Patriotism over partisanship: Building sustainable Nigerian enterprise ecosystem

By Tony Edemenaha

If nations are engines, we in Nigeria have been burning fuel while arguing about the type of fuel. The imperative before us is not to sharpen partisan blades but to weld a robust, inclusive, and sustainable economy driven by industry, free enterprise, and innovative financing.

We need a creed that transcends party lines: invest in people, invest in ideas, and invest in infrastructure that yields durable returns.

The antidote to our current frictions lies in bold collaborations, equity, debt, and loans from local and foreign banks, blended to nurture a self-sustaining business ecology.

In this moment, the unfathomable and lengthy saga of NNPCL Refineries, with its gargantuan capital commitments, repeated delays, and political chatter, should not paralyse progress.

It should sharpen our resolve to balance labour and the organised private sector, repair rifts between labour unions like PENGASSAN and major private investors such as Dangote Refinery, and reframe national wealth as a collective enterprise rather than a battleground for short-term gains.

We have a vivid metaphor for the task at hand: Nigeria’s economy is a grand orchestra, with each instrument capable of stunning harmony or painful dissonance.

The private sector plays the brass that blasts forward, labour provides the tempo, banks supply the rhythm section in the form of capital, and the government conducts.

When the conductor’s baton is preoccupied with partisan signalling, the music stalls, the audience grows restless, and the performance becomes a caricature of potential.

The moment we shift from partisan posturing to a patriotic chord, where everyone plays their part, knows the score, and respects the rests, we begin to hear a future that is both audible and audible to all.

A practical route to this future is clear: a strategic infusion of capital into industry through a triad of financing channels. Equity investment fuels growth by having skin in the game, ensuring that entrepreneurs and workers share both the upside and the risk.

Debt financing, precise, disciplined, and priced to reflect risk, provides the leverage that accelerates scale without surrendering ownership.

Loans from local and foreign banks anchor confidence, enabling credible projects with robust governance, transparent reporting, and measurable milestones. When these instruments are harmonised, they create a sustainable business ecosystem: profitable ventures that reinvest, expand, hire, and lift communities.

Let us not pretend that such a system emerges from wishful thinking or partisan bravado. It requires a concrete, patient blueprint. The private sector must accept the discipline of accountability, while labour must recognise the necessity of efficiency and adaptability in a global market.

The government can and should play a facilitative role: reducing bureaucratic bottlenecks, ensuring policy predictability, providing targeted incentives for sectors with multiplier effects (such as manufacturing, agri-processing, and energy), and safeguarding the social safety nets that keep communities resilient during transitions.

A properly calibrated balance between labour’s rights and private sector incentives yields a climate where incentives to innovate, invest, and produce are stronger than the impulse to obstruct.

A telling symbol of both the opportunities and the obstacles is the sprawling but troubled NNPCL Refineries saga. We cannot turn away from the reality that capital is colossal, timelines are long, and political signals shape attitudes toward risk.

Yet the answer is not resignation; it is strategic patience fused with aggressive execution. Suppose we can marshal capital for a refinery project. In that case, we can do the same for a thousand small and midscale manufacturers, energy storage ventures, agro-processing corridors, and digital-enabled services that multiply productivity.

The refinery tale can become a cautionary fable about delays and inefficiency—or a blueprint for reform: clear milestones, independent oversight, transparent procurement, strong local content, and a governance framework that aligns incentives across government, investors, lenders, and workers.

In a productive economy, equity is not a moral ornament; it is the glue that binds stakeholder interests. When workers own a stake in the companies that employ them, loyalty, productivity, and creativity tend to rise.

This is not naïve “everyone wins” rhetoric; it is a disciplined reality: when employees see a tangible tie to the enterprise, they become co-architects of its success. Yet equity alone cannot shoulder the burden. Debt financing and loans must be calibrated to project cash flows, with risk-adjusted pricing that reflects the country’s macro conditions and the sector’s fundamentals.

