‘Inconsistency In Government Policies Is Undermining
Dr. Cosmas Maduka, the Chief Executive of Coscharis Group, in this interview with
LEO SOBECHI says that after 59 years of independence, Nigeria should separate politics from development, stressing that inconsistency in government policies has been at the root of the slow rate of growth of the country’s economy. While praising the closure of the nation’s borders, the industrialist maintains that Nigeria should be made to achieve food sufficiency and be able to produce the bulk of what the citizens consume. He regretted that the accumulation of unbridled consumerism has made the country unable to occupy its rightful place in the comity of developing nations.
9 years after Nigeria’s independence, how do you feel that Nigeria has not manufactured its own car?
WELL, the truth is that looking at a population of close to 200 million people and if World Bank’s prediction is anything to go by, by 2050, we will become close to 500 million people, we should be producing our own automobile. It is not something that anyone should feel proud of. South Africa with less than one quarter of Nigerian population has close to 18 brands being produced in South Africa. Not until recently, many people might not know that all the brands of BMW that is driven in Japan, in UK, United States of America and Mercedes C Class that is driven in countries like Australia, Singapore, around the world are produced in South Africa. Now, BMW has invested additional 500 million Rand and they are going to start producing the X3 in South Africa to be shipped to America, Australia and around the world. So, car manufacturing has supported the South African GDP and has continued to create jobs. But it is very unfortunate that we have not done anything as a country to encourage entrepreneurship because of inconsistency in government policies. We are not building a nation because building a nation requires separating politics from economic development of the country. You cannot play politics with it! But we play politics with everything and that is why many people continue to wonder what our hope is, where is our future? You need to have a country for you to have anyone to rule. When you do not have a country, you run away.
Let us even get back to the basics that Nigeria spend 3 billion dollars importing wheat to make bread, spend over 3 billion dollars to eat rice and the population is still exploding on year to year basis. Over 86 million youths are in this country, which other market do you find this in the world? How many youths are in Europe? How many youths are in Asia? Over 86 million youths between the age bracket of 15 and 32 are in this country. The leaders must understand the economic power within their control and harness it for economic development by creating enabling environment and empowering this power horse to recreate itself because in another 20 years, they will not be useful for this country.
Government has been making so much noise about building infrastructure here and there; do you think there is a plan or systematic way of going about this?
There is no doubt that there are few things you can see and relate with. We cannot deny it, but I think we should do better than what we are doing. Look at major highways that connect cities in this country and tell me which of them can you drive confidently and think you will have a sheer driving pleasure both in the northern part of Nigeria, in the western part of Nigeria and the eastern part of Nigeria? You cannot go from Enugu to Asaba or Port Harcourt. Why should we fix roads after 20 years? Some of the roads that were two way roads when I was 14/15 years old remain the same while the population continues to geometrically increase. The government must understand their responsibilities. Can this thing be done? It can be done, it is about leadership. These roads can be fixed, put a toll on these roads and people will get back their money. If you find the right leader, create jobs and infrastructure, this country will move. Very soon, Ghana with over 30 million people, no matter what we say, will lead us. Ghana’s economy and Cote d’ivoire’s economy has been growing consistently with over 6 per cent, 7 per cent on annual basis. Toyota is going to Ghana for manufacturing and Suzuki is planning to do same. Ghana, with 30 million people, wants to produce automobile. We have been talking about auto policy, but we do not have the will. We play politics with everything. Many of us have invested in agriculture, planting rice, milling them. Let us wait, Buhari may leave office tomorrow and under 24 months, somebody says people are suffering, open the border, imported rice is all over the place again. There has never been consistence and it is the politicians that need to be blamed for this shortcoming.
How do you think Nigeria can get away from the inconsistency in policies?
There is no two-way about it, the leadership has to change, they have to change their mindset. The leaders themselves have to understand the responsibility and hold themselves accountable. When you feel responsible, you become accountable. When they begin to hold themselves accountable, then we can begin to get results. Things cannot continue the way it is, things happen in a very tickle manner but these are not the things that can change the economy. One person comes and says pour a little water here and a little water there. We need economic revolution. Somebody needs to grow this economy by double digit percentage in the next ten consecutive years if we are to see the light of the day in this country. They should stop playing politics with the lives of the people. If I were the president of this country I will look for the best brains in this country. We have everything we need. It is a question of using the best brains to get the best results. If I am in power and I feel you are not in my party therefore you are not good or I will tell people from my party, please nominate somebody and they bring me their grandmother who does not contribute anything and politics is that you help me, I help you. You do not use your weak ones to get results, you use your best. Let us be honest and beat our chest, the people we present in a position of leadership; is it the best that Nigeria has in many fronts and aspects? You go to competition with your best but politics does not require that because if you want to enter into politics, you need to play it from the local grounds, to get people to get you the votes, so, once you get that position and you are in that system,
We are not building a nation because building a nation requires separating politics from economic development of the country. You cannot play politics with it! But we play politics with everything and that is why many people continue to wonder what our hope is, where is our future? You need to have a country for you to have anyone to rule. When you do not have a country, you run away.