Productivity of Nigerians on steady decline – Expert

A Certified Management Consultant, Dr Jekwu Ozoemene, has expressed concern over what he calls the steady decline in the level of productivity of Nigerians.

Consequently, he has urged governments at all levels and individuals to come up with strategic plans that would enhance productivity.

Ozoemene, the Chief Executive Officer, Lyceum Alliance Limited, said this at a training, organised for the Lagos Business School, South-West zone, on Friday in Ibadan.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the training had at its them: “Productivity in a Strong Private Sector: Key to Jumpstarting Inclusive Growth in Nigeria.”

According to him, the level of productivity of Nigerians has decreased drastically over the years.

“I did a survey recently and I found out that the productivity of Nigerians in every aspect of our lives keeps going down. This can be due to several reasons.

“One of the reasons is our ever-increasing population. The number of unemployed people is high, if we look at it from per capita basics.

“The people, who are not working, are many and even the few working, their productivity is dragging down. This also means that we are becoming less-efficient,” he said.

He added that many spend productive hours in traffic, thus reducing their productivity level.

“Some people working in Lagos spend between six and eight hours in traffic and that is not productive. Such people would have wasted about six economic man hours and whereas, their employers still have to pay for it.

“For instance, if we have a light rail from Ibadan to Lagos, it is possible that some people won’t be living on the Island, but be shuttling between both states on a daily basis,” he said.

According to Ozoemene, Nigerians also consume so much rice and do not produce enough for the country themselves.

“For example, our yield per hectare of rice is less than the yield per hectare of leading countries producing rice. In this light, we need to look at productivity.

“There is the need to look at how to get more out of the resources we are deploying. It means that we may not need to bring in more farmers on board but increase the productivity of the farmers we already have.

“If we move the productivity of rice from 1.8 tons per hectare to eight tons per hectare, that is a significant leap.

“This leap is not coming from increasing the farmers but increasing yield per hectare of the existing ones,” he said. (NAN)