Nigeria needs to be technologically self-reliant
If Nigeria doesn’t make serious efforts to be technologically self-reliant, huge foreign exchange (forex) would be spent to buy machinery, spare parts, and to maintain equipment abroad. A weaker Naira coupled with low price of oil in the international market has exposed Nigeria as a sleeping partner in technology transfer matters. At an official exchange rate of N305/Dollar, an airline operator in Nigeria will require about N400 million to carry out a comprehensive C and D maintenance checks abroad depending on the type of aircraft. This happens once in 18 months and I wonder what the profit margin of airline operators in Nigeria is to allow them spend this huge sum in forex to maintain aircraft abroad.
It is trade and migration that have spread technologies across the world. And this has brought substantial and significant technological changes worldwide. In fact, policy makers in most nations seems to have come to terms with America’s Simon Kuznet’s growth theory, that a nation can either grow by generating technology on its own or by buying from where it exists. The transfer of technology can be described as the concept which depicts the transmission of technology. In other words, carrying the know how used in one place to the other. Most times, technology transfer is the exchange of technology between developed and less developed countries. Technology transfer occurs as a by-product of industrialization and it is considered a serious matter in the international setting because of its trade implications.
The acquisition of technology by less developed countries has generated much controversy. These controversies are due to problems related to cost, suitability and effectiveness of the technology transferred. Controversies surrounding technology transfer such as the “triple trap” concept has always disabled developing nations from acquiring technology from donor nations. With “triple trap” concept, “technology developed abroad may not suit us; what is suitable may be denied; and what is not denied may not be affordable.”
Some scholars have documented their observations that the process of technological advancement and industrialization is firmly entrenched in a third of developing countries. But in the remaining two-thirds, the process of industrialization has ground to a halt after a promising start several decades ago because of policy inconsistency and lack of political will. Initially, technological transformation was slow in most developing nations. In the later part of the twentieth century, the number of developing nations that could claim to have undergone modern-industrial technological revolution according to reports were more than doubled.
For instance, Japan, Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Korea among others have undergone modern-industrial revolution. Some of these nations have gone beyond technology transfer to be technologically self-reliant. With technological self-reliance, these nations and others in Europe as well as America have always relied on their abilities, powers and resources for development. Regrettably, most African nations south of the Sahara, have not benefited from technology transfer because policy makers couldn’t match technology acquisition with requirements of industrial institutions.
In the 1970s when Nigeria had surplus money in foreign exchange from sales of crude oil, a vast array of technologies that transformed the society were acquired. Some of these technologies include merchant ships for the closed Nigerian National Shipping Line (NNSL) and aircraft for the liquidated Nigerian Airways. Nigeria acquired four refineries, but they cannot be maintained. These refineries according to reports, are producing about 20 percent of installed capacity after about US$ 800 million was expended to repair them. Certainly, Nigerians are the problem of Nigeria!
Importantly, the issue of maintenance has always attracted enough attention in Nigeria because of huge resources expended in reviving defective equipment or to sustain operation. That is why I am not surprised when Nigeria’s domestic airlines are reported to be battling with cost of maintenance and declining passenger traffic. Operational cost will rise because of weak value of the Naira and weak technological base. If Egypt, Kenya, Ethiopia, and South Africa could have maintenance facilities for higher levels of aircraft maintenance, I see no reason why Nigeria cannot have.
“Despite the local content policy of the federal government, Nigeria does not manufacture oil tankers, passenger carriers and service supply vessels used in the oil industry. The indigenous shipping business in Nigeria is also affected by economic recession such that maintenance of vessels used for operating the cabotage regime is posing challenges. This is due to paucity of forex needed for the acquisition of ships’ spares to maintain vessels operating in Nigeria’s maritime industry.
About two months ago, the Deputy Senate leader, Ekweremadu, was reported seeking Chinese cooperation as a way out of the current economic recession. No problem, as we have perfected the art and science of begging. Begging confirms that we have everything but nothing. Ekweremadu was alleged to have appealed to the Chinese government to transfer its technology to Africa, just as he sought the assistance of China in the area of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). Interestingly, the federal lawmaker knows that FDI is needed to take Africa to the next level of development. This is true as FDI, Joint Venture and licensing are the modes through which technology could be transferred from a developed nation to developing nations. But most FDIs in Nigeria don’t transfer technology because they are portfolio investors whose interest is in the financial markets.
So if we can’t manufacture aircraft and ships, why is it difficult for Nigerians to maintain them. For Nigeria to be technologically self-reliant, the federal government must create an enabling environment. Nigeria must improve its poor maintenance culture, weak legal system, epileptic power supply, and poor standard of education. R&D is very key to technology transfer. Lack of R&D slows down assimilation of technology by recipient nations from donor nations because citizens of the former wouldn’t have the intellectual capacity to understand some aspects of technology transfer. Level of production from assembly of plants and machines, to spare parts manufacturing is retarded when R&D is not taken seriously in any society. Consequently, the emergence of local ability to modify or design equipment is impaired in a nation that is not involved in R&D. Thanks!
MA Johnson