The Nation Newspaper

Category: Industry

  • Lagos, group partner on SMEs’ cluster, infrastructure upgrade

    Lagos State Government and a group, Lagos State Gifts & Household Items Suppliers Association, are collaborating to set up small scale industries that would produce gifts and promotional items.

    It is to discourage importation of the items.

    The Commissioner for Commerce & Industry, Mrs  Olushola Oworu, who stated this at the launch of the association  in Lagos, said her ministry has registered over 30 associations to help the government plan for their infrastructural needs in a cluster.

    She said the government came up with the concept of Lekki Free Trade Zone on a 6,500 hectares of land to ensure and encourage local manufacturers meet demand .

    On the success of some of the clusters government has delivered, she listed industrial parks on Agro/Allied products at Imota, Isolo and Matori.

    The idea, she said, is to get the small manufacturers together and confront the problem of providing electricity, accommodation, machinery and other needed facilities that will aid them in their production processes, rather than having small-scale manufacturers bear the burden.

    Mrs. Oworu said the government was more interested in manufacturers coming to Lagos to set up their outfits or, at best, partner with a local than for Nigerians to continuously depend on buying from overseas which creates employment for those economies against ours.

    President of the association Mrs  Mojisola Solebo-Odusanya acknowledged that most of the impoould be manufactured locally if encouraged by the government. She said the association was set to have a platform where the challenges of suppliers of gifts, souvenirs and household items can be discussed and solutions proffered.

    She said their target was to work on starting their own small-scale manufacturing outfits to produce the items.

    On their challenges, Mrs Odusanya regretted the influx of low and substandard products into the markets which has led to unfavourable competition for genuine importers of high grade goods.

    She revealed that many of her members have attended machinery exhibitions all over the world in addition to trainings on how to manufacture some of the things they are importing

    Mrs Odusanya urged the government to support their association in all material ways necessary as SMEs are known all over the world to be vehicles of employment and wealth creation for a greater percentage of the population.

  • Why we are regulating steel sector, says SON

    The need to regulate the manufacturing sector of the economy to ensure compliance with acceptable standards and the safety of lives and property cannot be overemphasised. To this effect, the Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON) has beamed its searchlight on the steel industry. After a careful surveillance and detailed investigation, it gave its verdict: tsome manufacturers are complying with the prescribed Nigeria Industrial Standards others are not. The agency says its hammer will fall on defaulting firms soon, writes Okwy Iroegbu-Chikezie

    As the Standard Organistaion of Nigeria (SON) reviews the policy on steel and entrenches quality standards in the manufacturing process of the product, more steel companies are standing up to be counted while some are yet to meet the required standards. Substandard steel has led to the collapse of buildings with its attendant loss of lives and properties. Some companies failed to meet the NIS 117:2004 standard requirement for steel manufacturing, with their products lacking the required tensil strength and other chemical properties.

    The first phase of the exercise saw the agency making on-the-spot assessment of steel manufacturing companies in Lagos and Ogun states. It hopes to extend same to other states in the federation.

    The exercise, SON said, would help in establishing a reliable data on the state of the steel sector in Nigeria, especially the installed capacity as against the current production capacity, employment generation and contribution to the overall growth of the economy.

    The first leg of the exercise saw the SON team visiting steel firms in Lagos and Ogun states. The companies visited by the team included Universal Steel Company, Sankyo Steel Mills Company Limited, Phoenix Steel Mills, African Foundries Limited, Monarch Steel Mills, Metal Africa Steel Production Limited and Real Infrastructure Nigeria Limited.

    Others were African Steel Mills (Nig) Limited and Sunflag Nigeria Limited.

    Head, Inspectorate and Compliance, SON,Bede Obayi, who led the verification team, told reporters that the exercise was necessitated by a number of reasons including the revelation that some companies were producing products without putting their identification marks on them and also mixing imported steel with locally-produced ones to deceive the buying public.

    “Why we are doing the verification is because government wants to know the exact situation of the companies in the steel sector in Nigeria. This is in terms of installed capacity, production capacity, level of patronage and even jobs created. For example, we cannot be producing the same quality of steel as the imported ones and then, the imported ones would take over the market’.