Banks, both local and international, must view Nigeria not as a risky vandalism of a goldmine but as a long-term opportunity to finance a diversified, export-oriented economy.

Proper due diligence, transparent governance, and enforceable contracts are non-negotiable. The goal is not subsidy but sustainable profitability that benefits all: workers, communities, suppliers, and taxpayers.

A call for a balanced labour-private sector relationship is not an attack on workers’ rights; it is a call for a mature social partnership. The rift between PENGASSAN and the Dangote refinery, if left unaddressed, corrodes trust and distorts incentives.

Dialogue must replace confrontation. Shared platforms for dispute resolution, joint problem-solving task forces, and performance-based labour relations can transform potential stalemates into competitive advantages.

In a global economy, peaceful, productive industrial relations are as valuable as a fresh loan facility. When unions and management collaborate to optimise production flows, minimise downtime, and safeguard safety standards, the nation reaps the dividends in higher employment, better wages, and stronger international credibility.

Let us imagine a national framework that makes this collaboration efficient and predictable. A sovereign fund of sorts could de-risk large-scale industrial investments, especially in sectors with high capital intensity and long gestation periods.

Local banks, empowered with clear regulatory guidance and a stable macroeconomic outlook, could provide tranche-based financing matched to project milestones. Multilateral and bilateral lenders could play catalytic roles, offering concessional terms for climate-resilient projects and for ventures that advance local capacity-building and technology transfer.

The overarching principle would be: if a project meets governance, sustainability, and social impact criteria, it deserves patient, well-structured capital that respects both risk and reward.

The rhetoric of patriotism, when yoked to the pragmatics of free enterprise, becomes a powerful engine for transformation. Patriotism should not mean blind allegiance to a political party; it should mean unwavering love for national prosperity manifested in practical, scalable solutions. Free enterprise thrives on competitive markets, clear rules, and predictable outcomes.

When policy rewards investment in productivity through tax incentives aligned with job creation, export orientation, and technology adoption, the private sector rises to the challenge.

When labour protections are modernised to reflect present realities, workers experience safer workplaces, up-skilling opportunities, and fair grievance mechanisms, making them more engaged, more resilient, and more innovative. And when banks, both domestic and foreign, see a government that respects the sanctity of contracts and maintains fiscal discipline, credit pours in where it is most needed.

Ultimately, the success of this enterprise-centric, patriotism-forward vision hinges on leadership that can navigate complexity without succumbing to factionalism. It requires a new normal where success is measured not by partisan triumphalism but by the sustained growth of GDP, the breadth of decent employment, the vibrancy of small and medium enterprises, and the resilience of communities in the face of global shocks.

It requires courageous governance that can disentangle bureaucracy from progress, that can speed up legitimate projects, that can hold wrongdoers to account, and that can celebrate and amplify the ordinary heroes—the technicians, the welders, the market traders, the digital artisans, whose daily labour quietly fuels national ascent.

Suppose we can translate this into concrete steps—accelerated approvals for priority sectors, credible financing mechanisms, labour-management partnerships, and transparent, accountable governance for flagship projects. In that case, we will discover that patriotism is not a slogan but a roadmap.

A pathway where industry and enterprise are not fenced by partisanship but invited into a shared future; where equity is earned and risk is managed; where labour and capital stand side by side to lift a nation rather than pull it apart.

The hallmarks of this new era will be visible in factories that hum with productivity, in banks that lend with discipline and vision, in communities that thrive because sustainable jobs ripple outward, and in a government that earns trust by delivering outcomes rather than applause.

In the end, patriotism is practical. It is the discipline of turning national pride into tangible progress: a sustainable ecosystem built on the triad of equity, debt, and bank finance; a balanced, cooperative labour-private sector relationship; and a relentless commitment to turning ambitious projects into durable realities.

If we embrace this, we will not merely survive our era of capital challenges and political theatre—we will lead in it. And that, perhaps, would be the most patriotic act of all.

*Tony Edemenaha, poet and social commentator, writes from Asaba.