By Tony Nwankwo & Akoma Chinweoke

In this interview, Chief Executive Officer, Thelia Productions, Mr. Daniel Moore, speaks on his plans to give indigenous companies and individuals an opportunity to showcase their  technologies.

•Moore

What is your pet programme, Inside Nigeria, all  about?
‘Inside Nigeria’ is a programme that was put together to celebrate Nigeria and Nigerians. I have been  living in the UK for about eight years now and what you hear there and all of Europe is negative about Nigeria. Some people don’t even believe that anything good can come out of the country.

The only thing they hear about is high rate of corruption in the country and the Niger-Delta crisis . For some, they believe that if you come into Nigeria, there is going to be chaos, that as soon as you come in, people are going to steal your bag or mob you.  So, we decided with  Bent TV, London, to put together a programme called ‘Inside Nigeria’ to celebrate Nigeria and Nigerians . So it is a celebration of the people’s culture, business, just to let people know that something good also happens in our country.

The country is now paying dearly as a result of high level of corruption. Do you think your programme would make a difference?
Somebody said the word corruption is an English word and if it is, that means the Englishman must have practised it for him to know what it is.

That is not to say that we are not aware of the prevalence of what people terms  corruption, but then,  in every  civilized society, they go through a period of change. A lot of people are very much  in a hurry to see that change. People say yes, it is fifty years, so we shouldn’t compare ourselves with  UK and America, as they had several years to work their system. I think we are going in the right direction. Before now, foreign companies would build a road in Nigeria for millions of dollars.

That same kind of road, they can build in another country for hundreds or thousands of dollars.  But that cannot happen anymore. So, if there begins to be a scrutiny from the outside, that scrutiny ultimately begins to impact on  our own system. If  we put processes in place that are transparent, the people will work by the book.

How long have you been in the  exhibiting, and what is the  event coming  in December all about?
I have been in the media for ten years and the exhibition again is another hard cry . I used to go to exhibitions about evolving technologies abroad and, in those exhibitions, you would see Nigerians  and when you visit the stands, the people who have done those wonderful things would turn out to be Nigerians.

So, I began to study why they can’t replicate what they do abroad back in Nigeria. If you look at Asia, for instance, the way they have done it  is that they encouraged their people who were outside working in those economies to come back and begin to develop their own indigenous technology.

So, what we are trying to do is to  encourage these brilliant Nigerians, whether individuals or companies who have devices in engineering software, products and services  to come together and have a platform where they can showcase what they have done.

We are also going ahead to get  venture capitalists. For example, the Pando machine, design and technology emanated from here, but  a company came to Nigeria, bought the design, took it back to Malaysia and now they are mass producing it.  If we had venture capitalists and those kind of people had that platform, that product would not have been taken out but would have been here earning us good foreign exchange. There are a lot of people today who have designs and inventions but do not have the opportunity  to go to the next level with their inventions . So, we are not going to do this with foreign money as it were.

That is  why we are in touch with SMEDAN which  have endorsed the event and would also facilitate or  fund such people that have such inventions. The Bank of Industry will also be there. So we are just creating that kind of a kick starting. Historically, nations that have moved from poverty  to industrialization  have to develop their small and medium enterprises sector .

This is just our own contribution to  help Nigeria to move in the right direction not just to talk on TV, but to do something in my time for my generation. Also, we have other agencies such as the Academy for Science and Technology,  National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion (NOTAP), Nigeria Information Technology Development Agency, NITDA, National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure. These agencies are backing this because they believe in what we are doing. In the past, a lot of them have done things like researches, inventions, but they left them in their offices and they are becoming like monuments.

But what we want to do is to create a scenario where they can bring out those inventions. Businessmen can come to the exhibition and see some of these inventions  so as to be able to key into the future  through SMEDAN to buy them or even get their own money behind the production of some of these inventions. Why go to import things like Keke NAPEP from India when we have agencies that can do it?
Who are you expecting at the exhibition?

The Minister of science and technology and most of the agencies under the ministry are scheduled to  be there  to show what they have done. Also it is expected that some state governments  particularly those from the south-south and  Lagos State Government, the host  would  be in attendance. We are also expecting  Vice President  Namadi Sambo, and other government officials and the entire business sector to be there. I am sure  we would have  good representation.

What benefits would you say could accrue to participants?
The main  benefit of  the participants is that they would have an opportunity to showcase what they have done not just in Nigeria but also in the diaspora. .

At the end of the exhibition, we would be having a documentary on those inventions and  would be showing it on Ben TV London that is seen all over Europe and some African countries. We would also be showing it on NTA International from January to March next year. For those who think nothing good can come out of the country, it would be an opportunity for them to see.

Those who have been complaining about foreign exchange when they see people who can do some  stuff and can use Naira to buy into those inventions and do good business, at least the issue of foreign investment would have been dealt with and ultimately for Nigeria; we would kick start a catalyst for change for people to believe more in made in Nigeria products. Today, people buy Chinese products and China’s  economy is developing, so why don’t we begin to have the same thing here?

A lot of people say negative things about the country, while other people would come into the same country and find good resources and wealth here. For those in diaspora, who think there is nothing good about the country , they should ask themselves, that when they die, what would people remember them for?  It is time those outside  ask themselves what they have done for their country.

What do you consider as the biggest hurdle against  the attainment of this dream?
I don’t see problems.

I would say in life, there are challenges everywhere. For me as a person, what you need is patience and continuity. You would find people who would discourage you, laugh at you and say you are dreaming and those who would envy what you are doing and try to sabotage it. But, in as much as you have those set of people, you would also find good people that once they hear about what you are doing, they  believe in it and  jump into it.

The same good people, particularly my childhood friends, are the ones that made it possible for me to come over here. So challenges would always be there but you would find help as long as you are consistent and patient. For me, I don’t see the troubles, I only see where I am going to.