The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Reviving

  • Reviving Nigeria’s limping maritime sector

    SIR; Presently, most of the world’s trade is by sea. About 50 thousand merchant ships transport an estimated five billion tonnes of cargo annually. Though one-third of the countries in Africa are landlocked, about 70 percent of the continent’s gross domestic product (GDP) is currently linked to the maritime economy. At present, the continent relies heavily on ships for global seaborne trade. About 90 percent of its imports and exports are conducted by sea.

    Looking at Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy and most populous country, the shipping industry plays a key role in the nation’s economy. It generates a significant portion of its GDP. As some suggest, the country cannot survive today as a nation without international shipping. This is because; the Nigerian government depends greatly on crude oil exports for much-needed national revenue. And at the same time, ordinary Nigerians rely on international ships to bring electronics, building materials, essential equipment and the consumer goods they demand for their daily lives.

    However, experts have warned that the maritime sector in the country is in a gradual decline over the years as its struggles with poor infrastructure, low indigenous participation, corruption, and security challenges. According to a 2016 analysis by the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, inefficiency and infrastructural problems at Nigerian ports cause the country lost trillions of Naira in revenue every year.

    Security is another major challenge affecting Nigeria’s maritime sector. Piracy and other forms of criminality including oil militancy on the nation’s coast scare away potential investors. With more than 850km of coastline and 70 per cent of Nigeria’s trade by value conducted at sea, kidnappings and oil theft poses a significant challenge for its economy and the shipping industry. Attacks in the Gulf of Guinea have proven detrimental in the past – reducing traffic to, and from ports in the country.

    Another factor is little participation by locals in the shipping industry. Most ships on Nigeria’s coast are foreign flagged. The integration of the local workforce in the sector is also low. Nigeria’s own shipping companies are collapsing. This has cost the Nigerian economy billions in lost revenue yearly.

    Corruption and delay at Nigerian ports are also issues impeding growth and development in the maritime sector. The slow pace of inspections and offloading of shipping arrivals cause perpetual congestions and gridlocks at the country’s ports – the most notable being the Apapa port in Lagos. The reports of middlemen and corrupt officials collecting bribes in order to clear goods are rampant.

    Bureaucratic red tapes, obsolete equipment, and inter-agencies rivalry are also blamed for slowing supply chains at ports. Nigeria is said to be the only country that has failed to achieve the United Nations 48-hours cargo clearance.

    From all indications, for Nigeria to maintain its shipping heritage and harness the untapped potential associated with the blue economy, the  Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) and the Nigerian Ports Authority must ensure Nigerian ports have improved and upgraded infrastructure that will match global trends and standards. Expansion of ports to accommodate larger vessels, reduce congestions and bottlenecks should be considered. To make the Nigerian maritime sector more attractive, corruption, inconsistencies and unnecessary bureaucratic red tapes should be stamped out.

    As ensuring of maritime security and safety is paramount for Nigeria’s development, NIMASA should partner with relevant agencies like the Nigerian military and navy in securing the nation’s coast from illegal trafficking and oil theft (that sometimes leads to spillage, thereby affecting the environment and other aquatic life), piracy, kidnappings and maritime terrorism. That will improve investor confidence and market certainty – something very important for any business venture.

    And last but not least, Nigeria should make the introduction of a national shipping carrier its top priority, as this will in effect encourage local indigenous participation and provide employment opportunities for millions of Nigerians.

     

    • Labaran Yusuf, Jos, Plateau State.

  • Reviving Ajaokuta Steel

    SIR: Ajaokuta Steel Company Limited is a sleeping giant, capable of turning Nigeria’s economy around if given the necessary and sufficient attention. Apart from the high revenue expected from steel production, numerous direct and indirect employment to be generated it will also serve as source of cheap raw material needed for industrial and technological revolution. These and many more benefits that will be derived will do much to strengthen our economy and to bring about the needed diversification.

    The federal government should know that steel technology is not rocket science; even if it is, I still believe that Nigerian engineers can handle any type of job required to put the plant back on its feet. We do know that several types of steel plant exist and their modes of operation, problems and limitations are well known too. All we need to do is undertake an in-depth investigation/analysis to identify the type of plant and the exact problem(s) hindering it from operation, make designs for general improvement and or just proffer solutions to the problems.

    I believe our engineers can come together to achieve this tedious but very important task. A team could be constituted comprising current and past workers of Ajaokuta Steel Company Limited, engineers, administrators etc., to carry out the investigation with the aim of identifying the problems and recommend appropriate solutions.

    In line with the diversification of our economy agenda of the federal government, it is time for the government to put its trust and invest in Nigerian engineers in the steel as well as other sectors. We require little or no services of expatriates to survive as a nation.

     

    • Idris Ohinoyi Muhammedsanni,

    Ameer4mee@yahoo.com

  • Reviving the textile sector

    •Problems beyond funding; govt must address power and other challenges

    At a Cotton, Textile and Garment (CTG) forum in Abuja, the Bank of Industry’s (BoI) acting Managing Director, Waheed Olagunju, gave what amounted to an update on the status of the funds created by the Federal Government and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to provide a breather to the ailing sector.

