The Coordinator, National Productivity Centre (NPC), Imo and Abia states, Mazi Martin Okonkwo has urged Nigerians to imbibe productivity consciousness in all they do in order to ensure the overall development of the country.
Speaking with our correspondent in his office in Owerri, Okonkwo who was just posted to Owerri from Abuja to head the Imo/Abia office, made it clear that productivity is quite different from production.
According to him, productivity means improving on something or having the mindset of doing something better.
He said, “We promote the productivity consciousness or attitude of Nigerians in both private and public sectors.
“We are involved in proferring solutions to Nigerians. In productivity, you talk of inputs. Inputs are those necessities involved in getting the end-user get the needed satisfaction. In this case, all the raw materials, resources etc will have to be aggregated to get the end-user satisfied. And in the end, the question of whether the end-user is satisfied with what you have given him will be brought to bear. Note that in this case, we are not looking at tangible but intangible things.
“Again, time consciousness is part of productivity. Social capital is part of it. We look at how you relate with people around you or in your organization. You must reflect good character, have ethical values, have respect for your seniors, colleagues, surbodibates, staff, add value to what you do. In your house, market, you ensure a clean environnent, make sure that items like salt, sugar, oil etc put in containers are labelled for easy identification. Still in your house, you make sure that your house rent, electricity bill, school fees are taken care of to boost productivity. In life, productivity has a lot of problems to solve. It could be in churches, mosques, schools, markets, organizations etc. Our mandate here is productivity consciousness.”
Speaking on the Red Car Theory, Mazi Okonkwo likened the Red Car to “availability of opportunities everywhere”.
He stressed that if you have productivity consciousness you will be able to identify or observe the Red Car which symbolises numerous opportunities, including money, though it may not be tangible, as you enter or leave an environnent. “It is all about life and how you see things. It is encompassing. In fact, everyday life is all about productivity”.
On the programnes lined up in the next few days, the Imo/Abia Area Productivity Centre coordinator said his office had reached out to ministries, top cooperatives, and other organizations for capacity training to sensitize them on how to add value and called on other organizations to partner the centre to boost productivity in the country.