The Minister of Commerce and Industry Chief Achike Udenwa was recently quoted as saying something to the effect that since Nigeria has joined the globalisation bandwagon, he, and by implication the government that he serves, will not do anything to help domestic industries.

In other words, our local industries have to employ all their ingenuity to survive or they perish and should they go down, as many of them have unfortunately done already, Nigeria will continue to import goods from other nations. After all, according to Udenwa's strange rationalization, in the globalization scheme of things, we are supposed to be a consumer nation, while some others are supposed to produce for us.

This rationalization by Udenwa whose job schedule is to nurse our infant industries to healthy growth and maturity must pass as one of the most shocking and unfortunate remarks ever made by a public officer in recent time. It is significant that Udenwa has not made any attempt to disclaim the comment nor has he sought to tender apologies to the nation for the anguish and despair his remarks have caused many of his compatriots. He is saying in effect that he stands by what he said because that is the 'reality' and he believes in it. Surely, a more sensitive and accountable public officer would not only stop at expressing regret and apologize to his injured compatriots, he would go ahead to offer profuse assurances that he and his government will do all that they can to ensure the well-being of domestic industries. Udenwa has done none of these.

Since Udenwa obviously believes that it is not his duty to help businesses to survive and become strong, may he please tell the nation what exactly it is he is doing in the ministry of commerce and industry? What does he think he has been put in that ministry to do? Does he see his stay as another job for the boys? Does he see his mandate as one to oversee the creation of unemployment at home and jobs for other economies? One of President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua's seven point agenda -wealth creation and employment generation- is to be realized through Udenwa's ministry of commerce and industry. Now that Udenwa is talking the way he is doing, may we know what policy and plans he has for using his ministry to generate employment and make Nigeria an industrialised country? Since he became minister what ideas has he conceived, supervised and executed along the line of his mandate?

If some Nigerians have been wondering why Nigeria is steadily de-industrialising rather than industrializing in recent times, Minister Udenwa has offered a good enough insight into the thinking of government and the high officials who are well paid to evolve and implement policies to make Nigeria become a self-sustaining and industrialised nation.

Surely, Udenwa ought to have resigned his commission by now because he does not seem to know why he is in the ministry of commerce. And since this is the case, the way out is that the President should relieve him of his duties because he does not seem to understand his commission.

This demonstration of abject lack of understanding of his assignment by Udenwa is revealing. We have cause to believe that there are many more Udenwas in the Federal cabinet and in other sensitive positions in the government. There is urgent need therefore to redefine the mandates of the various ministries, parastatals and agencies and re-orientate the officers manning them so that they will understand what they have been appointed to do in order to enable them add value to the nation's economy. At present most of our MDAs are mere drainpipes and cesspools of corruption. Each ministry must have a clear mandate and agenda upon which the heads can be assessed.