Abdullahi M. Gulloma
7 August 2008
interview
Dr Paul Bdliya is the Director-General of the National Productivity Centre (NPC) charged with the responsibility of enhancing productivity in all the sectors of the country's economy. In this interview with our reporter, Abdullahi M. Gulloma, he spoke on issues that hinder productivity in the natural resource-rich Nigeria and how to stimulate productivity according to the country's yearnings and aspirations, among others.
Considering Nigeria's economic status and development since independence, what is the country's productivity rate and capacity now?
It is difficult to give you an exact figure as to Nigeria's productivity rate and capacity, but we can say that the country's productivity is extremely low. This is evident in the abundant symptoms of low productivity in virtually all the sectors of the nation's economy occasioned by low capacity utilization of our manufacturing industries, decaying infrastructure, epileptic power supply, general poor work ethics and attitudes, poor service delivery, especially by government agencies, high level of corruption, non-implementation of projects and weak or even non-functional institutions as well as operational problems in all the three tiers of government - federal, state and local government.
Nigeria is a blessed country. We have almost everything on the shores of this country. Honestly, given the nature of our resources-both human and capital, the expectation is that Nigeria's productivity rate should be very high or, at least, average. Unfortunately, as things are now, our productivity rate falls under the low category. And I think that is a very big problem for the country that needs to be urgently addressed by all and sundry if we actually want to achieve sustainable growth and development.
How much contribution has the term 'productivity' made to the socio-economic growth of the country?
This is also difficult to measure. Productivity as a word and, perhaps, as a concept to some people is used every now and then when we speak of socio-economic development of a country. For many people, the word productivity and its concept simply mean a veritable tool for economic development and sustainable growth.
Bearing that in mind, the challenge now is to make more Nigerians aware of the meaning and concept of productivity as a tool for economic development and growth so that they can work assiduously to improve their productivity level as a panacea to attain better living standards. So, coming back to the question, I would say the word productivity has contributed to some appreciable degree, especially among the elites, for socio-economic growth.
You said a while ago that the country's productivity rate and capacity are low. Various and numerous indices determine the rate and capacity of a country's productivity. How would you assess the productivity indices in the Nigeria's socio-economic sector over the last five decades?
Yes, there is no gainsaying the fact that as a nation, Nigeria has made progress from independence to date in some sectors of the nation's economy, especially transport, commerce, energy, petroleum and gas, education, health and manufacturing. However, the progress in these sectors is negligible and to some people very, very unnoticeable.
The sector-by-sector annual productivity indices for the past 20 years show some ups and downs in almost all the sectors measured. This means that even when and where the country had recorded productivity increases, they have not been consistent and sustainable. This tells you that a lot needs to be done to improve productivity on a sustainable basis for the overall development of the country and its peoples.
Nigerians and, indeed, a larger section of the global public maintain that Nigeria's economy has been stagnant for several years now, if not for a larger part of its independence history. Considering the essence of productivity in economic growth and your centre as the main tool for stimulating it, would you say it has done much to move the economy to its present stage?
The Centre has done fairly well over the years since its establishment in stimulating the citizenry towards productivity improvement for economic growth within our very limited financial resources. I must say that the concept of productivity alone cannot make the nation grow economically. Productivity improvement works best when all other socio-economic variables such as education, health, fiscal, political, trade and so on are in place and performing efficiently according to the country's needs and aspirations at any particular point in its development history.
However, through our various programmes, we are trying as much as possible, within the resources available to the centre to reach out to Nigerians on the need to ensure that they improve their productivity level so that the nation and its peoples can compete effectively with others. In effect, improved productivity in all sectors of the nation's economy is the panacea for sustainable socio-economic development of the country. Nigerians need to work assiduously, at the individual or consort level, towards securing this panacea.
As an institution concerned with the growth of productivity, the NPC has institutionalized mechanisms that will make it possible for us to achieve optimum productivity and that, we feel, is one of our contributions to ensure that Nigerians imbibe the culture of productivity.
In a depressed economy like Nigeria where inflation rate has assumed double digits, what are the prospects for higher productivity?
Actually, a depressed state of economy such as ours calls for urgent productivity improvement. I mean the present situation we are in Nigeria productivity-wise requires high sense of urgency, especially in view of the fact that the prospects for higher productivity in the Nigerian economy are quite a daunting task but by no means insurmountable. The major challenges confronting us, as far as productivity improvement is concerned in Nigeria, includes urgent need to develop the productivity mindset and the institutionalization of the productivity culture in the citizenry. The mindset should be one geared towards being progressive and acquiring the mentality for progress.
Again, areas such as the will to improve on what exists, no matter how good it appears, the will to do better today than yesterday and better still tomorrow than today, the belief in human abilities and capabilities, promotion of creativity and innovation in the society, the effective and efficient utilization of our human and material resources etc, need to be properly looked into for the overall benefit of the country. By the time these challenges are addressed, the Nigerian economy would record a lot of improvement arising from productivity improvement leading to improved standard of living and quality of life of the citizenry.
How enormous would you say are the challenges facing the NPC with regards to its statutory roles and duties amidst the multiplying constraints and emerging complexities for the country's socio-economic growth according to the emerging world order?
I think the major challenges facing the centre are, of course, in the area of funding. Productivity awareness requires that we reach the grassroots and sustain our presence with the productivity message always. This could be through physical presence or placement of advertorials and jingles in the electronic and print media. These are too expensive.
Also, considering our multi-lingual nature, this becomes more complex and challenging. And to be fully effective, NPC has to be able to assist as many individuals, companies and organizations to improve their productivity and competitiveness. And the resources at our disposal will not be adequate for us to carry out these functions. So, you can see that we need adequate budgetary allocations to enable us discharge our duties effectively.
