WHAT COUNTS IS TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT, NOT NATURAL RESOURCES EXPLOITATION

Senathon Ipia 
senaipia@gmail.com 
+234 7052802574

Countries of Africa, especially Nigeria, pride themselves as being endowed with abundant natural resources, as if the
existence of natural resources in their countries came by their effort. When in some countries, people can show
man-made resources they have been able to create in addition to what nature has offered, people in Africa can only show and brag about what nature has offered, as if they made any contribution to what nature has offered them.

It is ironical that, though the continent of Africa is richly endowed with natural resources, the people have remained poor. This one thing has puzzled many: abundant natural resources in Africa, yet African countries are poor; whereas the countries of the industrialized world, though with fewer natural resources are rich. Why is Japan, a country with just a few trace of natural resources an advanced and rich country today?

The answer to this question is technological development. Having so much endowment of natural resources without technology is akin to having a financially viable organization but with no business acumen and management tools to manage it.

Natural resources are naturally given wealth; technology is man-made wealth. Natural resources deplete and are mostly non-renewable; technology depreciates but is replaceable, and can even be improved.

Even when natural resources exist, technology is required to extract and put them into useful form – giving them economic value. For instance, the technology of drilling is required to extract crude oil from the layer of the earth where it is found; the technology of refining is required to refine the crude oil extracted – to give it economic value. Technology is required to mine solid minerals.

Like the governments of developed countries, the federal and state governments of Nigeria and other African countries seek to attain economic growth. And how do they attain it? For them, the expeditious means of attaining it is more exploitation of natural resources in their lands.

An economy whose growth is driven by natural resources would not go beyond economic growth to economic development because more exploitation of natural resources would mean more goods, and more goods implies economic growth and not development. And where the goods consist mostly of commodities, the economy becomes vulnerable to economic downturn, because prices of commodities are volatile, whether mineral or agricultural commodities. When prices of commodities plummet, the supposed additional monetary benefit of exploiting more natural resources is nullified, yet leaving us with self-imposed disadvantaged position of not maintaining natural resources sustainability for future generations.

But technological development brings about both economic growth and development: economic growth, because application of technology in economic activities results in production of more goods and services, especially capital goods; and economic development, because technology brings about structural change of economic sphere of life of a people or society. This explains why countries that are endowed with natural resources but are not technologically developed have no economic development.

Technology is used to add value. Ability to add value makes one valuable and to be better placed. A developing nation produces the raw materials; an industrialized or developed nation adds value to the raw materials using technology. At the end of the day, so much separates both nations. The industrialized nations are the leading nations of the world because they possess ability to add value – they are more valuable. They have better economies, better education systems, stronger militaries, etc, all of which came through technology. Once a country or society develops technologically, all spheres of its national life develop – its economy, politics, education system, health system, sports, military, etc.

India, a country once at par with Nigeria, has moved ahead because it found its foot in the area of technological development. In recent times, more books written by Indians and published in India are used in other countries, depicting an educational system that has improved. India of today has more pharmaceutical products and better medical practice, which depict a better health system. The India of today has an economy whose performance is stupendous. Recently, it hosted India-Africa Economic Forum. In that forum, India stood on one hand and the entire 54 African countries combined stood on the other hand. India achieved these and more through technological development.

Through technology, the status of China and its people has changed in the 21st century. China is becoming a key player in world affairs. The good performance of Chinese contingents in 2000, 2004, 2008 and 2012 Olympic Games attests to the fact that technological development can bring about even sports development. The Chinese people use part of wealth they make through technology to invest in sports development, including the huge fund they are currently pouring into football development, and indeed other aspects of their lives.

Really, technology, and not natural resources, is the catalyst and determinant of development. As the gap between rich and poor countries continues to expand, it has become unarguable that technology rules the world, and not natural resources such as oil, gold, diamond, etc.

The striking gap that persists between rich and poor nations has increased many fold over the decades. The superiority of technology driven societies over societies driven by natural resources is getting more with the passing of time.

What accounts for the advancement of the rich nations is home-made technology. So, real development in Nigeria and Africa would lie in pursuing technological development at home, and NOT just technology transfer, where developing nations remain recipients of developed nations’ technologies.

