From Potential to Productivity: Converting Our Human and Natural Resources Into Products, Services, Talents and Innovation.
Nigeria is not a poor country. Nigeria is a poorly productive country.
We have 230 million people, with over 70% under the age of 35. We have 84 million hectares of arable land, 44 solid minerals in commercial quantities in over 500 locations, the 9th largest gas reserve in the world, a 853km coastline, and the most resilient, creative, and enterprising people on earth.
Yet we are poor. Why?
Because we have not converted what we HAVE into what we NEED and what the world WANTS.
We export crude oil and import petrol. We export raw cocoa and import chocolate. We export raw lithium and import batteries. We export raw sesame seeds and import cosmetics. We export our best brains as JAPA and import consultants to tell us what our own people already know.
The missing link between resources and prosperity is ENTREPRENEURSHIP. And the missing link between entrepreneurship and national transformation is a PRESIDENTIAL FRAMEWORK.
This is why the time has come for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, to take the most important economic decision of this administration after the removal of fuel subsidy and forex unification: To declare a National Entrepreneurship Presidential Framework for Productivity.
This must not be another program. Nigeria does not lack programs. We have had YouWIN, N-Power, TraderMoni, and many more. What we lack is a FRAMEWORK that makes entrepreneurship the central organizing principle of our national economy.
THE DIAGNOSIS: WHY REFORMS WITHOUT PRODUCTIVITY WILL FAIL.
President Tinubu has shown rare courage. He removed fuel subsidy that previous governments feared to touch. He unified the exchange rate. He is cleaning up our fiscal system.
But economic history teaches us one brutal lesson: You cannot reform your way to prosperity. You must PRODUCE your way to prosperity.
Reform without productivity only increases prices. Productivity is what reduces prices, creates jobs, and grows GDP.
What happens after subsidy removal if we still import everything we consume? Prices will keep rising.
What happens after forex unification if we still have nothing to export? The Naira will remain under pressure.
The Renewed Hope Agenda will only be truly renewed when Nigerian households can produce more, earn more, and export more. That is productivity. And productivity only comes from enterprise.
Talk is cheap. China did not become a global power by talking. China feeds 20% of the world’s population with 9% of its farmland. How? It executed.
1. Land Reform: The Household Responsibility System gave farmers ownership and incentive.
2. Technology: Hybrid seeds, mechanization, and today drones and AI.
3. Industrialization: Township and Village Enterprises that turned every village into a factory.
4. Value Addition: Agro-processing parks that turned farm produce into finished goods.
5. Consistent Policy: 40 years of ruthless execution, not policy somersault.
Nigeria doesn’t need more conferences on agriculture and youth empowerment. We need execution. And execution needs a Presidential Framework.
THE CORE PHILOSOPHY OF THE FRAMEWORK
The framework must be built on a simple, powerful philosophy:
EVERY PROBLEM IS A BUSINESS. EVERY RESOURCE MUST BECOME A PRODUCT. EVERY TALENT MUST BECOME A SERVICE.
Unemployment is not just a social problem; it is an enterprise creation business.
Housing deficit is a building materials manufacturing business.
Food insecurity is an agro-processing and storage business.
Poor healthcare is a pharmaceutical and health-tech business.
Traffic and logistics is a transportation and e-commerce business.
Where others see challenges, the entrepreneur sees raw material for wealth. This framework must train 200 million Nigerians to see that way.
THE 7 PILLARS OF THE NATIONAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP PRESIDENTIAL FRAMEWORK.
PILLAR 1: NATIONAL PRODUCTIVITY AUDIT AND ENTERPRISE MAPPING
We cannot convert what we have not counted. The Presidency should mandate a full Productivity Audit of all 774 Local Government Areas in Nigeria.
What does each LGA have in abundance? What does it currently produce? What does it import? What talents exist there?
This will produce Nigeria’s first National Enterprise Map. For example, we will know that Ekiti has knowledge, granite, and cocoa; that Sokoto has leather and livestock; that Ebonyi has salt and rice; that Aba has garment manufacturing talent. This map will then guide investment, training, and industrial cluster development. No more sharing money blindly. We invest based on productivity potential.
PILLAR 2: THE 10,000 SERIAL ENTREPRENEURS STRATEGY
All socio-economic problems will be solved if we have less than 10,000 serious serial entrepreneurs deliberately empowered.
We already have them. Men and women like Aliko Dangote, Abdulsamad Rabiu, Folorunsho Alakija, Innocent Chukwuma, and thousands of others across the country who have proven they can build, scale, and sustain businesses in Nigeria’s difficult environment.
One Dangote Refinery has solved a 30-year fuel import problem.
One Innoson has proven we can make vehicles in Nigeria.
One BUA has proven we can produce our own cement and food.
Imagine 10,000 of such entrepreneurs, each empowered to build in their sector.
If one entrepreneur employs 1,000 people, 10,000 entrepreneurs will employ 10 million people directly and another 40 million indirectly.
The framework must identify these 10,000 existing entrepreneurs in all 36 states and give them priority access to markets, industrial land, technology, and export support. Stop trying to create entrepreneurs from scratch alone. Scale those who have already survived the fire.
PILLAR 3: REFORM OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP EDUCATION – FROM CERTIFICATES TO ENTERPRISES
Our education system was designed by the colonial masters to produce civil servants, not entrepreneurs. That must change.
