The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Industrialisation

  • Don to Fed Govt: develop investment – friendly policies to drive industrialisation

    Don to Fed Govt: develop investment – friendly policies to drive industrialisation

    Former Dean, Faculty of Administration, Bingham University, Karu Nasarawa State, Prof Nuhu Gado has urged the Federal Government to develop investment – friendly policies to drive industrialisation.

    The don also said foreign investors should be allowed to bring funds and also to take them out.

    Prof Gado said this while delivering the 10th inaugural lecture of Bingham University, Karu, Nasarawa State on Tuesday in Abuja with the theme: “Strategic Management of Nigeria’s Industrial Sector and Economic Development: From Dumping, slumping to Japa Syndrome.”

    Gado, a former Director Academic Planning and current representative of Senate to the 6th Governing Council of Bingham University, noted that infrastructure like roads, land, power and others needed by manufacturers to drive industrialisation should be prioritised.

    He stated: “Investment-friendly policies should be developed and be consistent. Foreign investors should be allowed to bring funds and also to take them out. Also, investment in exports should be encouraged by providing funds and assisting in upgrading quality to meet international standards.

    “Infrastructures like land, roads, power, water and communication should be provided for industries. Infrastructures needed by manufacturers should be prioritised

  • Industrialisation pillar of transformation, says NBC chief

    Industrialisation pillar of transformation, says NBC chief

    Managing Director, Nigeria Bottling Company (NBC), Goran Sladic, has highlighted the essential role of industrialisation in driving economic transformation.

    Goran, who spoke at the opening of the 30th Nigerian Economic Summit in Abuja, said: “Industrialisation is the foundation of any nation’s economic growth. It has the power to enhance productivity and innovation, diversify the economy, and, most importantly, create jobs for millions of Nigerians.”

    Goran, whose organisation sponsored the manufacturing session of the event, also said Nigeria has a lot to gain from the transformation because of its rich natural resources and talents.

    Also, Chairman, Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms, Mr. Taiwo Oyedele, emphasised the importance of the manufacturing sector for job creation, improving government revenue, and stimulating growth.

    “We have identified key challenges, including fiscal and regulatory barriers, that impact the manufacturing sector. Our withholding tax reforms will provide much-needed relief, addressing working capital, cash flow, and financing costs faced by manufacturers. These exemptions will also extend to input providers, ensuring broader sectoral support.

    “Additionally, as part of our stabilisation efforts, we are considering reforms such as the ability to claim full input credits on assets. When implemented, manufacturers will be able to
    claim credits on both assets and services, significantly easing their financial
    burden,” he said.

    Chief Executive Officer, Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG), Dr. Tayo Aduloju and Melissa Jones, Country Representative, United State Agency for International Development (USAID), contributed to the discussions.

    A panel tackled the issue of economic instability and proffered solutions on how to promote growth. On the panel were Director-General (DG), Manufacturers’ Association of Nigeria (MAN), Mr. Segun Ajayi-Kadir; and Vice President, Dangote Industries Limited, Mr. Olakunle Alake;

    Read Also: FG, HFN, PharmAccess explore healthcare transformation strategies 

    Others were the Economic Development Adviser, British Deputy High Commission, Ms. Beth Davies-Kumadiro and Nigeria’s Employers Consultative Association (NECA) DG, Mr. Adewale Smatt-Oyerinde.

    The experts called for a national industrialisation policy that would revitalise the sector and emphasised the need for collaboration between the organised private sector (OPS) and the government to create a sustainable industrial ecosystem.

    Besides, the stakeholders also discussed the Federal Government’s Economic Stabilisation Bill (ESB) as a potential game-changer for the manufacturing industry. If effectively implemented, they said, the bill would stabilise the sector, enabling it to recover and grow at a pace that could bolster the country’s growth.

    The session concluded with a commitment to draft and sign a Policy Compact—a collaboration designed to accelerate Nigeria’s industrialisation efforts. This Compact will bring together the private sector, government agencies, and other stakeholders to implement key reforms aimed at stabilising and growing the manufacturing sector.

  • Fed Govt committed to industrialisation

    Fed Govt committed to industrialisation

    Minister of Industry, Trade, and Investment, Doris Uzoka-Anite, has restated the commitment of President Bola Tinubu-led government to industrialization in the country.

    Mrs Uzoka-Anite who spoke when she paid a courtesy visit to Nigerian Bottling Company Ltd (NBC), in Lagos, said the government will also ensure that the enabling environment is in place for businesses to flourish.

     She said: “We are most delighted to be at NBC today and recognize its rich history in Nigeria which spans over 70 years. Our visit today is in line with Mr President’s commitment to promote industrialization in the country.

    “We are committed to ensuring we create the enabling environment for businesses to thrive and grow. We are passionate about reducing poverty and ensuring that we support economic growth with the appropriate fiscal policies.”

