Business
Chief Rasaki Akanni Okoya @84: Industrialization Can Make Nigerian Youth Productive
Chief Rasaki Akanni Okoya @84: Industrialization Can Make Nigerian Youth Productive
…My Hope is that the Current Administration Makes the Industrialization of Nigeria a Cardinal Goal:
…Nigerian Youths have Potential and Can be Stronger with Greater Empowerment.
…Wealth Creation in Nigeria’s Rural Communities will Prevent Urban Migration
Born on January 12, 1940, Chief Rasaki Okoya is a billionaire industrialist with a Midas touch. The Aare of Lagos is the owner and founder of Eleganza group of companies and RAO Investment Properties whose tentacles have spread across Nigeria and the West African countries. With his experience as an industrial magnate spanning over 6 decades, he knows it all and he has seen it all. Chief Okoya’s journey from humble beginnings to becoming a billionaire is a testament to his unwavering vision, strategic insight, relentless and perseverance. As he turns 84, Okoya talks about the secret of his success, and how government can make the youth productive using industrialization.
Life Lesson at 84 and secret of his success
Consistency, perseverance, hard work commitment, passion and integrity are the only vehicles that can drive you to success and not by cutting corners. Also, it is by being true to oneself in what one is doing. I am passionate about my business. I am committed to it and I have been consistent over the years by getting involved all the way by not playing the boss. At Eleganza, we try to work within our means particularly by working with the local market. It has helped the business to grow this far.
His advice, proposal and recommendation for job creation for the youth:
I have decided to use this opportunity to propose a recurring vision that has plagued me. My warmest regards and Congratulations! to our President His Excellency Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the Vice President His Excellency Kashim Shettima for their steady management of the economy. We pray for peaceful and successful terms ahead. From working and monitoring the manufacturing industry for over 60 years. My hope is that the current administration makes the industrialisation of Nigeria a cardinal goal: utilising our youths and empowering increased incorporation of manufacturing through the establishment of many cottage industries and factories during their term. Did you know, a significant percentage of the country’s GDP is derived from MSMEs and it can be approximated that majority of these enterprises are youth-owned?
Making the Youth Productive Via Industrialisation
Our youth have potential and can be stronger with greater empowerment. If you open the eyes of a blind man, he will never want to go back to the darkness. I think to myself regularly on how do we utilise our dominant working population. The picture in my mind places all 36 states and the federal capital territory as industrial hubs, varying in speciality where the average Nigerian citizen should be able to live, work, shop, have access to healthcare and other conveniences (e.g., recreational, worship facilities etc.); all without leaving their state of origin, within their industrial hubs. Bringing this into realisation could be initiated through investment in incubation centres, in each state (dispersed based on the requirements and geographical advantages of the state). Preparing one-unit warehouses of approximately 5,000 sq m per cluster, having 10,000 of each unit/micro industry in each state including the federal capital territory, Abuja. Similarly, provision can be made to private estate developers to create infrastructural extensions in areas with existing low- income housing to include warehouses. This will enhance the appeal of opportunities in our rural states, transforming them into vibrant economic zones and serving as significant Industrial infrastructure for each state.
Leveraging on international connections:
In addition to the above, Nigerian Government can invite specialists and international machine manufacturers (e.g. China/India etc.)to train our graduates in vocational skills and provide crucial technology transfer through the sale of machinery, and equipment for daily need products in exchange for local minerals via the use of a barter trading system. By opting to further facilitate local manufacturing of products, the government can consider onward sales of the above mentioned machines to the youth on a long-term basis.The government should protect our industries by imposing strict prohibitions of imports and policing the markets to enforce the ban on importation. With these, I believe we can conserve our precious foreign exchange, increase GDP, and strengthen our local markets/producers.
Making electricity available will turn the economy around, the youths and existing industries:
Power supply should be made available to our youths and other existing industries. If small-scale factories could work without generators, it would solve majority of the country’s crippling problems. Requiring each unit to adhere to contemporary demands of sustainability, preservation of natural capital and utilisation of renewable energy will ensure longevity and create backups to the national grid power supply. Incorporating training to pre-empt and prevent environmental degradation, learning from the case of China. This will provide practical experience that would give our youth a strong sense of belonging, and a promise of hope. It is our duty as Nigerian seniors, to help our youth the truth to know.
