Someone shared this in one of the group I belong to and I want to share with you. Decide for yourself if Nigeria has moved forward or going backward with alarming speed.




He wrote:👇🏽




We shouldn't be surprised. We were far more productive in 1980 than we are today
In 1980 the key metric are as follows:


1) we were a net exporter of refined petroleum products. Today we import all our refined petroleum products.

2) We rode in locally assembled cars, buses and trucks. Peugeot cars in Kaduna and Volkswagen cars in Lagos. Leyland in Ibadan and ANAMCO in Enugu produce our buses and trucks. Steyr at Bauchi producing our Agricultural tractors. And it is not just Assembly, we were producing many of the components. Vono products in Lagos producing the seats. Exide in Ibadan producing the batteries, not just for Nigeria but for the entire West Africa; including our own battery industry at Ikot Ekpene. Isoglass and TSG in Ibadan producing the windshields. Ferodo in Ibadan producing the brake pads and disc. Tyres produced by Dunlop in Lagos and Mitchellin in Portharcourt. And I mean tyres produced from rubber plantations located in Awi or Pamol in Cross River State.


3) We were listening to Radio and watching television sets assembled in Ibadan by Sanyo or Oron by Namoba.


4) We were using refrigerators, freezers and Airconditioners produced by Thermocool  or Newclime in Lagos, Port Harcourt.


5) We were wearing clothes produced from the UNTL textile mills in Kaduna and Chellarams in Lagos. Not from imported cotton but from cotton grown in Nigeria.


6) Our water were running through pipes produced by Kwalipipe in Kano.


7) Our toilets were fitted with WC produced at Kano, Ikot Ebom and Abeokuta.


We were cooking with LPG gas stored inside gas cylinders produced at the NGC factory in Ibadan.


9) Our electricity was flowing through cables produced by the Nigerian wire and Cable, Ibadan and Kablemetal in Lagos and Portharcourt.


10) We had Bata and Lennards producing the shoes we were wearing. Not from imported leathers but from locally tanned leather at Kaduna.


11) We were mainly flying our airways, the Nigeria Airways, to most places in the world. The Airways was about the biggest in Africa at that time.


12) Most of the food we ate were being grown or produced in Nigeria.


13) We were using building materials: Rods manufactured Qua Steel Mill at Eket, Ceiling boards by Asbestonic at Oron, Ply Woods by Calvenply and  Seromwood Calabar or Sapele,
We were producing all of the above and many more in the 80s
Today, we import almost everything. There lies the source of the terrible exchange rate we are experiencing today and the crumbling economy and everybody including all in this platform has a critical role to play in reversing the ugly trend.


It is not enough for us to complain about the ugly trend or bring out what others are doing or are failing to do, the key questions are: 👉What are we doing as individuals or groups to stimulate the economy OR what are producing or planning to produce in order to flatten the curve (as in today's Covid parlance).