Industrialization

The meaning of the Industrial revolution in Eritrean term is to design machines or factories in Eritrea and Israel. Then make the components and parts of those machines and factories in Eritrea. Then assemble them in Eritrea. Then the maintenance service and spare part supply will make Eritrea and Israel. In short industrial revolution is the process of developing the ability and capacity to design and produce any kind of component and parts of any machine, engine factory etc in Eritrea and Israel and assemble them in Eritrea. When we have this capacity and ability it means we have industrialized economy.

Industrial revolution is about creating efficient and competitive industrial researching designing and developing system, industrial supply chain, assembly factories and management and marketing system in Eritrea and Israel.

Now Eritrea buys all machines, factories and engines from foreign companies and plants them for use in manufacturing or service industries. We depend for spare part supply from the same foreign suppliers. We need always hard currency to maintain our factories, machines and engines. Like any African country we are becoming an exporter of cheap raw materials like gold and potash. That has must change as soon as possible before too late to exporting it as processed and value added product that generate highly paid professional tens of thousands jobs and multi-billion economies for Eritreans.

Our industrial revolution in its first phase has four goals to make cement, steel, electricity and internet broadband universally affordable, accessible and available to all Eritreans, to lay strong industrial foundation, to trigger manufacturing, real estate/construction and tourism driven long term economic growth/boom within three to five years.

When we say affordable, accessible and available means that Eritrean teachers, soldiers, civil servant, farmers can afford to build three to five bedroom decent high standard houses for their family.  Eritrean Diaspora and other Eritrean groups or individuals that they can afford to build commercial hotels, factories, dams, schools, universities, hospitals, church, sport and cultural infrastructure etc. All Eritreans can afford to cook and bake their food using electricity; they can wash and clean their goods, clothes, houses etc. using electrical appliances. Every Eritrean school and house/family can afford super fast internet broadband.  In other way make Eritrea very competitive and attractive country in price, service and quality first for our citizens then to other investors.

Let me clear here, it is not possible to make substantial and sustainable food security and high standard nationwide all kinds of infrastructures without affordable, available and accessible cement, steel, electricity and internet broadband. Making these strategic materials and infrastructure affordable, and having the capacity to make machinery and other tools ourselves in our country will trigger construction and manufacturing boom that can go for 40 to 50 years.

These industrialization and making cement, steel, electricity and internet broadband affordable, accessible and available to all Eritreans will make our government objectives and priorities such as food security, social justice and minimizing the national security threat achievable at the same time. When our economy starts to industrialize and when construction materials, communication system, and energy are affordable, accessible and available to our farmers it is natural our animal and crop farming too will industrialize.

In this first phase of Industrialization process we can create one million jobs that pay $3000-$6000 a year within three to five years since its launch. And 10 to 20 times of the entire Eritrean work force of jobs will create in second and third phase of the industrialization process. So the objective of social mobility and social justice will be realized.

These looks very ambitious and unrealistic to many because we couldn’t produce a single ton of steel in 25 years of our independence how came we would make cement, steel, electricity and internet broadband to make universally affordable, available and accessible to all Eritreans within three years. This is a fair and good argument but the reason that we are not producing a single ton of steel is not because of we are incompetent as people, country and organization (PFDJ). Not because we have cultural problems like tribalism, clan, corruption, crime. Not because we are internal unstable country. Not because 20 years is a short time for developing a country.  Not because we live in a very unstable region. Not because we live in no peace no war situation. Not because we don’t have natural resources. Not because we don’t have entrepreneurial culture.  Not because we don’t have highly skilled human resources. Not because we don’t have foreign investment or access to capital. Not because we don’t have civilization history. It is because it wasn’t Isaias Afwerki and the Eritrean ruling elite priority agenda. And it is only until now we didn’t articulate our vision and strategy to industrializing our country.