    He underscored the importance of quality in the products turned out by the steel manufacturing companies, adding that quality is better maintained when the regulators of standards regularly come to the products manufacturers to see what they are doing. He added that this was another important reason of the visit.

    “You are aware a lot of buildings have collapsed in the past in this country. We are not limiting the factor to the quality of steel used in constructing them, but once there is a problem, all of the elements will come into question’.

    He said at the end of the exercise, the agency would be able to ascertain the country’s exact potentials in steel production, and then appropriately advise the government.

    Based on his findings in the course of the exercise, he reiterated that all products being churned out by the steel manufacturing companies must carry an identification mark, as according to him, such is a basic requirement in the enforcement of standards.

    Obayi said the agency, under the directive of the Director-General, Dr Joseph Odumodu has been carrying out routine checks on the sector, to ensure they adhere to the laid down rules as it concerns standards. He said: “Although, it is the policy of SON and the Federal Government to encourage local manufacturers to generate employment but government cannot fold its arms and allow the production of sub standard steel bars to continue to claim lives and properties.”

    He said the agency is doing its best to carry out its mandate of ensuring compliance with standards and also helping to create the right atmosphere and environment for the Nigerian industrial sector to harness its potential by ridding it of substandard products.

    Executive Director of Phoenix, Mr Ajit K. Amtey, while reacting on the verification exercise, described it as a welcome development which would further help the sanitisation of the sector.

    He said his company identified with the SON resolve in the area of quality while advising that the local operating environment be made more conducive for manufacturing companies generally, and steel firms to do their manufacturing activities profitably.

    He regretted the proliferation in the number of steel manufacturing companies in Nigeria, advising the Federal Government against registering more steel companies in Nigeria.

    He also bemoaned the state of infrastructure in the country, saying irregular electric supply and bad roads for example have led to high operational costs and by implication falling revenue for most of the steel firms still producing.

    Amtey said such patronage has become necessary given the challenging times facing steel making companies in the country.

    According to him, many of the remaining firms are operating on about 14 per cent of installed capacity, saying this does not augur well for a sector that has huge potentials.

    Amtey said most operators are contending seriously with the public misconception that quality iron rods are in short supply in the country.

    Äny country’s progress is measured by its per capita consumption of steel and there is need for the government to address the challenges facing the steel industry”, he said.

    Equally important, according to him, is the approval for special reduced rates for input in steel manufacturing.

    Also speaking, officials of African Foundaries Steel Mills Limited said although their plant is running at about 60% of installed capcity, considered good across industry levels, that there is neeed for government to help the sector.

    It advised the government to among other things, discourage import of steel products, improve infrastructure and security, and also see to the improvement of communication signals in the country.

  • NDE disburses N1.5m to trainees in Adamawa

    The National Directorate of Employment (NDE) has disbursed N1.5 million soft loans to three beneficiaries of its Advance Entrepreneurship Development Programme (EDP) in Adamawa State.

    The Adamawa State Coordinator of NDE, Mallam Aliyu Abubakar, stated this in an interview.

    Abubakar said the three beneficiaries got N500, 000 each under the Enterprise Creation Loan Scheme.

    “Plan has been concluded to disburse such loans to another set of four young men and women”, he said.

    Abubakar also said 50 persons would be trained on modern agriculture under the directorate’s Rural Agricultural Training Scheme (RADTS).

    He said the directorate recently engaged 450 unemployed youths to acquire skills in 10 different trades at the NDE Skills Acquisition Centres located in the three senatorial zones in the state.

    “Just last week, we celebrated 10 trainees who graduated from the Environment Beautification Scheme (EBTS) and 15 who graduated from the Solar Energy Training Scheme.

    “These trained persons were given tools that would launch them into self-employment.

    “To underscore the importance of women engagement in economic activities, the women employment branch of the directorate is at the last state of disbursing micro-enterprise loans to some women in the state” Abubakar said.

    He lauded the commitment and support of Adamawa government and NGOs in setting up empowerment programmes to complement NDE efforts in the state.

    Abubakar advised unemployed youths in the state to avail themselves of the various empowerment opportunities being provided to combat poverty.

  • ALSCON loses $1.6m monthly to high production cost

    The Aluminium Smelter Company of Nigeria (ALSCON), Ikot Abasi Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom, is losing $1.6 million dollars monthly to high cost of production.