His thoughts on wealth creation and urban migration
Ultimately, promoting urbanisation in the rural areas of the country, and stemming rural-to- urban migration by wealth creation in our rural communities will prevent overcrowding in urban areas; keeping our youths off the streets, by encouraging them to get a house and job opportunities. We need to instil a sense of pride and dignity through respectable labour in our youth. The creation of varied and sustainable industrial cities will be pivotal in the national stimulation of progress. All this could be financed in the government budget with the aid of private sector investment schemes and the youth could be required to pay back within 10 to 25 years, and/or enjoy grants to support them. This will unleash and enable patient capital required to catalyse economic growth, jobs and entrepreneurship for our youths. Better to light the candle than curse the darkness. Give light and the darkness will disappear of itself. This vision enacted would enable us to manufacture a better Nigeria. To ensure the success of this proposed economic remedy, Nigeria, the economic powerhouse of Africa should entirely and unitedly embrace a propensity of population utilisation, to supercharge the entire African continent. I believe more technical details and possibilities have to be discussed on the above ideas.
His praise to the current administration:
Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu is a visionary leader who is passionate about Nigeria. I am sure this administration will promote commerce and industry. I pray for the President and Vice President, with the aid of Allah SWT, to consider this and include it in their good programme as a blueprint for the rebirth of our great nation.
Why Eleganza is still standing six decades after:
We believe in Nigeria and we have promoted Made in Nigeria Products over the years. The Eleganza Industrial City Limited is a testament to our vision as an established. It is place where you find various products under one roof. Under the new industry, the company produces luggage/bag that can be branded for companies, pilgrimage, government parastatals and family trip. It also manufactures over 68 different designs of standard chairs for churches, parties, eateries, hotels etc. It also has sets of coolers and food warmers in different shapes and design. This attests to the fact that consistency, not compromise on standard and quality have been the guiding principles that have kept the company going in the past four decades
On his humanitarian gesture:
Many of my activities revolve around religion and service to humanity through various philanthropy. This cut across the various sectors of the society. At various times, I have supported medical establishments and hospital homes by donating lifesaving equipment. With modesty, ELeganza is one of the biggest employers of labour by giving employment to thousands of Nigerians. I also believe in quality education and the foundation under my name in recent years has thrown its weight in support of the Nigerian educational sector. Several undergraduate students have benefited from his Alhaji Akanni Okoya Scholarship Awards.
His advice for the youths:
As said in my previous interviews, it took me 60 years to build the Eleganza conglomerate through dint of hard work. Nigerian youths are hard working and resilence If they can embrace hard work more and more, they will be successful because they have what it takes with enabling environment.
Tinubu’s Economic Agenda in Crisis: North-South Divide Strikes Again
By George Omagbemi Sylvester
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, elected in 2023 on the wings of political calculation and elite manipulation, has now found himself caught in the snare of Nigeria’s enduring historical curse: the north-south divide. His ambitious economic reform agenda, intended to liberalize the economy, remove structural inefficiencies, and reduce government expenditure—has hit a legislative wall. But this isn’t just about policy. This is about power, patronage, and the ancient scars of a fractured federation.
The rejection of critical aspects of Tinubu’s economic proposals by lawmakers is a stinging rebuke, not only to his administration but to the very idea that Nigeria can be reformed from the top down without confronting its structural imbalances. In many ways, Tinubu’s presidency is now facing the same nightmare that has haunted every Nigerian leader since independence: how do you govern a country that was never truly united?
The Crumbling Reform Agenda
At the center of the storm is Tinubu’s proposal to centralize and streamline federal subsidies and remove what he termed “wasteful duplication of agencies.” This was meant to continue the subsidy removal narrative started in June 2023, and reduce fiscal leakage. However, the backlash, particularly from legislators representing the northern states, was swift and coordinated.
The northern bloc, comprising lawmakers from Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Sokoto, and Borno, objected on the grounds that Tinubu’s proposals disproportionately affect their regions, where federal allocation remains a critical lifeline in the absence of strong internally generated revenue. But critics argue this is a strategic form of sabotage, aimed at retaining an unsustainable status quo that prioritizes political patronage over national progress.
As Prof. Wale Adebanwi of Oxford University has argued, “Nigeria’s northern elite have historically benefited from the spoils of a rentier state, with oil wealth redistributed without the burden of productive contribution. Any move to reverse this equation is seen as existential.”
Tinubu, a southerner from Lagos, with strong Christian support from the Southwest and Southeast, is now facing the very brick wall that has impeded reforms since the First Republic. His own political survival now depends on how much compromise he’s willing to make—or whether he can break the mold entirely.
A Century-Old Fracture
The rejection of Tinubu’s reforms by northern lawmakers is not new. It is deeply rooted in a century-old tension embedded in the structure of the Nigerian state. The 1914 amalgamation, engineered by British colonialists, fused two vastly different regions, the industrializing, Western-educated Christian south and the feudal, Islamic north, into one artificial political entity.
