By Onozure Dania

The Chief Executive Officers of Rinotech Facilities Nig Ltd., Prince Innocent Anaele, has called for restructuring and purposeful leadership in the country to engender real development.

Speaking weekend in Lagos, he said: “I see nothing good in democracy, especially since 1999, compared to what we achieved during military rules and the First Republic.

“Third Mainland Bridge in Lagos, Nafcon in Rivers State, Eleme Petrochemical, Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, etc, were all built during the military era.

“All we do today celebrate when a governor builds roads, fly-over or schools. No good initiative.

“They travel overseas, see all the developments and when they come back instead of replicating what they’ve seen overseas, they will rather loot the treasuries of either the states, local or federal government.

“Governments in all strata should brace up to avoid the repeat of the #EndSARS protests. How can we create employment when you don’t have factories?

“Nigeria is like an airplane packed, steaming; without a pilot but full of passengers. No manifest, no clearance and no direction.

“We shouldn’t be surprised. We were far more productive in 1980 than we are today.

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“In 1980, the key reasons for economic growth were as follows: we were a net exporter of refined petroleum products, we rode in locally-assembled cars, buses and trucks.

“Peugeot cars in Kaduna, Volkswagen cars in Lagos, Leyland in Ibadan and ANAMCO in Enugu produced our buses and trucks.

“Steyr in Bauchi produced our agricultural tractors. It was not just assembling, we were producing many of the components.

“We had industries like Vono products in Lagos, who was producing the seats. Exide in Ibadan was producing the batteries, not just for Nigeria but for entire West Africa.

“Isoglass and TSG in Ibadan produced the windshields.

“Ferodo in Ibadan produced the brake pads and discs. Tyres were produced by Dunlop in Lagos and Michelin in Port Harcourt.

“And I mean tyres produced from rubber plantations located in Rivers State. We were listening to radio and watching television sets assembled in Ibadan by Sanyo.

“We were using refrigerators, freezers and air conditioners produced by Thermocool.

“We were putting on clothes produced from the UNTL textile mills in Kaduna and Chellarams in Lagos. Not from imported cotton but from cotton grown in Nigeria.

“Our water was running through pipes produced by Kwalipipe in Kano. Our toilets were fitted with WC produced in Kano and Abeokuta.

“We were cooking with LPG gas stored inside gas cylinders produced at the NGC factory in Ibadan.

“Our electricity was flowing through cables produced by the Nigerian Wire and Cable in Ibadan and Kablemetal in Lagos and Port Harcourt.

“But what do we have today? We really need a purposeful leadership that will engender real development, in addition to restructuring the country,” he added.

Vanguard News Nigeria