Throughout history, it is evident that a nation’s real development lies in the attainment of technological power, and not natural resources endowment and exploitation.

Technological Power Brings Military Power

To say that technology is everything is not an overstatement. With technology man has conquered nature, and indeed, his fellow man.

Military might is a function of technology. Every powerful nation in the world has a technology-driven military. They are the strong, while others, who even depend on them, that is, the superpowers, for their military needs (including arms and ammunition), are the weak.

Throughout the history of human existence, the strong has always invaded and preyed upon the weak. That was the case in the 19^th century when some European powers invaded and colonized Africa.

Europeans did not succeed in colonizing Africa because they were physically stronger. In fact, Europeans incursion into the territory of any tribe or people of Africa was vehemently resisted. Each territory was colonized only after its people were overrun by European forces in a bloody battle (or battles). The superiority of the Europeans was in their technological superiority.

In their combats with the natives of any territory of Africa, the Europeans used guns, gunboat, gunpowder and other arms and ammunition, while bows and arrows, spears, and sometimes swords, were the weapons at the disposal of Africans. The weapons of the Europeans were sophisticated and could destroy lives many times more than that of Africans. So there were always heavy casualties on the side of Africans, leading to defeat. Europeans’ occupation of any African territory came only after its people were defeated by Europeans forces. In the history of modern warfare, it is proven that the vastness of an army does not determine it might, but its highly sophisticated weapons systems. Those who control technology oppress those who do not, eventually enslaving them and wielding power.     

         

Technological Power Brings Economic Power

Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft Corporation, is a person that wields so much economic power. His economic power came through technology – computer.

The United States, Britain, Germany, France, Japan are all economic giants. The economic power of these countries came through technological power. Even the economies of China and India, which are gradually assuming strategic position comparable with advanced economies, have become what they are today because they became technologically-driven.

Japan, a country with fewer natural resources, makes its wealth by exporting its technologies and products of its technologies. It is therefore without doubt that a country that has technological power would certainly have economic power, even with little or no natural resources. The fact that technological power brings economic power accounts for the richness of the industrialized nations.

Sustainable wealth creation and economic development do NOT come by export of natural resources, such as oil. Countries like South Korea and Malaysia, which were once on a par with Nigeria, now outpace Nigeria owing to their industrial policy of manufacturing, which has been improved and sustained by their technological breakthroughs and innovations.    

Technological Power Brings Potential Maximization

Africans in Africa do not maximize their potentials, but Africans in technologically driven societies maximize their potentials. Philip Emeagwali invented the fastest supercomputer; Jelani Aliyu designed a state-of-art car in the United States. A number of renowned doctors in Europe and America are Nigerians.

The result of technology application to any sphere of human activity is high performance. For countries that tread the path of technological development and advancement, results of potential maximization are evident

Technological Power Brings Reduction in Economic Inequality

Societies with economies that are dependent on natural resources have a common feature: a few privileged people taking control of the resources, diverting money from the resources to themselves and wielding so much economic power by that. The society’s resources become source of wealth to the few privileged ones, while the vast majority with no access to the resources of the land has no source of wealth – they languish in poverty. This accounts for the high percentage of poor people and for the high level of economic inequality in such societies. Dependence on commodities concentrates wealth in hands of the few, and leaves the majority vulnerable to hardship and downturns.

 In Medieval Europe, when European economies were not driven by technology but by natural resources, there existed a class of few people who controlled resources, known as lords (or feudal lord). The feudal lords employed the serfs who did not own land, or who owned a small area of land, and paid them undeserved wages.    

But with the outset of Industrial Revolution in Europe, the power of the lords waned and there was complete change in the system of things in Europe – a change towards equality. The Industrial Revolution marked the beginning of modern technological development in Europe. Technological inventions caused major positive changes in Europe and paved way for the development of the continent.

Ideally, Technological development weakens economic dominance of the ruling class and uplifts the economic status of the non-ruling class, reducing inequality in the society. This is so because, arising from one’s technological invention(s), the lowly placed can become influential. Patent right belongs to the inventor who makes wealth according to how relevant, widely accepted and useful his/her invention is to humanity.  Compare the status of Bill Gates, before and after his invention in computer technology.