From independence in 1960, this contradiction has remained unresolved. “Nigeria was created not to function as a cohesive nation, but as an economic convenience for its colonial masters,” noted historian Max Siollun. “What we’re seeing is the consequence of a nation built on convenience rather than consensus.”
The economic priorities of the north and south remain deeply divergent. While the south boasts ports, oil revenue, industries, and a growing tech sector, the north has remained largely agrarian, dependent on federal allocations and political appointments. Any attempt to tamper with this redistribution—whether via subsidy removal or cuts in federal spending, provokes immediate resistance.
Reform vs. Redistribution
Tinubu’s administration promised reforms: subsidy removal, tax reform, and investment in critical infrastructure. But all reforms require sacrifices, and those sacrifices must be nationally distributed to succeed. What Tinubu is discovering, painfully, is that reforms without inclusive buy-in are dead on arrival.
Economist Dr. Obiageli Ezekwesili captured the challenge succinctly: “Nigeria’s political economy is structured around the sharing of oil rents, not the creation of wealth. Any attempt to disrupt this structure will provoke fierce opposition from those who depend on the current dysfunction for survival.”
Indeed, the loudest resistance to Tinubu’s reforms has come not from the opposition PDP or Labour Party, but from within his own APC, particularly from northern senators and representatives who feel alienated by the president’s southern-centric economic vision.
The Ghost of Buhari
Many Nigerians are now drawing comparisons between Tinubu’s presidency and that of his predecessor, Muhammadu Buhari, a northern Muslim who governed with overwhelming support from the north. Buhari’s policies favored heavy spending, a bloated civil service, and minimal economic restructuring, a model that created illusions of stability while deepening the economic rot.
“Buhari governed like a tribal chief, rewarding loyalty over competence, and expanding a culture of dependency,” said Prof. Kingsley Moghalu, former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank. “Tinubu’s efforts to break away from that legacy will require courage, strategy, and above all, an appeal to national interest.”
But appealing to national interest in Nigeria is easier said than done. The political class thrives on division. The north fears marginalization, the south resents over-centralization, and the middle belt remains trapped in identity crises. Tinubu, in failing to build a coalition around his reforms, is now paying the price of elite disunity.
The Danger of Ethno-Political Paralysis
The rejection of Tinubu’s agenda is not just a political problem, it is an economic time bomb. Nigeria is drowning in debt, with over 90% of its revenue now going to debt servicing. Inflation is running rampant, the naira has crashed, and unemployment remains alarmingly high. The country cannot afford to maintain the current level of government spending without reform.
But if every economic policy must first pass the tribal test, then reform is doomed. “A nation that filters every economic decision through the lens of ethnicity is a nation marching toward collapse,” warned Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka. “If Nigeria cannot rise above its primordial divisions, it cannot survive the 21st century.”
What Next for Tinubu?
Tinubu’s next steps are critical. Will he revise his reforms to appease northern lawmakers and keep the political peace? Or will he double down, use executive power, and mobilize the Nigerian people behind a populist push for structural change?
There is a middle path, dialogue, renegotiation of the federal structure, and regional empowerment. Many have called for fiscal federalism, where regions generate and control their own revenues, sending only a fraction to the center. This model, already practiced in countries like Canada and the United States, could reduce the perennial tension around federal allocation.
Political economist Ayo Teriba suggests, “Nigeria must move away from revenue-sharing to revenue-generation. That shift requires not just policy but a new national consensus, and that is where Tinubu must lead.”
In conclusion: Lead or Collapse
President Tinubu is at a crossroads. He can continue playing the dangerous game of balancing regional interests with national imperatives, or he can rise above the tribal chessboard and lead with boldness. The north-south divide is not just a historical relic, it is a living cancer that must be addressed through structural reform, not rhetorical appeasement.
The economic reform agenda is not a southern agenda. It is a Nigerian necessity. If lawmakers continue to sabotage reform because it threatens their regional comfort zones, then the entire nation will suffer. As the saying goes, “A house divided against itself cannot stand.”
In the end, Tinubu must decide: will he be a president of compromise, or a reformer of consequence?
-
Business6 months agoComprehensive Media Audit Shows Flutterwave, MTN Nigeria, and Bolt Outpacing Competitors in Media Engagement
-
celebrity radar - gossips7 months agoHow Deji Adeyanju Secured The Release Of Speed Darlington
-
Politics7 months agoMy best is yet to come’ As Ambassador Adesina ‘Lanre Ogunsola affirmed at the APC APEX body, Obafemi Owode Local Government
-
Entertainment4 months agoAliu Gafar delivers stellar performance as Esusu in Femi Adebayo’s Seven Doors