Lagos — NIGERIA'S slow industrial growth has been blamed on poor management of ports in the commercial city of Lagos.

A university don and renowned Professor of Economics at the Oxford University, United Kingdom (U.K), Prof. Paul Collier stated this recently at a forum in Abuja.

Speaking at a one-day interactive retreat on Cluster Based Growth as a Policy to drive Industrialisation at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Prof Collier who noted that the present administration must take advantage of economic advantages of Lagos to create wealth for the people, however regretted that Nigeria was yet to truly take advantage of the busy international airport and the port it had in Lagos State.

The Retreat was organized by the National Planning Commission (NPC) in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Commerce and Industry and the World Bank.

According to him, "Lagos hold the key to Nigeria's industrialization. But for this to be actualized in full, the port around the commercial city centre need to really work. Lagos port is the most expensive and is slow. Time is money. Your country needs to maximize the economic advantages of Lagos to create wealth for your people."

Professor Collier who portrayed a pathetic picture of how the government had paid nonchalant attitude towards Lagos, the hitherto Capital city, thereby giving room for its industrial decline, urged the Yar'Adua administration to purchase 'bullets' and destroy those currently managing the nation's power sector with the desire to employ fresh and capable managers who will understand what it entails to have a working system. According to him, "if it is not working, change the management. Modern industries depend on a well run port system. Poor ports can stifle industrial growth. Part of the reasons for the poor industries is because the ports are not working.

"You have got to fix them. Be brutal with the managers and stop pampering them. They should all leave since they have over the years failed to ensure good management.

"Nigeria has a good airport in Lagos that is one of the busiest in the world and a good port. The city had all that it required to turn Nigeria around and become truly globally-competitive. But you have to take advantage of the factors to get to that stage. You have the right fundamentals.

Collier who is a Professor of Economics and Director of the Centre for the Study of African Economies at Oxford University, is a former Director of Development Research at the World Bank as well as advisor to the British government's Commission on Africa. He is also one of the world's leading experts on African economies and the author of Breaking the Conflict Trap, among other books.

The Professor of Economics who identified transport and electricity as 'killers' of Nigeria's quest to grow industrially, stressed that what the people of Nigeria had had to contend with over the years was in no way acceptable, adding "what you have had to put up with in the electricity sector is not acceptable at all. It is really bad. Over the years, politicians had protected your power managers in 'political nonsense."

"Government has a choice: either you buy a bullet for the managers of your power sector or you sacrifice millions of Nigerians on the altar of political interest.

Professor Collier who stressed the urgent need for right policies to be put in place by the government, pointed out that if the country must be transformed in all its ramifications, the concept of industrial planning and policy should take a more open approach, adding that Nigeria places unique opportunity in Africa and the world and had no reason to kill its industries with poor infrastructure.

"Blessed with rich natural resources, you have entrepreneurial kind of people and good commercial cities waiting to be utilized. Poor management has been the bane of your growth. From 1986 upwards, after the boom, Nigeria's economy took a disastrous plunge. If you get them right now, you will keep rising and rising. We haven't harmonized oil money for sustainable development.

"Getting commercial policies right is key to real growth. You have good resources. You can also learn from the disastrous history from poor oil management. Germany learnt from its own past and is today one of the leading economies of the world. You also have your industrial policy wrong.

"You have got enormous workforce growing rapidly. You need to get the industrial sector to be working to be able to create jobs. The industrial sector holds the key to job creation", he added.