    The minister who was received by the Managing Director, Goran Sladic, Non-Executive Director, Laolu Akinkugbe, and other members of the leadership team of NBC was led on a tour of NBC’s 110,000 m² facility, which is currently recognised as the largest bottling plant in Africa.

    Highlighting the importance of the real sector to the sustainable development of the economy, the minister engaged the NBC team on pertinent issues shaping the landscape of manufacturing in the country.

    Uzoka-Anite further reiterated the ministry’s commitment to open dialogue and collaborative efforts with key players in the private sector to address challenges and explore opportunities for growth – stressing the need to drive economic prosperity through public private sector partnership.

    Responding, the NBC Managing Director expressed delight with the opportunity to host the minister and appreciated government’s commitment to engaging with industry stakeholders.

    “We are encouraged by the discussions we had with the minister and her team today and believe that it is a significant step towards building a more resilient and sustainable industry, and we are eager to contribute to the ongoing dialogues and initiatives,” he stated.

    Read Also: Abba Yusuf, Muftwang, Sanwo-Olu others whose fate will be decided by S’Court today

    Sladic described the past decade as a testament to the company’s unwavering dedication to placing consumers at the core of its operations.

    According to him, within the last decade, the Coke system has made a substantial investment of $1.32 billion, enhancing its operational capacity, revolutionizing its supply chain infrastructure, and providing extensive training to its workforce.

    “Our commitment has extended beyond our products to encompass a wide range of community initiatives, focusing on empowering women and youth, championing water stewardship, and promoting environmental sustainability and efficient waste management.

    “Marking our 70th anniversary, we reinforced our pledge to Nigeria with a €1 million donation, aimed at driving impactful social programs across eight states. He affirmed NBC’s ongoing commitment to invest in their Nigerian operations and expressed optimism that favourable business conditions would bolster their capabilities and facilitate further investments.”

  • ‘How agro processing hubs can spur industrialisation’

    By Daniel Essiet

    Nigeria has great potential to improve its agricultural value chains, but it is being hampered by farmers’ lack of access to infrastructure, quality seeds, finance and market information, international consultants,  Prof Abel Ogunwale said at the weekend.

    Speaking with The Nation, Ogunwale said  promoting food hubs lined with functional infrastructure is a good strategy to support agribusiness and agro-industrial development.

    This, he said, is because it creates an environment that improves the competitiveness of agribusiness, particularly small- and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs).

    To achieve this, he urged the government to construct logistics centres of various types, including some related to agriculture and food.

    He added that such facilities will enhance the capacities of food hubs to support collection, storage, processing, distribution and marketing of locally or regionally produced food products.

    According to Adebayo, farmers have faced barriers in distributing produce because of lack of facilities.

    He stressed the need to create agro processing zones across the country where farmers would cooperate in growing produce for local consumption.

    He said such facilities have different, but equally important, functions, adding that they provide needed infrastructure for food processing and food preparation. The zones, would handle the distribution and aggregation of local foods, making them more available to the consumer.

    For them to work, Adebayo said the government must revamp the transport infrastructure as it is one of the most important factors for a country’s progress.

    He said transport infrastructure will add speed and efficiency to food movement as good physical connectivity in the urban and rural areas is essential for economic growth.

  • Industrialisation: Special economic zones offer fresh vista

    A fresh impetus may have come the way of Nigeria’s drive for industrialisation. Courtesy of Projects Made in Nigeria Exports, otherwise known as Project-MINE initiative, the Federal Government seeks to boost manufacturing’s share of GDP to 20 per cent. Through MINE, which uses Special Economic Zones (SEZs) that offer advanced infrastructure and facilities at competitive costs, it is also eyeing $30 billion in annual export earnings and 1.5 million jobs by 2025. If properly implemented, this could be the tonic to stimulate rapid and inclusive industrialisation. Assistant Editor CHIKODI OKEREOCHA reports.

    The Federal Government appears unrelenting in its push for rapid, inclusive and sustainable industrialisation, job creation and diversified export earnings. Undeterred by the barrage of import ban on Nigeria’s agro-allied products by some importing countries over the failure to meet international quality standards, government has, this time, turned to the use of export-oriented Special Economic Zones (SEZs).

    SEZs operate against the background of highly efficient infrastructural facilities, less bureaucracy and streamlined one-stop-shop operational procedures. This is partly because of the bespoke incentives and enabling environment offered to businesses that operate in such zones. They are identified as investors’ haven capable of attracting the much-need Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs), generating employment, and boosting trade and industrialisation.

