By CHUKWUDI ENEKWECHI

ON January 1, 2014 one of Nigeria’s leading newspapers, Vanguard announced winner of its 2013 “Most INNOVATIVE ENTERPRENEUR OF THE YEAR” as Dr. Innocent Chukwuma, Chairman of Innoson Vehicles Manufacturing Ltd.,Nigeria’s first indigenous vehicles manufacturer. Among those that made the Honours list include Alhaji Aliko Dangote, as “AFRICAN OF THE YEAR” and Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta state as “MAN OF THE YEAR”.

Obviously, these are deserving honours for exceptional Nigerians who have carved a niche for themselves by taking their various callings several notches higher.

In the case of the INNOSON boss, Chief Dr. Chukwuma, his faith and patriotism in the Nigerian economy is unsurpassable, for whereas many motor companies concentrated in importing whole vehicles with the attendant capital flight, and zero value to the economy, he saw the need to embark on manufacturing the INNOSON brands of vehicles locally. Today, his brand has become a household name in the country.

By so doing, the company has created jobs for Nigerians; helped in technology transfer as well as reduced capital flight. Moreover, the “I can do” philosophy of the company will no doubt spur other entrepreneurs to rise to the challenge and think Nigeria. Today, INNOSON brands of vehicles can be seen all over Nigeria competing favourably with foreign ones. As a country, this is the way to go, if we must arrive as an industrialised economy.

On the contrary, if we continue to import our vehicles from abroad, we will simply be creating jobs for engineers and technicians abroad, whereas Nigerians with similar skills will never get a chance to put into practice their training and knowledge.

It is therefore praiseworthy that one of Nigeria’s leading dailies like Vanguard found it expedient to honour Dr. Chukwuma by awarding him the “MOST INNOVATIVE ENTRPRENEUR OF THE YEAR”. By so doing, the beneficiaries will get a sense of fulfillment that their efforts at nation building are being acknowledged and reciprocated. This will further nudge them and the upcoming ones to strive harder, and make Nigeria their investment destination.

Patriotism has been a clarion call by successive administrations, but it cannot be built on quicksand, rather on tangible results as exemplified by INNOSON, and now acknowledged by the Vanguard Newspaper. Government on its part should endeavour to take advantage of the new enthusiasm by the private sector to invest in Nigeria, by providing all necessary incentives.

Gladly, in a bid to unlock the great potentials in the automotive sector, the Federal government last November rolled out a National Automotive Policy, which seeks to impose higher tariff on imported vehicles. This policy is meant to encourage local vehicles manufacturers like INNOSON to attain their maximal level. If this is sustained, our army of unemployed youths will find job openings, and other ancillary jobs will be created.

The recognition of INNOSON as the “MOST INNOVATIVE ENTREPRENEUR OF THE YEAR” by Vanguard Newspaper appears to be a paradigm shift by the Nigerian society of celebrating real achievers and patriotic economy developers, away from the past era where unknown quantities or moneybags with no verifiable attainments are celebrated in our society.

The award cannot be isolated from the determined effort of the Jonathan administration to create an enabling environment for investors, as well as transform all sectors of the Nigerian economy. With the huge interest INNOSON brand of vehicles is generating in many African countries, it is obvious that the transformation agenda of Mr. President has started yielding desired results.

Perhaps, one aspect that should be addressed is the issue of cost of the vehicles, and this presupposes that for the vehicles to be affordable to the average Nigerian, government must ensure that all hindrances to credit facilities from financial institutions and other bottlenecks to needed raw materials and spare parts for the local manufacturers are removed.

For Nigeria to reach the manufacturere’s Promised Land in terms of technology transfer, the need to sustain the current tempo of supporting local vehicles manufacturers cannot be overemphasised. As the saying goes, Rome was not built in a day, and in our own case, it is gratifying that we are now taking the bull by the horn by initiating relevant policies to help drive the economy.

In reality, only the private sector has the capacity to transform any economy, though with the backing of the government which creates the enabling environment for them. All over the world, governments have not been known to be good economic managers and our experience with organisations like defunct NEPA, NITEL and others remain unsavoury news. So, the unbundling and privatisation programme embarked on by the Federal government will no doubt unleash the great potentials of the economy.