In developed countries, wealth is more evenly distributed than in developing countries. The reason for this is that wealth in developing countries comes by natural resources, which are controlled by the political class – those who possess political power, and their relatives and allies. In the developed countries wealth comes mostly by technology, which of course is NOT “controlled” by the political class, but by the person, people or organization that invent it. Widespread rate of abject poverty in a country’s population reduces with the contribution of earnings from technological development to the wealth of a country.

        

  

Technological Power May Bring Reduction in Violent Conflict

The quest for political power evokes conflicts not in itself but in the fact that those who are in power command the control of economic resources or sources of economic resources, whether directly or indirectly. So there are many who will go any lengths to get political power. Owing to the ‘win-at-all-cost’ syndrome, competition or struggle for political power turns violent. Violent conflicts over control or sharing of political power stem from the commonly held notion that wielding political power is a sure bet to controlling natural resources.

         

Ultimately, sovereignty rests with the government of a state. So at its discretion, government could claim ownership and control of any resources in the land. Those in government benefit immeasurably from government-controlled resources. But those in power are people who merely received the mandate of other citizens to run the affairs of the state on behalf of all. They are in position of trust. But in Africa, position of trust is more often than not used to better the lot of the occupier, leaving the fast majority for whom power is held in misery.

But the masses that have been excluded from having a fair share in the country’s resources do know that the country’s resources belong ultimately to all the citizens and every citizen should have a share in them, prompting some to do something in that line. And for them, how do they do it? By stirring up or engaging in violent conflicts over control or sharing of economic resources. This accounts for the restiveness in the Niger Delta of Nigeria.

But where technology becomes a major contributor to economic power, violent conflicts over control or sharing of economic resources seem to wane. 

 Pursuing Technological Development Deliberately and Vigorously

Undoubtedly, a conscious, deliberate and vigorous pursuit of technological development is the way to go for Nigeria and other African countries. So far, overdependence on natural resources continues to retard economic, political and social development of African countries from independence to date.

But I do not mean that we abandon exploitations of our natural resources, as our countries’ current economic survival, to a great extend, depends on them. And I do not know about our future economic survival as the natural resources may cease to be the mainstay of our economies because they are non-renewable and our present exploitation of the natural resources are without consideration of sustainability.   

A major driver of technological innovations is home patronage, after which going international becomes a consideration, thereby earnings revenue from abroad. With increase in foreign earnings, an economy experiences a boom.    

One common argument against patronage of locally made goods is that they are of less quality or less luxurious. But quality and luxury are not an event but a process, and requires time. It is only when a manufacturer makes profit from patronage that part of it can be ploughed back into research and development for product improvement. The patronage of indigenous technology should begin with government organizations and be made mandatory for government authorities, except for product without local substitute. On the issue of low quality goods, the government should launch an intervention programme to assist indigenous companies improve quality – a friendly regulation approach that supports quality improvement.

Every technological development drive begins with the unwavering policy direction and intervention by the government. Some decades ago, the Indian Government pursued vigorously science education programme for its citizens both at home and abroad. A number of Indians studied science courses overseas, especially in the United Kingdom. That initiative produced Indian scientists, science-based professionals and science teachers in large number. In fact, science teachers from India were present even in countries outside Asia. In Nigeria, for example, there were science teachers who were Indians in some secondary schools, colleges and universities. Today, that laudable science education pursuit initiative has come to fruition – a benefit that has placed India on the platform of technological development.   

America had a similar initiative when they wanted to go into space. They poured millions of dollars into a national education initiative that graduated thousands of scientists and engineers. This policy led to establishment of thousands of small and medium scale engineering firms.

In Nigeria, one attitude is disheartening. Funds meant for research for capital development, human development and capacity building are often diverted to luxury. This is sacrificing a country’s better economic future for today’s personal gains.  Surely, luxury will follow after breakthroughs in technological inventions and innovations are attained, as economic prosperity usually accompanies technological breakthroughs. Therefore, real and sustainable economic development should come first, so Nigerians’ penchant for foreign luxuries at the expense of the country’s overall progress should be done away with.

Again, the attitude of not supporting and promoting local technology has been a clog in the wheel of progress in the quest for technological development. Certain imports have local substitutes. But if allowances are accruable for making foreign trips for procurements, officers concerned would suggest importations at the expense of patronizing indigenous producers.     

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