"Life demands that we attentively reconsider all our intellectual stock-in-trade when we step on to new ground"-- Georgi Plekhanov, Socialism and the Political Struggle
THE appropriation of patriotism is a conscious intellectual and political act that also transcends other boundaries, such as economic nationalism and social engineering. The realisation of the fact as pronounced by Aliko Dangote that "Nigeria was a secret waiting to be discovered by the world" in terms of the country's economic potentials, was the highest patriotic sentiment that any capitalist entrepreneur could exhibit.
Owing to this conviction no doubt, Aliko Dangote has remained committed to Nigeria with a singleminded determination and zeal, that resulted in his myriads of entrepreneurial accomplishments. He has succeeded against all the odds to wrest a significant niche within the Nigerian economy from the hands of the global industrial and financial capitalists, to assert himself as a major player in such a restricted space of activity.
Creating an "empire" of industries that service the basic needs of the masses in food products, fuels, building materials and other necessities, makes for a tremendous assertion of courage and the deployment of boundless conviction about one's primary objective and purpose in life. The more reason why Alhaji Aliko Dangote should be held up as the living embodiment of a "patriotic capitalist" is the fact that he has ventured into efforts towards reducing Nigeria's dependency on foreign producers who have monopolised the commodities sector for so long in this country. This is especially so with regard to refined petroleum products around which scandalous and stupendous amounts of public funds have been expended over several decades, while government owned refineries were allowed to go to ruin.
Aliko Dangote's achievements dispell the notion that things don't work in Nigeria, and that the country cannot organise any decent economic endeavour by itself. His historical role must be located within the conflict and contradictions between domestic and international capital whereby he has been able to create his own paradigm and established populism within the Nigerian industrial sphere. This makes him a "man of the people", in the utilitarian sense of the phrase, which marks him also as a dispenser of favours and creator of opportunities for everyone.
His most significant achievement as far as this article is concerned, is his ability to navigate the various pitfalls and obstacles presented by the normally chaotic, arbitrary, disorganised and loosely affiliated state structures in the country, whose very existence are antithetical to the advancement of the capitalist mode of production. Corruption and inept organisation anywhere are the nemesis of economic progress, and even more so within the capitalist structure that requires efficiency, predictability, timeliness, protection of investments and an array of incentives and preferantial treatments to perform optimally.
These must have been issues with which Aliko Dangote must have grappled with astonishing perplexity, in establishing such powerful conglomerates of industries in this country. The state as an industrialising agent has failed to perform this task in Nigeria, while it has achieved this to a considerable degree in China. This task must now fall upon the patriotic and visionary segment of the Nigerian bourgeoisie and above all, its industrial capitalist class. The domestication or "nationalisation" of the forces of production and its most advanced form, industrial capital, must, therefore, be the highest patriotic duty that the Nigerian bourgeoisie must perform.
From the perspective of the "Left", therefore, it must be acknowledged that the essence of the agitation for a socialist mode of production in Nigeria is to achieve rapid industrialisation and the removal of contradictions between rural and urban economies, as well as reducing the gap between the working people and property owners. The socialist aspirations for Nigeria must be predicated on the efficient organisation of production and harnessing of Nigeria's productive capacities and resources. Our socialist agenda must also encompass the deliberate reorientation of the Nigerian state towards the task of reducing extreme poverty and alienation of the masses from the direct and indirect control of the country's wealth.
In this endeavour, redistribution of wealth along prudent and scientific lines must be an urgent task to be undertaken by the political establishment across the length and breadth of the country. The foundations that have been provided by the 1999 Constitution as amended, as outlined in Chapter 2, must be the deciding factor in the socialisation of both labour and production in this country. In this sense, Alhaji Aliko Dangote is fulfilling the historical task of accelerating industrialisation in Nigeria through the conscious harnessing of resources and financial capital, that anticipates the expectations of a socialist political arrangement.
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He is achieving this tremendous feat in the face of dwindling trust and confidence in the Nigerian economy by other industrialists, especially foreign ones, who have been reported to be divesting from Nigeria and leaving the country in droves. We will put this down to his antecedents, convictions and fidelity to the cause of his country and people. The defining characteristics of a man of vision are consciousness of traditions, attachment to prudential principles, as well the knowledge of opportunities that are there to be harnessed and not to be abused.
On all three counts, the African bourgeoisies in large measure, have failed as a class, to serve as agents of change owing to their infantile predilection towards ostentatious living and squandering of capital. In Aliko Dangote's case, we see an almost reverential consideration towards money and a disenchanted withdrawal from ostentation that embodies a person of character, tradition and aloof detachment from frivolous existence.
