Economic Suicide Local Content Policy Tackles

April 15, 2008 at 200800000030p00000030: 2:19 p04 (Community, NIGERIA, business, create the change, education, god is not a lie, health, leadership, niger delta, politics)

There is a likely economic suicide or a snapping of its strenght if the productive work and commercial activities are in the hands of foreign investors, predominantly.There will be heavy dependence on importation of raw materials and personnel.allAfrica.com

 

The attendant cost stiffles the economy, as efforts to recoup the cost takes a hard toll on the economy and frustrates any meaningful growth.Local firms that were barely surviving would gradually get aground.

 

The local consuming market will be exploited as the cost of goods would be beyond their economic power.The cost of food will be high also.A rising cost of food contributes to hunger.

 

 Hunger today threatens the poor in Nigeria and worldwide.When the price of food is high, food is put out of reach of the most vulnerable and the urban poor.There may be a new face of hunger in the face of abundant food especially when a large number of people can not afford them.

 

While business risk remains a major component of the challenge, the skepticism that the local content policy has been faced with must be broken.This is preventing many to access the benefits the policy affords.

 

Taking the policy to its full actualization is systematic.There is a broad avenue to access fund and the market.The centralbank of nigeria is at the lead to drive small and mudium industrial enterprises into the mainstream of the policy.If the fund is available and the market accessible.why is there difficulty to fully maximize the benefits.

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What Government is Doing With Local Content Policy

April 15, 2008 at 200800000030p00000030: 2:19 p04 (Community, Journalism Education, NIGERIA, Nephrological society, africa, business, create the change, education, god is not a lie, health, investment, leadership, niger delta, politics, science)
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A new business environment is being created.One of transparency, commitment and productivity.A rejuvenation that accelerates the attainment of industrial status for the nation’s economy.Government is setting up practical standards that would transform domestic technology into a world class.

 

The challenge it brings, is to create, where there is an obvious absence, a climate for entreprenuers to take, seriously, the option to acquire technology and to transfer it to local partners productive activities.

 

The National Assembly is currently deliberating on the local content bill.When passed and assented to, as law, by President Yar’Adua, it would give verve to the effort geared at enforcing a strict adherence to the policy.

 

While government is re-organizing the regulatory and monitoring agencies for effectiveness and efficiency in their roles, a review of the tarrif regime on essential goods and services is also on-going.These are identified indicators needed to establish local industries and encourage them to expand.

 

Attractive incentives are being articulated to encourage local hybrid centres of excellence and to improve relevant local infrastructure towards capacity building.

 

Deserving local industries are said to be receiving the encouragement to set up,with  demonstrable ability and commitment, an investment that is long term,to create huge economic opportunities.Government is now willing to  assist local companies to access affordable funding for contract implementation as well as to review tax and royalty regimes.

 

Local Content Benefits

Local entreprenuers are chided to be adventuristic in their investment undertakings, to dare the odds,break the wind and begin the production of local goods that meet the consumption needs of both local and international markets.

 

The more creative the ideas they develop become, accompanied with the investors’ confidence, the more likely the success they could make.There are greater economic prospects local entreprenuers can charge at, to break the total dependence on the foreign technology, especially the challenge, technology transfer had posed.

 

It is because technology and technical expertise dominates modern business environment,globally,Nigeria is diving out of the deep waters.A countrry should be a producing economy to be relevant,producing goods and the machinery.The operating firms should be value creating outfits.Not only in the commercial market but in its staff constitution.

 

How much of what is lost can the staff regain? Of the years, time, skill and relationship.This is a petinent concern.But firms must replenish the resources of the worker.Of course, a firm and the country are known for what they produce.

 

Providing local workers requisite technical training and capacity can increase their productivity.The continious and substantial investment in local capacity builds a workforce competence, increase technical experience and create a national pool of professional that can hold their horns in the international  market place.