    Consequently, governments the world over are increasingly identifying such zones as veritable tool to diversify their economies and fast track industrialisation. Besides, the concept bodes well for local and foreign investors looking for jurisdictions where they would save cost and maximise returns on investment. Already, local manufacturers and would-be investors in the SEZs have been assured of up-to-date infrastructure to help overcome their infrastructure disadvantages.

    The Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr. Okechukwu Enelamah, explained that the aim of the SEZs was to promote the cluster effects gained by locating similar manufacturing businesses together, as well as the need to improve the utilisation of Nigeria’s factor endowments and comparative advantages.

    Others are the need to create local models of global best practice in the provision of hard and soft infrastructure and an enabling business environment. “If you study other countries that industrialised rapidly, you will find out that one of the things they did right was to have these SEZs and industrial parks that are world class, which means that all the infrastructures are there and all the requirements are in place,” Enelamah said.

    The minister, who spoke at the end of a weekly Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting in Abuja, recently, said plans have been concluded to set up SEZs across the six geo-political zones of the country. He gave details of the project location: “We are going to do one in Lagos State Lekki Free Trade Zone Area, one in Katsina in Funtua Cotton Cluster Zone Area and another one in Abia in Enyimba City.

    “We are also going to develop to world class standard in the existing two zones that the government has in Calabar and Kano. And in addition, the FEC also approved pre-development work to start and develop Green Field Special Economic Zone in Akwa-Ibom, in Benue and in Ebonyi, Edo, Gombe, Kwara and Sokoto State with a further roll out to other locations in phase two.”

    To demonstrate government’s commitment to the project, President Muhammadu Buhari recently announced the establishment of the Nigeria SEZ Investment Company Limited. The company was charged with driving the expansion of the initiative and ensuring the participation of public private partnerships involving the Federal and State Governments, as well as local and foreign private investors in the project.

    The occasion was the signing of the $30 billion agreement between the Nigeria SEZ Investment Company Limited and strategic investment partners in Abuja, recently. The investment partners include the Africa Export and Import Bank (AFREXIM Bank), Africa Finance Corporation (AFC), Bank of Industry (BoI), Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) and the African Development Bank (AfDB).

    The agreement, which may have set the stage for Nigeria’s emergence as an industrialised nation, was signed by AFREXIM Bank President Professor Benedict Oramah, BoI Managing Director Mr. Olukayode Pitan and NSIA Managing Director, Uche Orji. The plan was to leverage on the agreement to drive Nigeria’s industrialisation and boost export earnings from made-in-Nigeria products.

    The FEC, The Nation learnt, had earlier approved the implementation of “Projects Made-in-Nigeria Exports”, otherwise known as “Project-MINE initiative,” which, according to Buhari, will generate $30 billion and create 1.5million jobs by 2025. It will also use the SEZs to achieve the objective of boosting the share of manufacturing in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to 20 per cent.

    MINE is a presidential special priority intervention programme implemented by the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, but under Buhari’s direct supervision. MINE was aimed at developing world class export-oriented SEZs across the six geo-political zones of the country.

    This, according to him, will spur industrialisation by offering advanced infrastructure and facilities to local and foreign investors at competitive costs. He added that Project MINE was conceived to position Nigeria as the pre-eminent manufacturing hub in Sub-Saharan Africa and a major exporter of made-in-Nigeria products to the West African sub-region, the entire Africa and the World.

    The project and its ambitious targets particularly the aspect that seeks to boost the manufacturing sector’s contribution to GDP by 20 per cent resonate with real sector operators particularly manufacturers. Many of them are dissatisfied with the sector’s current 9.5 per cent contribution to the GDP, compared with South Africa’s 15 per cent, for instance.

    Consequently, manufacturers under their umbrella association, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), set for themselves a target to substantially improve the sector’s contribution to GDP this year. MAN President Mr. Mansur Ahmed said as part of efforts to change the sector’s narrative, MAN will establish well-structured and mutually beneficial linkages between big companies and smaller ones.

    Ahmed, who spoke during the recent MAN annual media luncheon in Lagos, also said under his watch, MAN will expand the scope of strategic corporate partnerships not just in the country, but in Africa at large. He added that the association will also promote policy consistency in a manner that gains already made are not pulled back while ensuring the revival of sectors that are currently struggling.

     

    Wooing investors

    Although, Project MINE is said to have secured early commitments from domestic and foreign investors in textile and garments, as well as agro-processing segments of the manufacturing sector, government appears to be leaving nothing to chance to ensure that the initiative becomes the toast of investors.

    For instance, Buhari dangled the proverbial carrot to investors via an open invitation to experienced SEZ developers and operators who he said were needed to partner with the government to upgrade the Free Trade Zones in Calabar and Kano, and to offer first-class standards of infrastructure and facilities.

