concerns that I go through emotionally. I guess
all true entrepreneurship and business development practitioners go through same
on regular basis, knowing as a matter of fact that no serious mechanism is in
place presently to engage the immensely talented and highly skilled individuals,
such as the ones that bestowed me with glowing tribute and honour, but whom the
Nigerian system have skillfully and systematically schemed out of reckoning. These
group of people have been neglected, almost abandoned and are left to suffer varying
degrees of frustrations.
The unfortunate thing about the
neglect is that it is happening in the face of so much hyping about government activities
and programmes aimed at encouraging Small and Medium Enterprise (SMEs) and developing
entrepreneurship and businesses in Nigeria. It is worthy of note that the
Federal and Plateau state governments are also guilty of this neglect of the
likes of AMEFAN, the obviously gifted hands that paid me a visit in my office.
I referred to them as “gifted hands”,
because what they do is inborn. Beyond this, they have taken time to enhance
their talent. They have gone to school to develop their talent, to become
skillful. Apart from this they are competent, as their works have proven. They are
functional, considering that they are deploying their skills consistently and
regularly. They have been reinventing themselves in several ways, that showcase
their richly God endowed capacity. Through their skill, they have refined and
developed products and services that are necessary for the growth, expansion
and sustainable development of the economic base of Nigeria.
I have not seized to wonder how
the various governments in Nigeria sincerely intend to diversify the economy
through massive agricultural activities without interfacing regularly with the agricultural equipment fabricators. I have
the unwavering belief that government should engage AMEFAN to play a leading
role in the efforts to develop the agricultural sector in Nigeria. Or would it
be said that the efforts at achieving monumental success in the sector is
anchored on imported machines and equipment? To this, I can only but say, “God
forbid”.
I am very much aware, that the President
of Nigeria, Alhaji Muhammadu Buhari, visited Plateau state recently, and one of
the major and celebrated breakthrough activities of the state government led by
Rt. Hon Barr. Simon Bako Lalong as the Governor was the presentation of
tractors in the public domain for the President to commission. This the
President actually did to the admiration of the governor and his party faithful
and supporters, including the general public. At the end, lots of accolades and
praises were showered on Mr. President and the Governor, for the great works they
did.
But then I ask, if the Plateau State
government and the Federal government had considered it necessary to reach out
to the agricultural equipment fabricators on the Plateau and patronized their
services; and their products publicly exhibited and commissioned by Mr.
President, what would have happened? What impact would that have had in the
economy of Plateau state and Nigeria in the short, medium and long run? Let the
pondering continue…
I call on the Federal and state
governments to support the fabricators, because of the nature of their products
in cost and patronage. I call for their support, because I am aware of their
relevance to the development of the agricultural sector and the economy as a
whole. In terms of job creation, recognizing them and working with them will
create millions of jobs both directly and indirectly; in the agricultural
sub-sector, in food processing and in the manufacturing sector, generally.
If anyone thinks the products of
these local fabricators are inferior, it is simply because that person is yet
to relate with the truth of what these fabricators are doing. They are not just
into fabrication of unit machines but process machines that have been tested
and are delivering at very high performance rate in time, quantity and quality
of output.
A typical example is the machine
produced by Timothy Manah, a degluming machine presently deployed in the
processing of sorghum. The machine has achieved a success rate of 6% degluming
level as against 13% that most of the presently imported machines achieve, yet
they are imported at a very high cost. The variation in cost when compared with
the locally made is in millions. The same thing is applicable to performance
and duration. The general public should know that the lower the percentage of
degluming the better. Thus 6% level of degluming is by far better than 13%.
Once again, I use this medium to
call on the President and the Governors, in particular, the Plateau state
Governor Rt. Hon Barr. Simon Bako Lalong, and the Central Bank of Nigeria
Governor, to rally round these Nigerians. They need support, patronage and
promotion. They need encouragement, and very importantly they need to be
constantly intimated of government programmes, especially those that bring the
farmers and government together, and those that are designed to encourage food
processing.
Efforts to diversify the economy,
reduce unemployment and poverty, eliminate youth restiveness and insecurity,
urban slums, as well as achieve growth and sustainable development will
particulate, indeed remain a mirage until attention is shifted from the so called
imported machines that are very often of substandard quality when compared with
the locally made ones.
Be the voice!
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