The Nigerian President Mohammadu Buhari visited USA  recently and majority of Nigerians who are technocrats during his visit opined their interest to come back to Nigeria to contribute their quota to the development of the Country.  Nigerians in Canada are not left out.  Medical Doctors, Engineers,  Businessmen, etc.   are all itching to go back home. 

OASES NEWS just immediately after President Muhammadu Buhari left USA had the opportunity to meet Mr. Sicetus .S. Akhinagba who  studied, worked, and lives in Canada.  Akhinagba resume speaks volumes  with  his vast experience  in all areas of human endeavours.  Going down memory lane, Mr. Akhinagba recalls during  this interview  his experience on  Nigerians’ mentality of “Black is wrong while white is right mentality”.  Akhinagba turns off negativitiy by writing and defending proposals upon proposals for private companies and individuals and boosting his brain power, this makes him more blessed, occupied  and now he is ready to go back to Nigeria to serve his country.  Please read:

Where  and what did you study?

 I attended Centennial College in Toronto, Canada where I  earned Diploma in Transportation Automotive Technology (1976 - 1978) and later proceeded to Indiana State University, Terre Haute, Indiana, USA, where I also earned B.Bsc Degree in Transportation Engineering Technology in 1981 then the Master Degree (M.Sc.) in Industrial Mechanical Engineering Technology from the same University in 1982 respectively.

Did you go back to Nigeria after your education?

After my graduation in December 1982, I voluntarily  travelled  back to Nigeria and enrolled in the National Youth Service for the 1983/84 service year.  I served with NNPC at the Hqt, Falomo, Lagos for the National Service year.  Assigned project was a technical review of the Bidding documents for the construction of a pipeline from Eleme to Bonny in River State.  The issue of quota system denied some of us gainful employment with NNPC so  I decided to seek employment in the  private sector.  I worked as Plant Engineer with former Cheeseborough Plc, Isolo, Lagos, Nigeria in 1985, 1987 – plant Engineer with Chrislieb Plc, Apapa, Lagos, Nigeria 1989 – Promoted to Utilities Manager at Chrislieb Plc, Apapa Lagos  to oversee all Engineering and maintenance dept. Nationwide including  the company Farm operation in Igbeti, Ilorin, Kwara State, Nigeria and in  1994  I was the Chief Plant Engineer with former Bayer Pharmaceuticals now Gemini Pharmaceuticals along Isolo- Apapa Express  Road, Lagos, Nigeria. I left the company in 1997

When and why did you leave Nigeria?

 I left Nigeria in 1998 to take up an  employment offer  in  Canada.

When Nigeria has someone like you  with all these skills  and you are still in a foreign country “sitting down and looking” at Nigeria’s economy going down the drain  how do you feel?

I personally felt saddened  about the situation. However, the  corruption virus in our country over the years has discouraged many  people like myself with education and experience to plan and implement genuine ideas (s) in the country  without a God father in place. I took an early retirement from my employment in 2013 in Canada with the view of coming back  to Nigeria to impact knowledge and skills acquired over the years for the benefit of our people.  Instead of being appreciated, I was confronted with questions like “Why don’t you come with a foreign partner?” such question is enough to discourage any one  thinking of coming back to Nigeria however, I feel that Nigerian economy can be revamped if Nigeria as a nation can fight corruption to the root.

Do you have  ideas to be borrowed from Canada  for implementation in Nigeria  now?

Yes, in many areas that can improve the nation’s economy and empowerment of Nigerians through employment generation.   I am ready to serve my country in all areas of my capability.  I am ready to work for Nigeria utilising my experience in these areas; Total Maintenance Management, Reliability Maintenance Engineering, Metrology System, Program Planning and Implementation in our industries.

Right now Nigeria needs help, would you be interested to relocate to Nigeria if the government needs you considering all the comfort you have now?

Yes and very much willing to contribute my knowledge and skills towards the development and rebuilding the nation’s  battered economy. I am ready to relocate to Nigeria as soon as the opportunity comes in.

Fake drugs is one of the challenges facing Nigeria, do you have any suggestions on how this can be stopped to avoid early death for Nigerians consuming them?

 Yes. With my exposure in the drug manufacturing sector, coupled with my certification as a Quality System Regulation Certified Compliance Professional.  Also with an indepth knowledge in  Pharma auditing, I have a lot of suggestions to offer in this regard.

Why do most Nigerian Engineers excel  in abroad than in Nigeria and how can we do better  at home?

Necessary working tools and materials to perform a given task are made available along with standard operating procedures to enhance quality results while the corrupt environment in Nigeria, has incapacitated engineers in Nigeria in performing their duties towards achieving quality results.

How can Nigeria with the Present government headed by Buhari encourage Nigerians  to come home and also encourage other skilled Nigerians not to leave the country, in short how can Nigeria discourage brain drain?

Removing the bottlenecks  faced by most Nigerian abroad willing to seek an office or employment with the government.  Also provide adequate welfare, security of life and property across the country.

Canada's education is  focused on the economy.  Is this possible in Nigeria?

Yes. This can be achieved by re-tooling our educational system curriculum from the secondary school level and above to ensure that each student undergoes a specialized high skilled training from SS1 thru SS3 level of their education etc.

Price of oil has tumbled and still crashing, Nigeria is now talking about going back to the farm,  considering your experience, what area can Nigeria do better to make farming enviable?

Nigeria as a nation can do very well in all sectors of farming provided the necessary infrastructures and tools are available for mechanized  farming. As a Consultant, I can be of great assistance in the area of supplies of affordable machinery and equipment.   I can also provide not only the necessary maintenance training but also train the farmers on the good processing practice according to standards  acceptable for agro product export.

I heard that Some skilled Nigerians in abroad have been conned and tired of submitting  proposals.  I heard of someone who submitted certain proposal and was frustrated.   Did you experience such?

Although I have heard of such from fellow Nigerians and it's true. My personal experience in Nigeria is that in four occasions where I have submitted proposals, I was called aside and advised to source for an expatriate to accompany me in my presentation of my own proposals in Nigeria. In other words, Nigerian official had failed fellow Nigerians for the foreigners in our country. In my current distribution business, Nigerian officials preferred to patronize the Indians, Pakistanis, Lebanese and Chinese  for compromising quality for the brown envelopes over Nigerians like us trying to supply our people with the right quality materials.  The root cause is nothing but corruption, virus that have taken stronghold in the nation, however, with President Mohamed Buhari  Administration, Nigerians should encourage zero tolerance corruption also promote the idea of patronizing fellow Nigerian businesses.

As a Quality control Manager how can we encourage our Nigerians to buy our  products instead of importing from China or  how can we eliminate “imported/from abroad products mentality?” 

Until Nigeria as a nation move from a buying nation to manufacturing nation, I am of the view that this trend  will still continue for sometime. To become a manufacturing nation, our banking industry must be flexible in their policies in the areas of granting loans to small and medium size business startup. Above all, manufacturers must be quality conscious at all phases of their process.

Here in abroad it is work, work and work, and social amenities are available  but in Nigeria starting from Friday  to Sunday it is different.  How does this affect our economy and how can we encourage our people to contribute meaningfully to the growth of the economy?

Generally in Africa, religious ideology and beliefs have great impact in this area. However, the only suggestion I have for our people is to adopt  shift work system which will in turn fill in the gap or loss of revenues by the government.

Mr. Sicetus .S. Akhinagba  holds M.Sc, in Industrial Mechanical Engineering Technology and he is  currently the CEO/Managing Partner of Pharma Consult International Corporation.