    While government awaits the completion of the process of bringing in these investors, the FEC was said to have moved a notch higher when it approved the award of contracts in excess of N19.45 billion for the needed investment in Calabar and Kano Free Trade Zones. It was the highest amount of capital investment ever in the history of these zones. And work in those zones is currently ongoing.

    The President also said the Federal Government had allocated funds to upgrade the capabilities of management and the systems in the Nigeria Export Processing Zones Authority, (NEPZA) to strengthen it as a regulator of the SEZ. This was in addition to the allocation of substantial resources to the provision of “outside the fence” infrastructure to ensure that the SEZs are connected to global, regional and domestic markets.

    “We are reviewing our incentive framework to ensure competitiveness relative to the other countries with whom we are in the race to attract export-oriented global manufacturing investment. We will extend the early successes we have achieved in Ease of Doing Business to the areas critical to globally competitive export-oriented manufacturing operations,’’ Buhari said.

    The Managing Director/CEO of Oil and Gas Free Zone Authority (OGFZA), Mr. Umana Okon Umana, admitted that the administration’s Ease of Doing Business initiative created a better enabling environment for businesses to make more contributions to the national economy through the Oil and Gas Free Zones (OGFZs).

    While noting that much of the significant contributions of the OGFZs to the national economy were the result of deliberate policy reforms under the Buhari-led administration, he said the Ease of Doing Business initiative restored confidence among foreign investors in Nigeria as an investment destination.

    The OGFZA boss, who made these known in his presentation at an oil & gas forum held in Lagos, recently, titled “Oil & Gas Product Manufacturing: Understanding the Importance of Oil and Gas Free Zones,” said the special operating environment put in place in the free zones was meant to incentivise the use of the zones as manufacturing hub for economic diversification.

    He listed some of the bespoke incentives offered to businesses that operate in the free zones to include exemption from all forms of taxation, including federal, state and local government taxes; exemption from expatriate quota policy applicable in the customs territory.

    Other incentives include exemption from customs duty on imports for value-added production; express processing of entry visas; the most expeditious clearance of cargoes; express processing of entry paperwork through the one-stop-shop policy and a host of other incentives.

    According to Umana, these led to significant cost savings and improvements in timelines for operations. The changes in the operating environment in the free zones have also seen commitments in new investments valued at more than $8 billion in the coming years.

    The consensus of operators and industry stakeholders is that when the new SEZs in the six geo-political zones of the country fully come on stream and some of these mouth-watering incentives are extended to businesses that will be operating in those zones, Nigeria may well be on its way to achieving her dream of becoming sub-Saharan Africa’s manufacturing hub.

    The realisation of such manufacturing hub status, it is widely believed, will naturally come with it other deliverables envisaged by the Project MINE initiative. These include boosting manufacturing’s share of GDP to 20 per cent, hitting the projected $30 billion in annual export earnings and creating 1.5 million jobs by 2025.

  • Why my focus is on industrialisation, by Ayade

    Cross River State Governor Ben Ayade has said his administration’ is focused on industrialisation because of his desire to create jobs and wealth for the people, especially youths.

    Ayade, who spoke yesterday while taking delivery of new equipment at the  industrial city, said: “Cross River State is poised to lead Nigeria’s industrial revolution initiative with particular focus on agro-based industries.

    “We have just taken delivery of four container load of equipment for our frozen chicken processing factory, Cala-Chicka. We are expecting 40 more containers for the poultry value chain.

    “By implication, we also have the equipment for the automated chicken slaughter house, and processing and packaging of frozen chicken. We also have three different equipment for three direction factories located in three different local government areas, all intended to drive the frozen chicken export business.

    “This again is a kinetic crystallisation of some of those industrialisation projects that we have talked about, and I believe that Cross Riverians are beginning to recognise and realise that indeed, we have taken the right decision to industrialise the state to create jobs and wealth among our people.

    “We are taking advantage of protein deficiency in Africa and to venture into frozen chicken. In the fullness of time, the world will see that Cross River State is in the right direction and our dream is manifesting and they will begin to appreciate our effort as our wealth creation and economy diversification drive is beginning to yield positive results.

    “As you can see, most of our projects are agro-based. For instance, as we process frozen chicken, we have to feed them. How do we feed them? We need soya beans; we really need also yellow maize. So, who will supply me the yellow maize? So, definitely we now need to engage major industrial farmers for soya beans farming and yellow maize cultivation. How do they get funding? That is why we set up Cross River Micro-finance Bank.

    “So, if you don’t know the story, you think that Ayade is carrying too much, but they are all intended to just fit together and create an organic hole. It’s gradually crystallising and that was why I christened our budget: “Kinetic Crystallisation.” I can tell you that crystallisation in rapid succession, all the things will start falling in place and people can begin to see for themselves.”

     

  • Emmanuel’s agenda for industrialisation

    A commentator, Borono Bassey, examines the achievements of Akwa Ibom State Governor Udom Emmanuel and why he deserves a second term.

