Several years ago, Adam Smith in his book “Wealth of Nations” mentioned labour, land and capital as factors of production. Over time, however, economic experts have observed that some nations with excess land, labour and capital have not attained the desired economic growth. Regrettably, Nigeria is currently one of those nations with excess land and labour but less capital that have not been able to attain economic growth. Capital is dwindling in Nigeria because of global economic recession and, most importantly, about 55 percent reduction in crude oil price in the international environment in the last 15 months or thereabouts. Also, there are reports that in the past two years governments at federal and state levels have adopted the “begging bowl approach” to pay salaries and pensions. Thus, it can be deduced that the nation does not have capital as a factor of production. This is my humble opinion. But what is yours?
It was discussed sometime in this column that the contribution of technology to economic growth was analyzed qualitatively by Robert Merton Solow of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Solow, an economist, conducted a study for more than 40 years to measure the contribution of technical change to economic growth and found that the output of man doubled during the period. He attributed about four-fifths of the growth in US output per worker to technical progress. That is, about 20 percent of the growth was due to more capital, while the remaining 80 percent was attributable to advances in technology.
Several scholars have confirmed the validity of Solow’s findings, albeit in different ways. Since Solow’s initial work in the 1950s, many more sophisticated models of economic growth have been proposed, leading to varying conclusions about the causes of economic growth. Since then, many governments have invested huge sums in their nation’s technological capability because they strongly believe that technological innovation will enable them break out of recessionary cycles, enhance competitiveness, drive economic growth and ultimately provide jobs for their citizens.
Today, economists have accepted the primacy of technology in economic growth. The technology referred to in this article is the systemic knowledge of technique of production embodied in people such as skill, experience, managerial techniques, amongst others. The use of appropriate technology by entrepreneurs will enable them survive today’s competitive landscape occasioned by globalization. It is against this backdrop that this column is reminding policymakers that a display of ignorance by any government in Nigeria to the contribution of science and technology to economic growth in a highly competitive and knowledge-based world is at the nation’s peril. Adoption of science and technology as a way of life in Nigeria is one of the tough choices that the nation has to make in order to be relevant in the 21st century.
After the just concluded 21st edition of the Nigerian Economic Summit, I was going through my library when reference was made to some of my books and previous research papers on industrialization and technological innovation. It may interest you to know that 45 years ago, precisely in May 1970, the highest level of government in Nigeria demonstrated awareness of the role of science and technology in national development. It was Yakubu Gowon who first made a policy statement on science and technology (S&T) and its relevance to national development as follows: “It is my hope that today will similarly symbolize the beginning of a great future for the development of science and technology and their application to the constructive exploitation and utilization of our national resources.”
In January 1980, almost 10 years after Yakubu Gowon’s policy declaration, Shehu Shagari, then president of Nigeria, also had this to say: “It is no accident that the Science and Technology Bill is the first bill my administration presented to the National Assembly. It is a conscious act to give practical expression to our desire to promote science and technology without which rapid development of our country cannot be possible. We had already indicated the importance we attach to the promotion of science and technology by creating the first fully fledged Ministry of Science and Technology in Nigeria.”
In 2011, President Goodluck Jonathan made a statement of commitment on S&T as follows: “We are going to run our economy based on science and technology … because nowhere in this world now that you can move your economy without science and technology. For the next four years, we will emphasize so much on S&T because we have no choice. Without that we are just dreaming.”
If Nigeria has not reaped the benefits of S&T in the last 45 years, it only means that something is either wrong with policies on S&T or there are challenges with implementation, hence the need for a rethink. Achieving innovation through S&T requires working smart, not hard. This is because of the complex interactions between the society, industry and research institutes. In fact, the process of generating technological innovation is not fully understood. For innovation to occur there is bound to be a miracle. Otherwise, it remains elusive. Can science and technology alone solve the problem of industry when Nigeria is ranked 128 out of 144 countries in the 2015 Global Innovation Index?
Since the establishment of the Ministry of Science and Technology in Nigeria in 1980, successive governments have formulated various policies and invested a lot of funds in Research and Development (R&D) activities. For instance, governments
MA Johnson
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