How much effort has the centre made at the creation and establishment of productivity enhancement instruments across the country's economic terrain?
The centre has inaugurated over twenty State Productivity Committees (SPCs) across the country in our attempt to reach out to the people at the grassroots. Also, Productivity and Quality Improvement Scheme (PIS) has been installed in over fifteen small and medium enterprises in the country. This has assisted businesses to improve their productivity.
The centre has trained about 500 Fadama Community Association members and Fadama users in Kaduna State and organized over sixty training programmes, workshops, seminars and conferences on productivity improvement and training of productivity personnel. We have also marked seven series of National Productivity Day (NPD) and conferred the National Productivity Order of Merit (NPOM) to over twenty productive organizations and over 190 individuals to serve as a motivation for them to continue improving their productivity.
Talking about the National Productivity Order of Merit Award, there is this allegation of abuse of the processes for the award. Some people are of the view that the award is for the highest bidder. How would you respond to that?
That is not true. In the first place, the process is so transparent that no one can fiddle with it. Again, the annual award is always handled by people of proven integrity. So, it is absolutely ridiculous for someone to make this kind of allegation. It is absolutely ridiculous.
Perhaps, those making this allegation are individuals that do not fall under the category of those qualified to nominate individuals or organizations for the award. Basically, only federal ministries and their parastatals, state and local governments, recognized social and professional organizations, workers' and employers organizations, educational institutions, quoted companies and private sector establishments are required by the law to nominate individuals or organizations they think deserve the NPOM award.
How transparent is the award process that you believe it cannot be fiddled with by those responsible for the nomination or those capable of nominating any individual or organisation?
First and foremost, the call for nominations for the NPOM award is usually advertised several months in advance in some national dailies to enable those interested in nominating potential awardees file their nominations, using the appropriate forms for organizations and individuals.
The completed nomination forms are processed by the NPOM Panel Secretariat. After that the selection panel, made up of credible and sound people, will now take a critical look at the nominations and examine the credibility or otherwise of the candidates nominated for the award. The membership of selection panel, where and when they do their screening and review of the nomination forms are not advertised. So, I don't know how the award can be for the highest bidder.
Even the criteria for selection of candidates for the NPOM award are complex and cannot be manipulated. Organizations are assessed on the strength of their performance on a 9-point assessment scale, bearing in mind the efforts made by the organization in respect of sourcing of raw materials, the amount spent on maintenance, the company's record of technical improvement, the organization's capacity utilization, sales and turnover growth of the organization, the profitability registered by the organization, the export promotion drive of the organization, the audited annual reports for the preceding three years and the amount spent on staff welfare, social responsibilities and safety precaution.
For the individuals, their performances are considered on a 15-point performance scale. Their consideration for short-listing and possible selection is based partly on their scores graded A-D in respect of attributes such as, expertise, responsibility, job performance, punctuality, dedication, team work, hard work, contribution to community, initiative, contribution to organization, creativity, human relations, reliability, self-discipline and list of acclaimed break-through and their impact.
When and why was the NPOM award established?
The National Productivity Order of Merit Award was instituted by the Federal Government of Nigeria through the National Productivity Centre in 1991 in order to recognize and honour the most productive individuals and organizations in Nigeria in the year of the award for achievements made in the three preceding years. All Nigerians resident in the country and all organizations operating in Nigeria are eligible for the award.
The objective of the award is to build and encourage the pint of self-reliance and to institutionalize productivity consciousness and excellence in service among workers and organizations in both the private and public sectors in Nigeria, emphasizing hard work, high performance, efficiency, discipline, dedication, humility, patriotism and selfless service. The ward was also established to ensure high level of effectiveness and efficiency in the implementation of public policies and programmes of various public services, to recognize and highlight the contributions of workers and organization to higher productivity, encourage and foster the pint of healthy competition in production amongst workers, firms and companies in Nigeria, among others.
President Umaru Musa Yar'adua has outlined a seven-point agenda designated to make Nigeria economy one of the 20 largest economies by the year 2020. How is NPC repositioning to effectively key in and play a vital role in the actualization of the President's agenda?
In line with its vision of becoming a world-class produc-tivity institution and key player in realizing Nigeria's overall growth and development objectives, the NPC, in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Labour had, in July 2007, identified some core issues that represent the major challenges to productivity improvement in the country.
First, we identified the absence of National Policy on Productivity in the country as a major challenge. It is sad that there is no policy that will give the NPC a direction on how to push productivity process in the country. We are therefore working on a National Productivity Policy that will provide accelerated productivity growth of the nation's economy.
Again, we also identified the absence of comprehensive framework and governance for increased productivity nationwide, lack of productivity measurement standards, inadequate awareness on relevance of productivity in national economy, inadequate number of productivity practitioners in Nigeria, inadequacy of efficient development and monitoring units in government establishments are areas that we need to urgently address.
It is hoped that when we address these issues effectively, the country will achieve maximum productivity and that will facilitate the present administration's seven-point agenda and the vision 20:2020.
Given the many challenges confronting NPC, what would you say is the way forward?
For us, the way forward in the midst of all the many challenges confronting the country would be to put in mechanisms that will accelerate the attainment of a sustainable socio-economic growth of the country through improved productivity. Basically, we need to ensure that there is increased funding for the NPC by the government and the private sector to enable it carry out its functions effectively.
There is also the need for us to strengthen the capacity of our institutions, NPC inclusive, and their workforce. We should also promote the Nigerian productivity movem-ent which would involve the active support of major stakeholders-the business, industry, workers, employers, government, academia, communities, the press and other interest groups.
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