If the articulation and focus of President Goodluck Jonathan's administrtion on transformation agenda of the nation is anything to go by, then the 'Japanese Miracle' experience is a worthy lesson to be learrnt by our political and economic leaders. Wednessday 18th of July 2012, was a wonderful day in the history of the Postgraduate School of Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), Ogbomoso, when His Excellency , Ambassador Ryuichi Shoji, the Japanese Ambassador to Nigeria, gave an epoch making lecture at the fourth Postgraduate School Lecture of the University entitled : Democracy , Technology and Development in Africa.Mr Shoji, who arrived in Nigeria last October as an ambassador, expressed his joy and luck to have been posted to Nigeria at this juncture when Nigeria is dramatically changing both economically and politically towards a more developed and democratic nation . He said it was a great privilege for him to share the secrets of Japanese successes with the young engineers and scientists because of his unalloyed faith in the future of Nigeria and Nigerians.The lecture was so revealing , educative and instructive. It will help our policy makers and the academic communities to look inward and introspect on how to transform the Nigerian project and move the nation forward.He noted that Nigeria has abundant natural resourses , while Japan relies totally on importation of oil , gas and other natural resourses . Yet the developmental gap between the two countries is wide and huge.He talked of few areas where Japan had developed to become one of the greatest nations of the world in terms of technology, politics and economic advancement that could assist us to look critically and design our own destiny in this crucial and critical stage of our nation building. He talked about two major elements determinants of GDP size of a country; population, and per capita productivity or the level of adoption of technology. He stated that the population of Japan was dropping, but Japanese were constantly innovating unique technologies and Japan set a goal of moving towards becoming the leading country in green economy. They employed technologies of the West to develop their own traditional technologies. This is a major lesson for Nigeria with huge population increase and low technological development .We need to develop new and innovating technology to grow our own economy , adapt our own fashion of technology to meet our local demands, instead of depending mainly on foreign technology that is unsuitable for growing our economy. We do not need to destroy our local technologies but to build our traditional technologies to a unique standard.The local refineries that we call illegal, which can create employment for thousands and wealth to millions, the theory of mechanical vibration by the late Prof Ayodele Awojobi, which was the tonic The British Oil needed at that time in their search for oil in the North Sea, manufacturing of vehicles , industrial machines, Ajaokuta Steel Rolling Mill,and railways destroyed by the Indians etc, can be developed to world standard instead of depending mainly on importation of technologies from foreign land which also depletes our foreign reserves.He said that Nigeria being the 7th most populous country in the world could easily be one of the 20 biggest economies in future , on the condition that the country will be able to speedily aquire recent technologies , and that the socio-political and economic system will be so organised so that we will be able to use technology wisely.He observed that though Nigeria's GDP had quadrupled since 1999 but this didnot mean that the income of each individual had also quadrupled ; and despite the growth, the poeple in general suffer more from poverty. But in Japan, as their economy grew, the poor segment of the population also benefited from growth even to the most disadvantaged.He also observed that more than10 years growth had only benefited few, the growth sector disintegrated from the other sector and wealth gained not invested in the country.He said Japan focused its energy on rebuiding its industrial base and gradually made progress towards becoming the number two economy , relying on its indusrial development. When the Japanese introduced new ideas and systems , they decided which foreign elements to accept and which traditional things to retain . Unlike Nigeria , where we depend wholly on foreign policies and theories from World Bank/IMF and white imperialists who only come to deplete our economy because ours is a nation with self-centred leaders without policies that can solve self -created problems . Our own country can be likened to a chef who has to depend on another chef for his favourite dish. Education was given a national attention in Japan. No section of the country was left behind and education was made compulsory and free from primary to secondary schools without exemption. The government believes in human development.University of Tokoyo, established in 1887, serves as a channel of recruitment of high officials in government services on a merit basis without origin or background as consideration, while in Nigeria, quota system and federal character were dubiously introduced to divide us along ethnic lines. Education should be made free and accessible to all, instead some state universities and private ones including mission schools are charging atsronomically high tuition depriving indigent students from going to such schools. The ambassador equally sited the case of Matsushita Konosuke, founder of ''panasonic company'' one of the topmost electric companies in Japan which also has an office in Lagos. He so much believes in making the people before making the products'. He laid empasis on staff development and training to produce the desired qualities.In Nigeria, we also need to spend and train our youths and make the best use of their brains to transform our economies. Britain usually spends about $40,000 to train an engineer. The Acting Vice Chancellor, Prof Adeniyi Gbadegesin, while commending Ambassador Shoji for the challenges he raised in his thought provoking lecture, enumerated that Nigeria is having adaptive technology and with low human development. He promised to key into the Japanese experience to develop higher educational quality in the university. To encourage and assist individuals, research institutions and industries especially the growth of SMEs in the nation.He promised that Lautech would always be on the path of providing and producing quality engineers and scientists, who will be able to transform our economies to global standard.Pastor Debo Taiwo, a public affair analyst and social commentator can be reached via
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