In Libya, before the assassination of Col Muammar Gaddafi, compliance with regulatory formalities, with specific reference to local content, is not negotiable. For instance, if a contract is signed between the Libya Government and foreign companies, and the contract requires that a certain percentage of Libya citizens must occupy specific executive positions in those new companies, and graduate-level degrees (Ph.D. and Masters) are prerequisites for such executive positions, if there are no qualified Libyans with the mandatory qualifications. the new companies must sponsor Libya citizens to colleges and universities overseas to acquire the requisite graduate-level qualifications immediately. Excuses such as we are having difficulties recruiting for executive-level positions because there are no qualified Libyan citizens are not tenable. The same strident requirements are applicable with respect to the supply of the necessary raw materials in the new companies. That was under Gaddafi.
Unfortunately, that standard is missing in most contracts and projects structured between the Government of China and most African countries. This unconscionable transactional culture bears a similar pattern in the Caribean Island. About a year ago, I had a lengthy discussion on this issue with an American lady of Jamaican descent. And she lamented how the Chinese Government, their banks and multinationals are buying up the natural resources deposits.
Regulatory compliance in exploratory activities natural resources development in Nigeria? Enforcement of local content mechanisms as regards the percentage of Nigerian citizens that must be emplored in a foreign-owned company and the percentage of the required material resources that must be supplied by indigenous companies do not exist?
The Chinese Government-sponsored Bank gives you a loan. The Chinese Bank sends financial gurus to administer the loan and overseer the execution of the specified project or projects. Chinese Government export the material needed to execute the contract or projects. Chinese Government supplies the technical expertise on hand to execute the projects. And the Chinese Government supply direct labor. These imported workers do not eat your food. They don't wear your clothes. They don't patronize your economy, except, of course, your young girls. In the end, the workers repatriate their wages and salaries home to China, intact.
Now tell me, how can you expand your local economy when you are nothing but a consumer of the final products? How can you expand your local economy when your citizens are not directly engaged in the workforce and earning salaries or wages? The only difference we have here is that the Chinese companies are producing the final products in your country and not in China. It has nothing to do with the law of contract, but the enforcement of local content.
It is happening in Kenya. In Nigeria. In Jamaica. Name the country or continent, they are bribing and buying up all the available natural resources in developing countries. And government agents are laughing their way to the Bank, while the overall economy stagnates.
The American Government has what is called The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. It is a 1977 Law that prohibits American citizens and American companies to offer bribes to a foreign government, individuals or companies to be able to secure favorable investment deals. You remember the Halliburton episode in Nigeria that led to the imprisonment of American citizens and heavy financial penalties imposed on highly placed individuals who served under the government of former President George Bush.
A similar law is available in China. But they only apply it domestically. Overseas, their citizens and corporations can bribe anything bribable to secure an advantage over competing entities. It has nothing to do with the "softness" of their loans. It has everything to do with what took place before the dotted lines were signed. Now you know why they are the dominant faces in your country today.
If you are having difficulties digesting the concept of 'local capacity" as used by the gentleman on the video, let me break it down for you with common examples. Granted, the Chinese Government and Banks are assisting African countries with the modern high-speed rails and sea-port facilities, but they should stay away from businesses that local investors and entrepreneur can do with little or no stress.
Take for instance the once-thriving Fish Farm. The market is at the brinks of collapse. Not because of the decline in the demand for fish, but the sluggishness developing in the market as a result of the involvement of Chinese multinationals. Twice in the last three months, I was told at a discussing with a friend and a family member who operate Fish Pond Farm that they are no longer making profits as before, because of the involvement of the Chinese in the market.
Watch the video and listen to the explanations given by the gentleman. When they flood the market - it could be any market or any product - with their low-priced product, they push the local businessmen and women out of the market because the natives in the same business cannot match their price. And after they have secured a strong foothold in the industry and driven away competitors, they will start jacking up the prices gradually. At that point, local consumers or customers are stock with exorbitant prices. No more competitors in the market for bargaining purposes. What the Kenya gentleman in the video (playing below) is talking about is already happening in Nigeria and no one is talking. Only regulatory compliance and the audacity of the negotiators can set us free.
Watch the video and listen to the explanations given by the gentleman. When they flood the market - it could be any market or any product - with their low-priced product, they push the local businessmen and women out of the market because the natives in the same business cannot match their price. And after they have secured a strong foothold in the industry and driven away competitors, they will start jacking up the prices gradually. At that point, local consumers or customers are stock with exorbitant prices. No more competitors in the market for bargaining purposes. What the Kenya gentleman in the video (playing below) is talking about is already happening in Nigeria and no one is talking. Only regulatory compliance and the audacity of the negotiators can set us free.
1,593 Views
If you love Nigeria, please, keep sharing this video till PMB watches it too. This is a country that is futuristic and thinking ahead for his people. They don't want to be re-colonised by anyone let alone China. This is Kenya...amazing Kenya. I'm proud that there are fantastic thinkers in other parts of Africa. Kudos! Let our own people be collecting bribe from Chinese government and their contractors and gradually sell us all out. We shall see...
No comments:
Post a Comment
The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want.