As a compendium of entrepreneurial ideas, skills, and knowledge, the book, Building a Virile Nation lays emphasis on entrepreneurship at this critical stage of the nation’s development. Since the economy is currently not in good shape, only a well focused and unrelenting industrialization will save the economy from total collapse.

Contemporary knowledge across the world has confirmed that a nation’s march towards economic development starts with the establishment of strong industrial base of which small and medium scale enterprises provide the building blocks.

The emphasis on small and medium enterprises is predicated on their multi-dimensional impact on the economy which includes greater utilization of local raw materials, employment generation, encouragement of rural development, mobilization of local savings, development of entrepreneurship, among others.

Thus, the author, a strong player in the sector, has distilled over twenty years of his wide experience and learning into a book for the benefit of other players and up coming entrepreneurs. This is aimed at making Nigeria achieve her dream of becoming one of the top twenty players in the world economy in the year 2020.

The book is divided into two segments which are well arranged to make for easy reading and understanding of the subjects treated. The first part deals with speeches, seminar papers, keynote addresses and lectures which the author had earlier presented to esteemed audiences in the course of his highly entrepreneurial career.

The second set of write-ups in the book include published articles in the dailies spanning almost a decade. The author produced the articles in this volume for easy accessibility to people as an effective way of highlighting the diverse issues of nation-building that a country needs to focus her attention on.
In the discourse entitled Repositioning the Industrial Sector for National Economic Development in a Fledgling Democracy the author offers a blueprint on the way forward for the industrial sector in the nation’s democratic experience often described as nascent.

This is in view of the fact that Nigeria’s democracy when compared to other established democracies of the world could be said to be backward owing to long military interregnum. There is no doubt that the state of a country’s democracy has direct impact on the industrial sector. With the advantage of a player in the industrial sector, the author brings his experience to bear on the way forward for the nation’s democracy and the industrial sector.

Also, the state of security of a nation is one of the major areas investors must consider before deciding on where to invest their resources. Therefore, in order to attract foreign investment, the state of security must be seen to be adequate. This is the focus of “State of Security and the Quest for Direct foreign investment in flow in Nigeria - the Manufacturer’s Assessment”. In this piece, the author attempts an informed analysis of the state of the nation’s security from the manufacturer’s point of view. It is worthy of note that there is a disconnection between the real state of security in the nation and what is being projected to the outside world, especially by the foreign media.

The country is projected as a theatre of war, a place unsafe for investments, but that is far from the truth. Granted that there are some threats to security but the government is seriously rising to the challenge. Another piece in this book entitled, The collapse of social structures and the problems of corruption in Nigeria. The hydra-headed monster called corruption has no doubt, dealt a deadly blow on the nations’psyche resulting in the collapse of social structures amongst other woes. What do we mean by collapse of social structures? What are these structures and how do we come out of this quagmire? All these are discussed in this piece.

In The Challenge of National Economic Revival: the Role of Banks, the author highlights the role of banks as catalysts in the onerous task of economic revival.

The business and professional environment today has become so competitive that only those prepared and armed with requisite skills for survival pull their ways through. In Developing a competitive edge in a competitive world, the author articulates in a succinct manner what it takes to stay afloat in the competitive world of today.

Enhancing G-8 intra trade is a paper aimed at encouraging business and investments amongst the G-8 countries. Delivered at the summit of G-8 countries in Indonesia, the piece exposes the opportunities for business integration amongst member nations.

The business terrain in Nigeria and elsewhere is replete with challenges. It is inclement to such an extent that people venturing into business must be armed with necessary skills. These survival strategies are aptly captured in Prerequisite for and the challenges of starting a business.
On a general note, the topics and issues discussed in this work are many and varied. Packaged with the touch of an entrepreneur cum industrialist, the author’s views can be fully grasped through an objective reading and interpretation of the book.

No doubt, the book is a critical resource for anyone who wants to understand the problems facing the Nigerian economy as well as identify the way forward especially from the perspective of the private sector.