Penultimate week, the House of Representatives deliberated on the National Commission for Technology Transfer, Promotion, and Acquisition (Establishment) Bill, which seeks to leverage Nigeria’s huge and active population to create jobs for youths, process the country’s vast raw materials into finished goods/products, increase its Gross Domestic product (GDP) and ensure the transfer of technology to the country.
The sponsor of the bill, Clement Jimbo, representing Abak/Etim Ekpo/Ika Federal Constituency of Akwa Ibom State, explained that the move is coming against the backdrop of the disclosure by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) that over 200 million cell phones, over 500,000 solar systems, over 12 million cars, millions of cameras, microphones, laptops and remote controls are currently in use in Nigeria.
The lawmaker, while explaining the general principles of the bill, which has scaled the second reading on the floor of the House of Representatives, wondered why Nigeria has not been able to leverage the production of batteries, which is required in the aforementioned products imported into the country in large quantities.
He argued that since it has been established that the major ingredient in the production of battery is lithium, which is in large and high grade quantities in Abuja, Nasarawa, Kogi, Ekiti, Kwara, and Cross River states, there is an urgent need to compel manufacturers of the listed products to rely on Nigerian made batteries.
Indeed, the immediate past Director General of Nigeria Geological Survey Agency, Dr. Abdulrazaq Garba, said Nigerian lithium is high grade, in the sense that the standard worldwide for exploration and mining starts from 0.4 per cent lithium oxide but Nigeria’s lithium contains up to 13 per cent lithium oxide.
In an interview with The Guardian, Jimbo said: “The overriding principle behind the introduction of this bill is to ensure regular value addition to our solid minerals exploration. Secondly, the bill was triggered by the need to create sustainable jobs for our teeming youths. Thirdly, the bill also seeks to jack up our GDP and increase our revenue base through foreign exchange.”
On his motivation for sponsoring the bill, he said it was born out of patriotism. His words: “If you are a father and you have children, obviously you want the best for your children in terms of where they school, what they eat and the hospital that treats them when there is an issue. It is the same thing with Nigeria. If you look at the population of Nigeria – able-bodied men and women, vibrant, intelligent youths who desire to put their productivity to test in adding value to their country – then as a father, which is the nation now, you cannot but equally look for ways and means to meet the yearnings and aspirations of your children.
“So, when I came across this gap, so to say, I asked myself, if we do not have all the resources, the technical know-how to add value to our raw materials, then there is something that we have that we cannot look away from, which is a population. Can’t we transform this vibrant youth, this energised youth, this intelligent youth with so much consumable power to productivity so that we can leverage that and bring what we do not have in exchange for what we have? That is what the bill is all about.
“I said, okay, fine. If a country wants to ship a billion copies of handsets, we will tell them it is a good idea. But we are not just going to be a consuming nation of what you are producing in your own country. We must produce a component of that device in our country because we have the raw materials. So, we will tell them, your product will not get into Nigeria’s market except we produce a component of what you are shipping in. You produce a billion handsets; we produce a billion batteries via the technology that you have deliberately, intentionally sold to us in exchange for our consumption power.
“So you will be shipping a billion pieces of handsets into Nigeria, we will be shipping a billion pieces of batteries to you. You sell your handset to us, maybe at $5; we sell our batteries to you at $1. So, there is a transfer of technology. There is an additional value to our raw materials. There is employment created and it adds value to our gross domestic product.
“So country A benefits, country B benefits. It is called trade by barter. Before the advent of money, that was what was used in exchange of goods and services. So, let us equally leverage that to make sure we are producing what we have in exchange for what we do not have. And what we are suggesting now is not in isolation with what other countries are leveraging to develop their economies.”
Continuing, he noted: “Right now in China, there are certain social media services that cannot get into that country except there is a complete understanding of how that technology will advance the economy of China. It’s the same thing in the United States of America (USA). Recently, Donald Trump, the president-elect, threatened the BRICS countries that if they are attempting to malign the power of the dollar, they (US) will descend on them. Why is he doing that? Because he wants to protect his country while the BRICS nations want to protect theirs.
“It is only in Nigeria that we allow every nation to bring in whatever they have to dump on us. The time is now for us to say no. If you cannot intentionally, deliberately give us the technology to add value to what we have, then don’t bring in your product. We are ready to live like that. And trust me, out of 10 countries, if eight says no to us, two will say yes to us.
“Right now in Nasarawa State, 4,000 metric tons of lithium is being mined every day, shipped in its raw form outside the shores of Nigeria and then processed and the finished product shipped back to us to consume; just like we have been facing in the petroleum sector of the country where our crude oil is shipped outside, refined and then brought back for us to consume. What is happening with us? So, let’s just be frank. If Nigerians want this country to develop, I give us one year. We will fix this country by ourselves.