 

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Maximizing Local Content Economy Policy

April 15, 2008 at 200800000030p00000030: 2:19 p04 (Community, NIGERIA, business, create the change, education, god is not a lie, health, leadership, niger delta, politics)

 The local content policy of the Federal Republic of  Nigeria is another dimension,the government has adopted, to grow the national economy.The focus being to encourage  a larger number of indegenous enterprenuers to manifestly get on a sustainable basis in all economic activities.

 

As a review policy,it delineates the functions of designated agencies in the manufacturing and other sectorial commercial activities.So that those whose responsibility it is to supervise and ensure strict adherence to set standards can make the economy witness a fair compitition that allows local industries to thrive.

 

This decision it is implementing to make the country a producing nation.At present,Nigeria is predominantly a consuming country.A dominant feature that is seen in the heavy relevance of the productive process on foreign personnel and raw materials.The services provision is also marked with this faeatures.

 

No matter the justifiying qualification,sometimes it is believed to be flimsy, to create job for foreigners.This is so because some of them do not have the kind of qualification that should place them above the indigenous university graduates.But they are imported and given the status of  ‘experts’.

 

The cost of hiring digs deep into the economy.With their salaries are paid to their foreigh accounts,capital is continouosly on a flight out of the country.The knowledge of the job they come with do not also get transferred or taught to local entreprenuers and workers.This practice delimits and frustrates efforts to grow the technology capacity  of the country.

 

Steming Capital Flight

The cost of retainership is high.One man is also seen as a king among other workers.This is suicidal and places the economy, by inference the nation at a risk.

 

If a low education level is identified among the indigenous work force,then educational institutions can be encourage to include sience vocation teaching in the curriculum[technical training].

When foreign technology capacity is domesticated, local production will increase.

 

Technology Transfer

Training and retraining of qualified and teachable citizens will eventually become the pool from which technical hands can be drawn.Such training comes with commitment.It is often more efficient on the job[training].Where superior officers consciously creates the atmosphere for their subordinates under study them.

 

It is the same superior who can attest to the competency  and also certify them.Then there will be a cross posting of the mentee to partner’s facility.

 

Denying employable youths to be employed and gain the experience is against the local content policy imperative.When the opportunity is denied the youths, community voices become harsh and peacefull production process stands the risk of being interupted.

 

Local content target

The focus is to develop local economies, increase savings of foreign exchange and raise the budgetry requirements for freight cost. It will also create the climate that encourages increase manhour for productive activities in the local economy and stocks of technology expertise.

Technology growth is a global issue but localizing its gains to impact positively on the lives of the people is what the policy seeks to rake in.

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THE CHILD CRIES FROM PUBLIC DRAINS

April 4, 2008 at 200800000030p00000030: 2:19 p04 (Community, NIGERIA, business, create the change, education, god is not a lie, health, leadership, niger delta, politics)
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It could be a cry in response to a stinging from ‘soldier ants’ or a last breathe effort.At such screeming, some well meaning members of the public could be attracted.

The revelations is one,two, three, then a fourth.. Now,  a public discourse has ensued arising from every week stories of babies being abandoned on the streets,refused heaps and drainage channels that has inundated the airwaves and pages of newspapers.

The babies are often between one day and two weeks.  A self examination of what had gone wrong in the social interactive network among the people in the urban areas to cause this growing incidence of abandoned babies is been investigated.But the disconnect among family members, neighbour and a breakdown of the value system in the society has been attributed to this incidence.

  But it is manifest that the economic hardship that is been experienced by the people is compelling them to reject the responsibility that comes with fending for the delivered babies.Increasingly,one square meal is difficult to find on the table for most people.  

The jobs are not there,micro-businesses hardly strives because the incentives are near non-available or the information on how to access them is not known to the larger number of the population.A mother who can not feed herself can not feed a dependant.  

