Prof. Uchechi Ogbuagu of the Department of Economics, University of Calabar has stressed the importance of craftsmanship training for young Nigerians and the dire need for local manufacturing of industrial machines.
In an interview, the University lecturer asserted that for Nigeria to make an impact in her industrialisation drive, she must invest in the production of tools and equipment.
He stressed that the owner of the means of production dictates what happens, adding that the means of producing most of Nigeria’s natural resources belong to foreign multinationals.
As a result of this, he expressed the fear that it will be difficult for us to control the price of our products from gas and even agricultural produce since we depend much on foreign fabrications.
Ogbuagu said, “The solution to this challenge is going back to our engineering departments in our universities, polytechnics and technical colleges and begin to teach our people craftsmanship.
“This is important so that we can craft shafts, engines, coils and transformers; we can also produce the tools we need in our agricultural sector such as planters, harvesters, dryers mills.
“Continuously going to the foreign multinationals will not help our development because if you go to them to get these tools they will continue to rip you off and this has a way of going back to the price of the commodities as we see in gas.”