    Among the highlights, he disclosed that the bank had approved loans for 70 projects in the CTG value chain totalling N60billion under the initial N100billion textile revival fund instituted by the Federal Government in 2009. This, he explained, is aside the N50billion fund made available by the CBN as part of the latter’s efforts to promote the development of the textile and garment sector, of which the bank had also disbursed N13.37billion to various beneficiaries.

    He also spoke of yet another N50billion special intervention facility to facilitate the takeover of the existing debt as well as provide additional long-term loans and working capital to existing companies in the CTG sector, of which a total of N24.37billion has been disbursed to the various beneficiaries as of September 30. Olagunju also spoke of capacity utilisation of some of the beneficiary companies, which he said had increased from 40 per cent to about 60 per cent; ditto employment, said to have hit 60,000 across the industry.

    We consider it heart-warming that both the Federal Government and the apex bank have remained steady in their resolve to help the sector turn the corner. Considering the vital role of the sector in generating mass employment (it once reportedly provided three million direct jobs from cotton production to the weaving, spinning and printing of textile materials), and to help reduce the huge foreign exchange outlay spent on imported textile materials, the sector obviously deserves all the attention that the Federal Government can give it, particularly at this time.

    Overall, the picture painted by the BoI chief is that progress is being made in very important segments in the value chain. In other words, a lot of grounds have been covered in getting some of the operators to refurbish their obsolete equipment, refinance existing debts to get them back into production. Considering that the sector still has a long way to go to recover its verve, the least we can do is urge the apex bank and the BoI to maintain the course.

    Yet, as important as the measures are, we also recognise that the problems of the industry are multifarious and complex. Today, it’s been more than six years since the Obasanjo administration launched the initiative to revive the sector. Six years on, it is largely correct to state that not much was done to tackle the problems that took the industry down the slope even when officials have been known to talk glibly of the potential 600,000 jobs and annual revenue of $2billion to be generated from a revamped textile sector.

    The result is that these problems have not only persisted, new forms have since manifested creating a climate that can only be described as inhospitable and non-competitive, hence, we continue to talk of the terrible state of the nation’s infrastructure, particularly electricity, and how that impinges on the cost of doing business; the problem of multiple taxation that has remained a thorn in the flesh of all businesses; the smuggling of cheap textile materials – a sure killer for the local textile firms – and no less, the humongous cost of the failure to organise our cotton growers and hence harness the gains of backward integration.

    It is high time the Federal Government confronted these problems headlong. One sure way to do that is to give practical expression to the quest for local content by massively patronising local textile firms until they are able to compete. This seems to us one sure way to boost employment and to reduce the poverty now prevalent, particularly in the North, where textile industry once served as the backbone.

  • Reviving Nigeria’s ailing textile industry

    President Muhammadu Buhari’s good resolve to create three million new jobs in the textile industry is a positive development that deserves the support of all well-meaning and patriotic Nigerians. As a stakeholder in the Cotton, Textile and Garment (CTG) sub-sector of the economy, I am assuring fellow Nigerians that the CTG sub-sector alone is capable of creating more than one million new jobs if all the right things are put in place, especially if there is political will on the part of both the executive and legislative arms of governments at all levels as well as the determination, sincerity, patience and commitment of all stakeholders.

    I want to advance some measures that can be applied to achieve desired goals. To ensure the success of President Buhari’s motives within a short period, institutions such as the Nigeria Customs Service, Nigeria Immigration Service, Central Bank of Nigeria, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission should forge a formidable team to promote and protect the sub sector the same way a mother guards and protects her child. A team work on the part of aforementioned institutions will ensure elimination of faulty documentations, money laundering, dumping of sub-standard textile materials as well as foreigners doing business in Nigeria with visiting visas or with fake entry documents.

    Also, the Presidency should pursue the principles of African Growth Opportunity Act of the United States with vigour. Opportunities abound for Nigeria in AGOA regarding garment production, which can guarantee employment of more tailors and continued patronage of students in departments of tailoring and fashion design in our tertiary institutions. This can equally bring about an increase in the establishment of small and medium scale industries such as zip making, buttons production, elastic and packaging industries, among others. Patronage of state governments to the sector will mean the same as above as well as increase in competitiveness in schools sports programmes and ensure local products are patronised.

    For the desired result to meaningful, the President will need to declare a National Textile Day. This will be a once a week, non-ceremonial, but action packed day whereby all political office holders, appointees and other public office holders in the country will dress in home-made textile attires that are culturally popular and patronized in their section of the country.