    The Director of Public/Government Relation, Mrs Tatyana Smirnova, stated this in IkotAbasi. She spoke to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

    “Each tonne of aluminium produced at ALSCON results in a loss of $886 dollars which leads to monthly loss of $1.6 million dollars by the plant.’’

    “At present, aluminium industry globally is going through one of the toughest periods in its history, she said.

    Mrs Smirnova said price of aluminium had continued to decline globally, noting that the price of aluminum stood at slightly over $1,700 per tonne.

    “At the current price of below $ 1,800, around 40 per cent of aluminium production is unprofitable,’’ she said.

    Mrs Smirnova said aluminium production was going down globally, adding that more than three million tonnes of aluminium production would be closed by the end of 2013.

    According to her, the major problem is the huge amount of stock available in the market since the global financial crisis of 2008 and 2009.

    “The official London Metals Exchange (LME) has stocks exceeding five million tonnes, while the global stock is significantly higher,’’ she said.

    According to her, it will take the global aluminium market up to three years for supply and demand to balance and improve the current situation.

    Mrs Smirnova attributed the suspension of production at ALSCON in March to high cost of aluminium.

    She said that the company had a gas fired power plant of its own with capacity of 540 megawatts.

    Smirnova said that the power plant could satisfy the electricity needs of the smelter and also supplied excess production to the national grid.

  • Steady power for industries as transformer plant berths

    THE Federal Government has approved the estab lishment of a transformer assembly plant to address epileptic power supply, the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) has said. Its Executive Vice Chairman, Alhaji Mohammed Haruna announced this in Abuja on Monday at the ongoing 8th Abuja International Trade Fair.

    Haruna said the directive was part of efforts by the current administration to create more jobs and reduce capital flight.

    According to him, the President’s desire is to focus on renewable source of power supply with emphasis on small hydro sources of power supply.

    Haruna said NASENI had developed local capacity for the production of small hydro power turbines.

    “A small hydro power turbine has been successfully designed, fabricated and installed and is awaiting inauguration at Ikeji-Ile, Ijesha, Osun State,” he said.

    He said the participation of NASENI in the fair was due to the success recorded by the agency during previous exhibitions.

    The executive vice chairman said the products displayed by the agency during the previous exhibitions had great impact on buyers as they were purchased out rightly.

    Haruna said the involvement of the agency in the fair was to expose its products and services to entrepreneurs in line with its mandate.

    He said the mandate of the agency was to develop relevant technology and infrastructure and transfer the technical know-how to the entrepreneurs, captains of industry, foreign trade missions and emissaries.

    The NASENI boss said the agency had also concentrated on the development of local mineral resources available to enhance the growth of the economy.

    According to him, the agency is collaborating with the Raw Material Research and Development Council to harness and put into optimal use the natural resources in the country.

    He, however, said the agency faced the challenge of how to link up with entrepreneur, adding that Nigerian business owners were wary of innovations and careful at taking risk.

    Haruna also decried the inadequate funding and budget regime, which he said had not encouraged research works.

    According to him, the agency is counting on potential foreign investors to key into the dreams of the agency.

    Earlier, Registrar of the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN), Kamila Maliki, expressed concern over the number of engineering graduates Nigeria universities turned out annually without jobs.

    Maliki said if the graduates were incorporated into the agenda of NASENI, it would go a long way to enhance infrastructure development.

    “It is a great concern to all engineers that as huge as the number of engineering graduates and engineering practitioners we have in this country, we are still not able to boast of sound engineering infrastructure.

    “It is important to work together with NASENI to help to revive the prosperity and the future of this country; we must discourage reliance on imported goods and be able to produce what we use in this country.

  • Ohuabunwa advocates three-year budget plan

    President, Nigeria-American Chamber of Commerce, Mazi Sam Ohuabunwa, has called for a three-year rolling budget as done in advanced economies as against the yearly style of the government.

    He said: “We should have three years rolling budget to get the economy running. There is no capital project that can be successfully finished in a year’s budget and this leads to disruptions as contractors have delays with their payments and some abandon their sites completely.