    Sometime in September this year, I had visited the Jubilee  Syringe Manufacturing Company in Onna, Akwa Ibom State for the purpose of seeing how I could strike a business deal for the Consulting Firm I work with.  In the course of the visit, I got to learn that the Syringe Factory is set to expand its production capacity from the current volume of 350 to 400 million syringes annually to an impressive annual production volume of 1 billion syringes, by the first quarter of 2019.

    The Managing Director of the Jubilee Syringe Manufacturing Company Mr Zubeyu Gulabi, while reechoing this, said the expansion, which has already been preceeded by strategic actions, is to help the company launch into markets outside Nigeria, especially into countries within the Subsaharan African region.

    Now, here is the thing; a company does not propose this kind of ambitious growth and expansion plan without taking the security situation in the environment they operate into serious consideration. The reason is simple, a little hostility in an operating environment can stand in the way of a company’s profits, prevent them from making plans for expansion and in extreme situations, force them to move their business elsewhere.

    If the Management of the Jubilee Syringe Manaufacturing Company succeeds with the planned expansion of their production capacity, it will birth more opportunities for the people in terms of new jobs and the will trigger the emergence or development of other economic enterprises. For instance, the influx of people into Onna, the environment where the factory is located, will promote real estate business and trigger patronage for goods and services in that locality. New firms will get distributorship deals in that planned expansion. The benefits will be far-reaching for Akwa Ibom people and Nigerians.

    Other factories attracted to Akwa Ibom State by the Emmanuel adminstration in the last three years may also be considering or have already attempted different levels of expansion. For instance, the AKEES Factory which was known for just two products, Pencils and toothpicks, have morphed into a fullfledged industrial park that now houses additional factories like the fully automated plastic factory and an hydro form blocks moulding factory as well as an artisan training centre.

    The backstory on the major factor that has allowed for the contemplation of, and will possibly drive the realisation of the ambitious growth plans in these companies is the atmosphere of peace that Akwa Ibom has enjoyed under Governor Emmanuel’s watch as Governor of the State.

    But, what strategic moves did Emmanuel make in the pursuits for the peace currently enjoyed in Akwa Ibom State?

    As part of his remarks shortly after taking the oath of office as Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Mr Udom Emmanuel had declared that his administration will maintain zero tolerance against all forms of criminality in the state. By way of walking the talk, Governor Emmanuel with folded sleeves, immediately begun the process of restoring peace to Etim Ekpo, and Ukanafun Local Government Areas as well as other parts of the state which he came to meet in crisis.

    Prior to Governor Emmanuel strategic intervention, Ukanafun and Etim Ekpo Local Government Areas of Akwa Ibom State had been two most terrorised areas in the state for more than a period of two years. Militants, cultists and kidnappers had unleashed unimaginable terror in almost all the villages making up the two Local Governments. Those residing in these villages and communities were forced to flee to neigbouring towns and Local Governments as sleep was becoming an expensive luxury to afford for the inhabitants.

    Local administration in these areas was almost grounded and schools were abruptly shut down even as the hoodlums stole food crops, livestock and other items from their owners at will. Sadly, some people were reportedly killed, several abducted, properties including vehicles and houses were burnt in that reign of terror.

    But, in keeping with his resolve to restore peace to these areas at all costs, Governor Udom Emmanuel extended an olive branch to the militants and cultists. As at the last count, the hoodlums numbering more than 420 had embraced the amnesty deal and surrendered their cache of ammunition to the then State Commissioner of Police, Adeyemi Ogunjemilusi, who coordinated the amnesty committee with all the heads of various security operatives as members. Ogunjemilusi has since been posted and promoted as AIG Zone 6 Calabar, Cross River State.

    Driven by the motive to uproot a major tree through which many forms of criminality tend to manifest, Governor Emmanuel had also gone ahead to proscribe no fewer than 32 cult groups in the state.

    Today, economic and social activites are picking up again in Ukanafun and Etim Ekpo Local Government area, even as plans had already been put in motion to rehabilitate the repentant militant by giving them a legal and sustainable source of livelihood. As you read this, the moving train of infrastructure expansion and consolidation of the Governor Emmanuel-led administration had already made a stopover at Ukanafun. This stopover has led to the flag off of a 15.0km Ikot Akpan Afaha-Ikot Oku Usung road project with spurs in various parts.

    Impressively, these audacious moves by the Governor Emmanuel-led administration to enthrone an atmosphere of peace in Akwa Ibom has attracted a lot of positive ratings of the state by various non-government and government agencies and organisations.

