…promises to sponsor bills, back constituency projects to drive industrial growth
By Ediomo Japheth
UYO — Policy expert and Labour Party candidate for the Uyo/Ibesikpo Asutan/Nsit Atai/Uruan Federal Constituency, Ikakke Bassey, says Nigeria cannot grow its way out of poverty by celebrating small businesses alone. What the country needs, he argued, is a deliberate national pivot from scattered enterprises to full industrial ecosystems that can produce goods at scale, create jobs, and retain value locally.
Speaking to delegates at the Ibom Conference 2026 last week, Bassey framed the debate around the conference theme, “Moving from Enterprise to Industry,” during a Nudge-Bridge Initiative session on “Driving Industrialization, Innovation and Sustainable Development.”
He opened with a direct challenge to policymakers and educators in the room:
“Do we want an economy that produces job seekers, or an economy that produces job creators?”
Bassey, who will contest the 2027 House of Representatives election on the LP platform, broke the problem into two tracks that must run in parallel: entrepreneurship and industrialization. On entrepreneurship, he said the country must intentionally produce three things — the promoter, the enterprise, and the process — and that begins with mindset, skills, and the environment in which people work.
That is why, he insisted, Nigeria’s schools can no longer graduate students whose only career plan is to apply for vacancies.
“Our educational curriculum must change,” he said. “Every year, our schools produce graduates who have largely been trained to look for employment. But the labour market is changing faster than ever. With artificial intelligence and data science transforming the nature of work, some of the knowledge we acquire today may become obsolete tomorrow.”
For him, the fix is education that builds founders, not just applicants. He called for learning systems that teach people “not only how to get jobs, but teaches them how to create jobs.” Beyond classrooms, he added, citizens must be trained to spot opportunities inside everyday problems and to take calculated risks.
Government, Bassey stressed, must do the heavy lifting on the enabling environment. He listed security, stable electricity, access to capital and land, tax incentives, the rule of law, and fair regulation as the baseline.
“Above all”, he added “it means an environment where businesses can compete based on value and innovation — not political connections”.
Drawing from cultural practice, Bassey pointed to the Igbo apprenticeship model, Igba-Boy, as a structure with modern policy potential. While the typical model produces one entrepreneur with many employees, he said Igba-Boy can multiply impact: one entrepreneur to many apprentices, to many new entrepreneurs, to many new businesses.
“We can train them. Build them. Certify them. Capitalize them. Launch them. Mentor them. That is how we build an entrepreneurship society.”
On industrialization, Bassey defined it as the move from buying and selling to producing at scale. Using cocoa and cassava as examples, he explained how processing raw materials creates entire value chains — farmers, factories, transporters, packaging firms, banks, and retailers — that keep money circulating within the economy.
He outlined eight priorities to make it happen: reliable infrastructure including power, roads, internet and industrial zones; technical skills to operate and maintain machines; a clear, intentional industrial policy; guaranteed markets through government procurement and exports; technology adoption; long-term capital through institutions like the Bank of Industry; local processing plants to add value before export; and strong domestic supply chains.
“One factory can create an ecosystem of interconnected businesses,” Bassey noted.
He urged lawmakers to grasp the distinction:
“An entrepreneur creates a business. An enterprise creates a product or service. An industry creates an ecosystem of interconnected businesses. And industrialization creates the conditions for those industries to operate at scale.”
The end goal, he said, is not just more shops or startups, but self-reinforcing ecosystems.
“Not just entrepreneurs who employ people, but entrepreneurs who create other entrepreneurs. Not just factories, but factories that create demand for hundreds of other businesses. Not just jobs, but an economy that continuously creates new jobs.”
“That is how we move from consumption to production. From job seeking to job creation. From enterprise to industry,” Bassey said, “and ultimately from an economy that merely participates in the global market to an economy that produces, competes and creates value at scale.
He then tied the argument to his 2027 ambition, pledging to translate the ideas into legislation and constituency projects if elected.
“Let me also state here that, as matter of fact, this is one of the key reasons I have offered myself to represent the people of Uyo, Ibesikpo Asutan, Nsit Atai, Uruan Federal Constituency in next year’s election. I must say that I am impressed with the massive support I have received so far from my people. They have listened to my messages and they have demonstrated in practical terms that they are in full support of my aspiration to enable their liberation.
As a way of appreciation of this massive support, I must do all to justify the confidence they have in me by ensuring that I sponsor and support bills, and also implement programmes as part of my Constituency projects that would bring about industrialization-driven economic emancipation of the good people of my federal Constituency.”