    “Our budget is subject to so much variation and inefficiencies and does not produce the right result at the right time, therefore, having a three-year rolling plan is preferable to the current yearly budget.”

    On franchise manufacturing, he said it would be more beneficial to the country than importing finished goods, adding that new entrants into manufacturing can use certified local manufacturers who have made a name to produce their products to internationally accepted quality.

    He advocated primary manufacturing where everything is produced locally, noting that if it must be secondary, the government must insist on generous local content to balance the equation.

    On strategic management buy out (MBO), he observed that the operating environment was easier now than in 1997 when, through MBO, Neimeth was created from Pfizer.

    He hailed some local entrepreneurs for breaking the mode and ceiling and delving into communication, oil and gas and petroleum refining.

  • More foreign investments, lower productivity ranking

    Despite ongoing efforts to diversify the economy and attract investors,  Nigeria is still ranked low in the Global Competitive Index (GCI) 2013 -2014 by the World Economic Forum, reports Okwy Iroegbu-Chikezie.

    Nigeria seems to have become the beautiful bride. At no time in the nation’s history has there been an influx of foreign investors as being presently experienced. However The Nation investigation shows that there are mixed feelings. While some entrepreneurs and experts are asking questions on the sudden influx of investors into the country,others believe it is a good sign for the economy.

    The pessimists argue that though the world is a global village, the government needs to exercise caution on how wide it opens its borders to ‘portfolio’ investors who may be more interested in buying and selling, rather than engaging in enduring investment that will grow the economy.

    The Global Competitive Index (GCI), introduced in 2004, measures how the set of institutions, policies, and other factors determine the level of productivity of a country. The GCI scores are calculated by drawing together the 12 pillars of competitiveness, namely: institutions, infrastructure, macroeconomic environment, health and primary education, higher education and training, goods, market efficiency, labour market efficiency, financial market development, technological readiness, market size, business sophistication and innovation.

    According to the ranking, Nigeria is in the poorest pool of economic development. Nigeria is ranked as a “factor driven” economy with the likes of Liberia, Lao, Mali and Yemen.

    According to the GCI document, the compilers of the index said it was concerned that Nigeria’s economy is struggling to keep up, despite overt advantages over other African countries. For instance, the report noted that Nigeria, due to its population, enjoys a large market size (32ndposition) “which has the potential for significant economies of scale and is an important factor for attracting investors”.

    Some operators believe that the heightened interest by investors in the country may be due to other estraneous reasons other than the need to improve the nation’s development. They said Nigeria’s challenges are linked to weak institutions (ranked at 129th out of 148), corruption, undue influence, weakly protected property rights, insecurity, poor infrastructure (ranked at 135th) and poor primary education (ranked at 146th).

    Chairman, Tesscom West Africa, Mrs. Olufemi Ilori, an entrepreneur and a Pharmacologist, expressed concerns over what she called a deluge of entrepreneurs who troop into the country daily.

    She said: “As a member of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, l get invited to quite a number of these trade missions. l can confidently tell you that the only thing l can liken it to is to describe it as a gold rush. Everybody is trying to get something out of our country but having said this; nevertheless there are people who have very serious intention to tap into our emerging market and economy.”

    She said as Nigerians, we need to have a discerning spirit to sift the wheat from the chaff and to ascertain those trade missions that are necessary for our growth and those who are here simply to tap into our resources and rush back to where they came from. What we need as a country is technology transfer suited to our challenges and needs, to enhance our quest for growth in our manufacturing sector. Mrs. Ilori cautioned that we should be wary of people who will come in the guise of investors to take our raw materials out, finish them and export them back to us as a finished product at a premium, saying if we allow this to happen, the nation will have herself to blame.

    In her words: “We all know that we have so much untapped mineral resources aside crude oil. We have agriculture which is a source of sustainable wealth. We have one of the best tea in the world in Mambilla Plateau. We also have in abundance unique minerals, such as kaoline, Gum Arabic. The country is also an acclaimed world producer of cassava and we have not been able to process it to pharmaceutical grade starch.”

    She said the nation should playthe catch-up gain and industrialise, support the small and medium scale industries by giving them soft loans and provide the enabling environment that is competitive, adding that we should discourage any country using us as a dumping ground.