    An organisation, the Foundation for Peace Professionals (FPP) had in their 37-page maiden report presented to newsmen in Abuja earlier this year, rated Akwa Ibom as the most peaceful state in South South. The executive director of the Foundation, Ambassador Abdulrazaq Hamzat during the presentation said the data used for the analysis and ratings were obtained from the Police, National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) and other local and international governmental and non-governmental organisations.

    According to him “Akwa Ibom is most peaceful state in South-South, Kaduna in North West, Kogi in North Central, Osun in South West, Imo in South East and Taraba State in North East, Kogi State is second most peaceful state in Nigeria and most peaceful in the North. Imo state is the most peaceful state in South East and 5th most peaceful in Nigeria. “ Hamzat said

    In another testimonial, the General Officer Commanding (GOC) 6 Division of the Nigerian Army with headquarters in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Maj Gen Jamil Sarham, had adjudged Akwa Ibom as the state with the lowest crime rate amongst the 36 states of federation.

    But, Emmanuel’s efforts in sustaining an atmosphere of peace in Akwa Ibom state is not just limited to the fight against criminality. In actions and utterances, Governor Udom Emmanuel has not left anyone in doubt as to his burning desire to bequeath a peaceful state to Akwa Ibom people.

    In a legendary manner, Emmanuel has maintained an applaudable level of maturity and calmness in the face of provocation from the opposition who swear to deploy all forms of Federal Might in disturbing the peace of the state and consequently eroding the high level of investors’ confidence in Akwa Ibom state. These provocations cast in the form of outright intimidation from agencies of the APC-led Federal Government, scathing insults on the person and office of the Governor, open threats and even the use of security agencies to intimidate state government officials and loyalists of the Governor have not caused Governor Emmanuel to abandon his commitment to sustaining peace in the state.

    But, one thing is clear. The 2019 governorship election will be a referendum on whether Akwa Ibomites will prefer returning to the dark days where citizens lived in fear of politically-motivated killings and abduction and other vices or if the enjoy the journey of peace and prosperity they have already begun under Governor’s watch.  That election will be a choice between Emmanuel whose visionary and pragmatic leadership has lifted several Akwa Ibom sons and daughters from poverty by way of job and wealth creation through the over seven industries he has attracted to the state, and a man who was part of an administration that promised 31 industries and never built, revamped or attracted a single to the state for 8 solid years.

    It is imperative to note that events and credible opinion polls are constantly revealing one truth; that Akwa Ibom people will prefer to keep traveling the road of peace and prosperity with Governor Emmanuel till 2023.

    The future of Akwa Ibom sure looks brighter.

  • Lagos committed to industrial growth — Ambode

    Gov. Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State has pledged to continue formulating and implementing policies and programmes that would consolidate the state’s position as the industrial and commercial hub of Nigeria.

    Ambode said this on Tuesday in Lagos during the 2018 Africa Industrialisation Day, themed: “Promoting regional value chains in Africa: A pathway for accelerating Africa’s structural transformation, industrialisation and Pharmaceutical Production.”

    He was represented by Mrs Olayinka Oladunjoye, the State Commissioner for Commerce, Industry and Cooperatives.

    Africa Industrialisation Day was proclaimed by the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union in 1989.

    Ambode said that the various projects in the areas of security, environment, infrastructural renewal and upgrade were designed to create an enabling environment that would promote industrialisation and sustain the state’s status as prime investment destination in Africa.

    He noted that government’s task was to demonstrate serious commitment to private sector participation through implementation of policies, programmes and best practices that encourage the productive sectors of the economy, including the pharmaceutical industry.

    Read Also: Lagos Assembly tasks Ambode on menace of drug abuse 

    The governor acknowledged that the private sector were key stakeholders and prime mover of the economy, and would continue to maintain its open door policy aimed at harnessing productive potentials using private sector as vehicle of economic growth.

    According to him, doing that will enable his administration fulfill its objective of creating employment, eradicating poverty and promoting sustainable economic development.

    He noted that government was not oblivious of challenges confronting entrepreneurs, saying that it would continue to engage members of the private sector to develop appropriate and sustainable solutions.

    Dr Salaudeen Jubril, Faculty Member, Lagos Business School (LBS), said promoting regional value chains would accelerate regional, international trade and investment flows, increase competitiveness and facilitate industrialisation of many economies.

    He said that Africa required more development financing, harnessing the potential of its youth population, infrastructural development and stable political environment to deepen industrialisation.

    Dr John Isemede, a trade expert, said that weak industrialisation was responsible for the continued decline in the value of the naira.

    Mr Muda Yusuf, Director-General, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), said resolving impediments to Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises would facilitate and deepen value chain development and Africa’s economic integration.

    He urged government to address issues of taxation, power deficit, bad road networks, inefficiencies at the ports and low interest fund for businesses to thrive.