However, experts said that other factors contributes to this phenomena.The Assistant Director of the Family Support Health Centre, Elelenwo,in Rivers State,Mrs Ngozi Nwoke said when pregnant women come to the centre,health,social and economic history is obtained and kept but the service provided does not extend beyond the centre which makes it difficult to know what they do later.

 She also connected the act to promiscous lifestyle of women and teenage girl who may have been raped.This brings with it a social stigma or a hindrance to the business gains that comes with the promiscous living.The cases are common among teenage girl suggesting that parents are not paying adequate attention on their children.  While are capable to make a woman discard her baby.

 A sociologist, Dr. Steve Wordu, with the university of Port Harcourt said most women come experince mental condition at labour to make them discard their babies.An action they regret later but could not find the babies when they come back for them because they would have been picked up by the government or members of the public.  

 When a woman is not sure of the paternity of the expected child, fear that the child that is coming may not be accepted because the woman is not legally married.He also said the near absent of effective healthcare system and social workers worsen the situation.

The lack of watchfulness in the neighbourhood,poor health campaigns,congestions in the cities,low knowledge on how to enforvce health rights and obligations make the challenge enormous.  

A psychologist, Dr. Glory Amadi sees anxiety.low self concept,aggressive lfestyle and psycho-social influences on people force them into the act.He said if the situation is allowed to continued, there will be fear among people especially knowing that they could wake up the next morning to find a baby in the gutter,backyard or roadside, near the neighbourhood.

                
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Paternity Row: Man Throws 9-Month-Old Son Into Lagoon

  *’He Is Not  My Son, My Wife  Is A Flirt’

 It was an unbelievable  story as a 21-year-old man  narrates  to crack homicide detectives at the State Criminal Investigations Department  (SCID), Panti how he threw  his nine months old son into the Lagoon in Lagos State.

 Sule Salau from Ondo  State said his wife is a flirt and he sees no reason  to habour  and train a child whom he believes  is a product of his wife’s infidelity with her man friend.Salau  has no other alternative than to get rid of the child and continue his life rather  than allowing  the matter to bother  him.

Salau, an ex-convict  in an encounter with National Mirror in his police cell at SCID,  narrates  his story  which made him a guest of the police.

According to him, he met his wife Sarah in 2006 in Lagos where  they became friends  before she  packed her loads and join him  as his wife  without any formal  marriage.“Infact I don’t know her father  and mother  because  she said both died  before we met, I know that  she is from Ijaw area of River State but I know  some of the sisters who used to come to my house”, Salau said.


According to him, he was arrested in 2007 by the police when they were “raiding” combing the nooks and crannies of the Yaba  area in search of criminals.“I was charged to court and sentenced  to six months  imprisonment  and that  was when  my wife was pregnant and gave birth to a baby boy. One day she called me and  told me that the baby was not mine that the boy belongs  to one Alhaji so I asked her to take the baby away  but she refused  so we  continued to quarrel  over the matter”, he narrated.


“My wife is an hair dresser while I am a wood seller. We live at Popo  area of Yaba. So when I returned form the market  one day I asked her  to bring  the child and follow me and she did. In fact  I don’t know what happened to me  (he paused and  pretended as though he has a mental problem.)

“What happened to you?” National Mirror enquired? In fact, I don’t know I used to have mental problem. Sometimes I used to feel as though kokoro (maggot) is in my brain  and has been disturbing  me”, he said. When asked whether he is mentally ill, Salau replied: Yes sir.

He continued his story at National Mirror’s prompting:“We  trek to the river side at Iddo area, I  collected the child and  threw him into the river that was about  12.20p.m. in the night and my wife  ran away weeping”, Salau stated.

Police said Sarah,  the wife, could not bear the loss of her child and she went to  report the matter to  Salau’s brother who went to lodge  the report at  the Sabo Police Station where the suspect  was  arrested  and detained for interrogation.

 

XAVIER  NDAH reported the’ Paternity Row: Man Throws 9-Month-Old Son Into Lagoon’ on National Mirror-8th April 2008.

 

 

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