    President Oil & Gas Service Providers Association, Mr Colman Obasi, also advised the government on the sudden interest by investors into the country. He berated the government for not showing enough commitment in developing the petrochemical industries, but is ever willing to entertain any group in the name of foreign investors.

    A consultant in hotels and tourism , Mr. Charles Abel also advised government to do its home work well before opening its borders so wide. According to him, over 25 years ago some indigenous companies were canning tomato puree and fruit juice, he wondered what has happened to those companies as the local market is filled with imported tomato puree and canned juice from Asian countries.

    But Chief Executive Officer of Stan Engineering Limited, Mr. Emmanuel Igwe differed. He rather saw the trade visits as a result of improvement and growth of the economy. He said rather than suspecting the investors, Nigerian business men should take advantage of the new lease of life for the nation as it were and make good use of it.

    According to him, Nigeria is the destination of choice for investors, a growing and emergent economy. Managing Director of Ephtah Industries Limited, Mr Ephraim Olatunde observed that if nothing is good in the economy, no foreign investor would come.

    He suggested that rather than people being pessimistic about the good intentions of prospective investors, small and medium scale entrepreneurs for instance should take advantage of the visits, network and possibly seek technology transfer while up scaling their skills and learning new businesses and technology.

    Olatunde noted: “Mauritius Indian Ocean island’s fame for its white sandy beaches and luxury spas, is shifting an economy traditionally focused on sugar, textiles and tourism towards offshore banking, business outsourcing, luxury real estate and medical tourism.”

  • Dangote for Independence anniversary lecture

    Policy makers, captains of industry, members of the international community and other stakeholders will deliberate on the evolution and development of the private sector in the last 100 years at an Independence Anniversary Lecture being organised by the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI).

    President of Dangote Group , Alhaji Aliko Dangote, will deliver an address on the Perspective of the Past Century and Prognosis for the Future. The event is scheduled for Thursday, October 3 at the Eko Hotel and Suites in Victoria Island, Lagos.

    Nigeria will on October 1 celebrate 53 years of Independence. It is also on the threshold of marking 100 years of the amalgamation of the North and South Protectorates.

    LCCI is one of the few institutions that preceded the 1914 Amalgamation, having been established in 1888. It is the premier Chamber of Commerce in West Africa which, among others, was set up to advocate a conducive business environment for its members in particular and businesses in general.

  • Agency seeks global partnership in solar energy

    The Council for Renewable Energy, Nigeria has called for government direct investment in solar production.  The president of the Council, Chief Anita Okuribido made this call in Lagos in a chat with The Nation on the sideline of the signing of Trade agreement between Austria and Nigeria recently.

    She said renewable energy was the way forward in modern technology  and  production because of its inherent  environmentally friendly nature.

     She frowned at  the lack of interest on the part of the government to build on the success recorded so far by the private sector in raising awareness on the positive impact of the technology in the public domain inorder  to elicit its patronage and usage.

    Calling for more government involvement, the Council president sought for collaboration from countries, such as Austria that has a success story in solar energy production.   She asked for exchange programmes between the two countries and capacity building for the Council members that would include training and demonstration exercises in Austria  in no distant future to seal  the technology transfer agreement .

    Furthermore she called for targeted assistance to women entrepreneurs and urged their Austrian counterparts to do more to encourage them to pull through  in this great need to acquire greater skill in competitive technology.

  • Firm makes N225.145m Profit

    The Northern Nigeria Flour Mills Plc Kano has posted a profit after tax of N225.145 million for the financial year

    ended March, 2013. But turnover decreased by 7.68 per cent from N12.675 billion toN11.702 billion, when compared with that of the corresponding period of last year

    However, it also recorded net profit after tax of N225.145 million as against N5.045 million in 2012, which was due to the impact of first time adoption of International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS).

    The Chairman , Alhaji Aminu Dantata, represented by Mr John G. Counantarous, at the firm’s 41st Annual General Meeting, noting that business environment was tougher than the previous year.

    The firm approved N71.280 million as dividend to shareholders at the rate of 40 kobo per share.

    Mr Peter Kradolfer and Mr. Costas Theodorakopoulos were presented for appointment as Board members, Kradolfer will replace Mr. Michail Tosos, the former Managing Director, who recently resigned.