    NAN

  • Wanted: Value addition to drive industrialisation

    Nigeria’s population and resource endowment are key industrialisation drivers. But, the failure to add value to the abundant natural resources before export is undermining efforts at industrialisation, job and wealth creation. Now, there is a rethink in support of adding value to products before export. According to experts, the era of exporting natural resources in their raw state must give way to value addition, if the country must join the comity of industrialised nations. Assistant Editor OKWY IROEGBU-CHIKEZIE reports.

    It’s an undeniable fact: Nigeria has all it takes to join the club of industrialised nations. For instance, her estimated 200 million population and rich natural resource endowment place the nation in a vantage position to not only feed her population, but also export finished products and grow its economy through industrialisation.

    But, the inability to leverage value addition to transform the abundant natural resources into opportunities for jobs and wealth creation has continued to stand in the way. Most of the local raw materials are exported for processing and later imported back into the country as finished products, with the addition of certain additives at great cost.

    Indeed, despite boasting bountiful agricultural and mineral resources, most, if not all of Nigeria’s resources, are exported in raw form, without any value addition. The country does not process them from primary produce to secondary or intermediate products.

    The implication is that Nigeria loses the money that could have been made from locally-produced finished products. More importantly, she creates jobs for other countries’ nationals, while grappling with unsavoury socio-economic consequences of rising unemployment, particularly among graduates.

    But a new rethink in favour of value addition has taken the centre stage, with stakeholders and experts in diverse sectors insisting that Nigeria must produce, and, most importantly, add value to mineral and natural resources for export if the economy must prosper, create jobs and industrialise.

    Some of them argue that the era of exporting natural and mineral resources in their raw state is gone. To them, the time for bold, creative and strategic policies to encourage value addition to raw materials before export has come, considering the urgent need to take a greater percentage of the country’s population out of poverty.

    The Ghanaian President, Nana Addo Akufo-Addo, did not mince words when he said Nigeria should lead Africa’s industrialisation process. According to him, the country’s resources and population place it at a vantage position to grow the economy of the continent through industrialisation.

    Akufo-Addo, who was the guest speaker at the 46th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Manufacturers’ Association of Nigeria (MAN) held in Lagos, a fortnight ago, noted that Nigeria’s and, indeed, the continent’s biggest challenge was the inability to leverage value addition to transform the abundant natural resources into opportunities for the creation of jobs and wealth.

    The Ghanaian president, who was represented by a Senior Minister, Hon Yaw Osafo-Maafo, recalled a situation where his country and Cote D-Ivoire produced 60 per cent or more of world’s annual cocoa beans, but earned less than six per cent of the global value chain activities in the cocoa industry.

    He said: “Ghana and Cote D’Ivoire, with their collective production of 60 per cent of global cocoa beans, earned only about $6.0 billion in 2016, but the chocolate industry earned, at the same time, about $120 billion.”

    He criticised what he described as the lazy approach of African countries to always rush to the international market to sell their resources in their raw state rather than add value to them. He also harped on the need to ensure that the continent, under Nigeria’s leadership, has the capacity to support effective value addition to enhance its revenue position in the international market.

    According to Akufo-Addo, this calls for policy harmonisation, coordination, and effective collaboration between the public and private sectors to drive effective and time-tested industrial framework to fully utilise Africa’s natural resources.

    He urged the continent to begin to trade among ourselves, concentrating on areas of comparative advantage. According to him, the continent must begin to break the trade barriers among its member countries and form alliances with the various countries’ associations of industries and chambers of commerce.

    While noting that through such associations, the continent may get to know the needs of the various countries and where there are opportunities of trade, the Ghanaian leader said this strategy also has the capacity to boost the continent’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

    He said, for instance, Africa has a combined population of 1.3 billion  and a GDP of $2.2 trillion, while United States with a population of about 328 million has a  GDP of about $18.3 trillion. He regretted that Africa’s population is about four times that of the US yet, US’s GDP is about eight times that of Africa.

    Akufo-Addo made a case for stock-taking of the prevailing policy frameworks, while measuring them against the current industrialisation to determine if there is need to deepen the policy initiative.

    He also urged policy makers on the need for the right mix of policies to fully unearth and develop the entrepreneurial talents that abound in Nigeria in particular and on the continent generally.

    To further underscore the need for value addition, Akufo-Addo said “It is far better to leave our resources untapped till our future generations rise up to the challenge and conscientiously develop the best policy-mix that prioritises industrialisation as the most convenient cause to drive the much-needed socio-economic development.”

    He took a swipe on Nigeria and other African countries who spend a large portion of their budgets to buy goods and services to run the state, noting that if the appropriate policies are made, procurement policies of the state should favour local production to support the social sectors such as schools, hospitals, police, army, prisons, among others.

    “We need to stop this needless drive for importation and direct our attention to protecting local businesses. We must tailor our procurement laws to favour local production,” Akufo-Addo charged.