“If the President assents to the bill, what that means is that no car will be imported into this country with a battery. The car manufacturers will give us the specification of the quality of battery they need to function in that car. Then we will produce it here.
“I’m sure iPhone 15 or 16 is already out. It also means that by next year, whether it is 17 that will come out, it will not enter this country without us producing the battery. And so many laptops that are battery operated, cameras, microphones that use batteries, all those battery specifications will be produced here
“The company will send to us what they need and they will equip us with the technology, possibly come and site your factory here and produce it here, just to add value to our raw materials. Just imagine what that would do to Nigerians. The 12 million cars we currently have in Nigeria mean we will be producing a minimum of 12 million batteries, maybe every quarter. I’m not even talking about cell phones. Is it solar renewable energy? So, the benefit is uncountable. And this is what we need. We just need one law to be operational and effective. It will revolutionise the entire thing.” Jimbo said it is embarrassing that the vast population of graduates have not been able to match their qualifications with practical skills to compete with their peers globally.
“I am from the construction sector. I study quantity surveying, very practical stuff. And let me pause here to commend the president. Recently, I think the president added some vocational studies, plumbing, electrical, tailoring and stuff like that, to our curriculum. And that is apt. So, in my years of participating actively in the construction sector, it will amaze you to know that we did not find Nigerians that can lay these tiles the way you have seen on this floor, effectively. We had to go to Togo, Ghana and Cameroon to bring people.
“You can hardly find a Nigerian that can plaster the wall for it to be vertically straight; even Plaster of Paris (POP). These are skills that are lacking in our curriculum. So, if the president says it has to be taught, I agree with it completely; the same thing in our universities. Why would somebody spend four, five, six years in the university studying a course that is irrelevant in solving problems in our society?
“It is time for us to re-jig our educational system and curriculum to align with current realities. Obviously, there are some courses in the universities that I will not send my son to go and study now. I will not. And even if the school wants to give him a scholarship, I willsay, no, I don’t need the scholarship. Keep it.”
Asked how the country could cope with its infrastructural deficits, which includes power outages, Jimbo said: “Mobil Oil is in my state, in Eket. If you go there, you will never find light blink in one day. Let me leave the oil industry. Transcorp Hilton is managed by one man. Is it Tony Elumelu? If you stay there for one year, light will not blink in that facility for one second. How is he doing it? When there is a will, there is a way. If we want to fix it, we will fix it.
“What about Dangote Refinery? Over 45 megawatts of electricity is being pumped in that place every day. It’s not relying on what the Federal Government produces. We are telling them, come and set up your business here. We are using our strong point, our market, to make sure we get what we want. Simple! And if you don’t like our market, you don’t want us; you don’t want to develop our product here, then don’t produce it outside and just dump it on us. God forbid one day they will package ready-made rice in China and just bring it and say, ready-made, just buy and chop; you don’t need to cook. For what now? So that is what the law seeks to achieve.
“I had a meeting with the Minister of Solid Minerals, Dele Alake. I shared this idea with him because he’s a major stakeholder; his ministry is a major stakeholder in this very bill. He agreed completely. In fact, he told me that the government is also thinking in that direction. In fact, when the President commissioned the lithium factory in Nasarawa State, he made an appeal to the company. He said, ‘look, don’t just take this thing away. Come and set up here, manufacture it here. You make your money, not just for Nigeria, but for the entire West Africa’.
“But of course, stuff like that cannot just be at the whims and caprices of who becomes a president or the minister. If there is a legal framework; it will attract companies that know that if they set up their factories and produce here, there is a law that protects them, not that the next president that comes in will just open up the borders for stuff to come in. So, that is the advantage of having this legal framework in place to even protect companies that want to set up their factories here, produce the materials here, and sell it to us and other nations.
“The moment this bill is passed into law, it repeals automatically NOTAP Act 2004. And if you look at their core objective, it’s just to monitor the inflow of technology into Nigeria. That’s simply monitoring. Just sit down and things are passing. You are just monitoring. Of what benefit is that to Nigeria? But this one is coming to strengthen their responsibilities by making sure that if technology cannot add value to our raw materials, let it not come in. So it is not a duplication of agency. The office is already there. The staff are already there.
“We are simply telling them – in addition to what you have been monitoring, filter it. If we can produce it here, let it be produced here and don’t allow it to come into our country. Let’s protect our industry. Whoever that is there should not jitter. It is still going to be there with additional responsibilities. Yes, we must re-jig our MDAs to work and work better.”