The framework must make entrepreneurship education practical. Every student from JSS to university must run a real micro-enterprise before graduation.
Our universities must become enterprise development centres. A student of Agriculture must graduate with a farm and customers, not just a certificate. A student of Computer Science must graduate with a software product and users. A student of Fashion Design must graduate with a clothing brand.
This is the core of my work as Convener of the National Entrepreneurship Education Initiative (NEEI) and Founder of Uni-preneur. We must convert campuses into companies. Education without enterprise is waste. Knowledge that does not produce products is useless.
PILLAR 4: MADE-IN-NIGERIA INDUSTRIAL CLUSTERS AND VALUE ADDITION
We must end the era of exporting raw materials and importing finished goods. That is the definition of neo-colonialism.
The framework must establish Six Zonal Entrepreneurship Industrial Clusters focused on converting our resources:
North Central: Food processing and solid minerals processing.
North East: Livestock, leather, and gum arabic industrialization.
North West: Cotton, textiles, and agro-processing.
South East: Manufacturing, auto-parts, and garments (Aba Model scaled).
South South: Gas-based industries, petrochemicals, and aquaculture.
South West: Technology, creative industry, and cocoa value chain.
Back this with Presidential Executive Orders: Any product or service that Nigeria has capacity to produce must be patronized by MDAs, state governments, and any contractor doing government business. MADE IN NIGERIA must become our national economic identity.
PILLAR 5: TECHNOLOGY AND AI LEAPFROG FOR MSMES
This generation of Nigerian entrepreneurs has a superpower that Dangote did not have when he started: Technology and Artificial Intelligence.
A small entrepreneur in Ado-Ekiti can now use AI to design products, ChatGPT to write business plans, Flutterwave to collect payments, and Instagram to sell to the world.
The framework must launch a National AI for 10 Million MSMEs Initiative to equip entrepreneurs with AI tools for marketing, accounting, customer service, product development, and export.
We must stop asking, “Will AI take our jobs?” We must start asking, “How can AI help us create more value and jobs?” The entrepreneur who combines Human Intelligence, Emotional Intelligence, and Artificial Intelligence will conquer poverty.
PILLAR 6: ACCESS TO MARKET BEFORE ACCESS TO CREDIT
Most government entrepreneurship programs fail because they give credit without customers. They give loans to people who have no market.
The Nigerian entrepreneur’s biggest problem is not always credit. It is MARKET.
The Presidential Framework must create a National Market Linkage System that connects Nigerian MSMEs to:
1. AfCFTA: 1.4 billion African customers.
2. Diaspora Markets: 20 million Nigerians abroad who want Nigerian products.
3. Corporate Supply Chains: Mandating multinationals and large companies to source a percentage locally.
4. Government Procurement: Making government the biggest customer of Made-in-Nigeria.
If you find a market for an entrepreneur, you have solved 80% of his problems. Banks will chase him for loans.
PILLAR 7: THE PRESIDENTIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP PRODUCTIVITY COUNCIL FOR EXECUTION
Nigeria’s problem has never been policy formulation. It has been execution.
Therefore, Mr. President should chair a National Entrepreneurship Productivity Council himself. Members must not be career bureaucrats alone, but proven serial entrepreneurs, industrialists, tech founders, and women business leaders who have built real businesses.
This council must set annual productivity targets for each state: Number of new businesses, jobs created, products exported, and import reduced. And it must publish a National Productivity Report every year on Democracy Day.
What gets measured gets done. What gets supervised by the President gets executed.
THE PAYOFF: WHAT NIGERIA GAINS
If President Tinubu declares this framework in the next 90 days:
Within 12 months, we will see a movement. MADE IN NIGERIA will become fashionable.
Within 24 months, we will create over 5 million new businesses converting local resources to products.
Within 36 months, we will create 10 million direct jobs and significantly reduce youth unemployment and JAPA.
Within 60 months, we will save over $20 billion in import bills and earn over $30 billion from non-oil exports of finished goods.
The Naira will be strengthened not by CBN defending it, but by entrepreneurs producing what gives it value.
CONCLUSION: THE LEGACY PRESIDENT
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has already taken the hard decisions others avoided. He will be remembered for his courage.
But courage to remove subsidy must be followed by wisdom to create productivity. Otherwise, the pain of reform will be without gain.
The first 64 years of Nigeria gave us independence and identified our potential.
The next 10 years must convert that potential into productivity.
Ekiti State at 30 is saying the next 30 years must be about productivity, wealth and job creation. That must be the anthem for Nigeria.
Mr. President, history is calling. Call for the National Entrepreneurship Presidential Framework for Productivity.
Convert our human and natural resources into products, services, talents and innovation.
Because the biggest business Nigeria will ever build is Nigeria itself.
Long live the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Long live President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR. About the Author
Olubunmi Oluwadare is a renowned expert in entrepreneurship development, a National Business Development Service Provider (NBDSP), and business growth strategies. As the founder of www.uni-preneur.com and www.getajob.ng, he has empowered thousands of entrepreneurs and job seekers across Nigeria and Africa. As Chairman of BEEXO GROUP www.beexogroup.com, he continues to drive business growth and innovation in the region. His book, “I SEE MONEY IN AFRICA”, highlights the vast opportunities for entrepreneurs in Africa.
Get in Touch
Email: [email protected]
WhatsApp: 0816 474 2609
www.uni-preneur.com
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