    He said: “For every cheap item we buy from outside Nigeria, Ghana or the continent as a whole, we must bear in mind that we are providing employment to other people outside our borders and denying our people the jobs to make a living and create wealth in dignity. Africa must procure prudently to protect itself and provide labour to its youth.”

    The Ghanaian leader explained that Africa could create the champions of entrepreneurs and business giants who could stand shoulder to shoulder with foreign businesses. “We have many examples of our own to celebrate like the Dangotes.

    “What we must never stop to do is to effectively ensure that both the private and public sectors continuously engage in productive dialogues and consultations to define what is good for our industrial sustainability and I believe this meeting will deepen that process,” he said.

    For the immediate past President of MAN, Dr. Frank Udemba Jacobs, there is the need for the government to speed up actions that would lead to the quick resolution of challenges facing manufacturers to reposition and further improve the sector’s performance, especially in  value addition.

    Jacobs stated that the theme of the AGM, Mainstreaming industrial policies to catalyse industrial renaissance, was borne out of the need to appraise the performance of industrial policy initiatives, with a view to ensuring that they are positively aligned to the nation’s industrial aspirations and overall economic development agenda.

    On the controversial African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement, he reiterated that MAN was not against any agreement that will facilitate intra-African trade, particularly where Africans stand to benefit.

    Jacobs, however, said: “Our concerns were principally the inadequacy of private-sector stakeholders’ consultations and the absence of a credible country-specific study that should form the basis of our negotiation as a country.

    Other experts and stakeholders, who bared their minds on the need for Nigeria to champion the continent’s industrialisation drive through value addition, said this can be achieved through the use of appropriate technology, starting from evolving strategies to upgrade existing indigenous technology.

    They also recommended that the country should not ignore the role of Research and Development (R&D) in its drive for competitiveness through value addition. This, according to them, requires developing engineering, technical and vocational skills. Besides, for a poor nation like Nigeria, R&D efforts should focus on solving local problems in industries.

     

  • Chamber: Free trade zone’ll boost industrialisation

    A Free trade zone has the capacity to speed up industrialisation, because of its friendly business laws and regulations, which boost manufacturing and promote export of finished products.

    The Nigerian-American Chamber of Commerce (NACC) new President, Mr. Oluwatoyin Akomolafe, made this known during the Chamber’s Breakfast meeting in Lagos during the week. Its theme was “Investment opportunities in Nigeria’s Free Trade Zones”.

    Akomolafe said investors all over the world were looking for ways to save cost and maximise returns on investment, adding that free trade zone offers this opportunity as it has been identified as investors’ haven with attractive incentives and enabling environment.

    While noting that a free trade zone was the preferred place for investment, he said the concept has remained a viable option for Nigeria to drive industrialisation, create jobs and develop its economy sustainably.

    “Against the backdrop of depleting natural resources, governments the world over are increasingly identifying free trade zones as veritable tool to fast-track industrialisation and for sustainable economic development,” Akomolafe said.

    He noted that the idea of a free trade zone was a well-developed system of attracting Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) into a country, and this has been in practice in advance economies around the world.

    The idea, according to Akomolafe, was to encourage world trade, limit trade restrictions and promote employment.

    The system, he pointed out, was introduced into Nigeria with the establishment of the Nigeria Export Promotion Zone Authority (NEPZA), which has led to the creation of various free trade zones across the country.

    The NACC chief, however, said there is need to put in place critical infrastructure for free trade zones to work and boost industrialisation, create jobs, upgrade skills and promote export, among others.

    Akomolafe lamented that Nigeria, despite being blessed with abundant human and material resources, was yet to fully utilise its potential to lift its citizenry out of poverty and rising unemployment.

    He blamed the situation partly on Nigeria’s mono-economy centred on oil to the neglect of other sectors of the economy such as agriculture, tourism, mining and the manufacturing industry.

    NEPZA Managing Director, Mr. Emmanuel Jime, said the Nigeria Industrial Revolution Plan (NIRP) was aimed at rapidly industrialising the economy by leveraging on areas of comparative and competitive advantages.

    The plan, according to him, took into account the strength and area of core competence of each stakeholder in the industrial sector and assigned roles and responsibilities with associated timelines-all focused towards one single objective.

    Jime said the mandate of the export promotion authority was to initiate, sponsor, and manage the development and operations of industrial cities, parks, and industrial clusters, while ensuring Nigeria’s industrialisation with the ultimate aim of economic and revenue diversification.

    He said the Authority was looking towards using industrial zones to attract requisite investment that would help develop sectors/areas in which the country enjoys significant comparative and competitive advantages.

    This, the NEPZA boss added, include Federal Government’s assistance to increase the percentage contribution of the manufacturing sector to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).