    If this noble gesture is backed with a legislation that bans the importation of all categories of ready-made clothes on commercial basis, it will make our tailors to perfect and be competitive in production of garments at international standard, thereby ensuring self-reliance in garments as well as conserving foreign exchange. This will attract foreign investors to the sector and bring about financial control, development and strengthening of the sector. The proposed legislation should promote, develop and protect the sector by limiting the importation of textile fabrics that could not be produced in Nigeria now to 70% and production of 30% by Nigerian textile manufacturers. The legislation for importation of textile materials should require presidential approval and only from countries willing to invest in Nigeria’s textile sector. Part of the legislation to patronize made-in-Nigeria textiles and garments by all private and public institutions should be extended to school uniforms, sports wears, school house vests, hotel toiletries, bathroom napkins, towels, hospitals cotton wools, bed sheets, mosquito nets and blankets. All these can be sourced locally if the political leadership is willing to walk the talk. As an incentive, black oil allocation (LPFO) should be made directly to textile manufacturers at affordable price.

    I also propose that one spinning and ginning plant be established in each of the six geo-political zones i.e. Funtua in the North-west, Gombe in the North-east, Nassarawa in North-central, Oyo in South-west, Asaba in the South-south and Aba in the South-east to serve as a springboard or back up project for the success of cotton, textile and garment development projects. This is also to ensure that medium scale textiles and garment factories spring up across the nation with easy availability of yarn, since spinning industry is highly capital intensive, and it is the backbone of any textile fabric. This is realisable with the constitution of a new CTG revival committee that will be peopled with real stakeholders who will be responsible for designing the revival, production, marketing and sound planning for the CTG sub sector. A good way to start is for the committee to draw its membership from the Nigerian Textile Technologists Association, Nigerian Textile Manufacturers Association, representatives of Garment Manufacturers, Cotton Farmers and Merchants, the Nigeria Customs Service, Nigerian Raw Materials Research Council, among others.

    Finally, there is the need to have a thriving textile council whose main task is to oversee the registration and accreditation of bodies for the training of textile professionals in the country. A textile competency centre should also be established in the National Research Institute of Chemical Technology (NARICT) ABU Zaria, for the continual training of the professionals. And tertiary institutions that have programmes in textile science, engineering, technology and art should be adequately funded and consulted on issues affecting the industry. If all these are given prompt and adequate attention, I have no doubt in my mind that Nigeria’s ailing textile industry will be revived within a very short time so that it can unleash further opportunities for millions of Nigerians.

     

    • Adhama (MFR, FTTN) is founder of Adhama Textiles and Garment Industry, Kano.

  • Reviving Yoruba culture

    The Yoruba are beginning to occupy the pride of place in the centre of Yorubaland. Determined to revive their culture and tradition, which seem to be threatened by globalisation, the Oyo State government has instituted the Samodun Festival.

    The festival debuted with fanfare in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital last Thursday. It lasted for three days.

    The Samodun festival, conceived from the popular greetings at annual festivals in Yoruba land “Aseyi samodun”, is one of the projects to resuscitate and preserve Yoruba cultural heritage in the state.

    The fiesta began with the ‘Ajumorin Walk’. The walk had a unique feature. Governor Abiola Ajimobi led members of his team, civil servants, local government chairmen, heads of boards, parastatals and extra-ministerial departments, popular actors and actresses, citizens and other stakeholders on a long walk from Agodi Government House through Oje to Mapo Hall, the historical gathering venue for significant programmes. He said that the walk would hold quarterly. The first is of its kind in recent times.

    Everyone was decked in uniform African prints, such as ankara and kampala. This added glamour to the event while reminding the audience of its rich heritage.

    The presence of notable actors and actresses in the Yoruba movie sub-sector of the entertainment industry and musicians also added spice to event, especially the walk. “It was a novel idea in the state,” many observed.

    The actors and actresses led by the former ANTP President, Prince Jide Kosoko, praised the government for organising the fiesta, saying it would further promote culture. Other actors and actresses witnessing the fiesta, which was organised by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, included: Funke Akindele, Muyiwa Ademola, Fatiha Balogun, Bolaji Amusan (Latin), Adekola Odunlade, Dele Odule, Sanyeri and Rose Odiaka.

    Addressing the mammoth crowd at Mapo Hall, the governor said the Samodun fiesta was meant to remind the people of their rich heritage which is worthy of the emulation by all. The walk was followed by diverse cultural displays, highlighting the rich depth of the Yoruba language, folklores, traditional mode of recreation, livelihoods and the people’s sense of dressing.

    He noted that Africa is rich in cultural heritage, but, lamented that it is unfortunate that it has been boxed into believing that its inherited system and culture are of lesser texture to that of the Europeans. This, he said, is part of the mental slavery that our people have been subjected to for centuries, adding that his administration would continue to execute laudable projects that would have direct impact on the lives of the people of the state.

    Ajimobi said: “We will realise that even though our fathers could not read and write, they were greater doctors, physicists, paleontologists and even political scientists, far more than what obtains in our so-called modernity and civilisation. In the promotion, advancement and propagation of our culture, the world will realise that Africa did not just stumble on a heritage; we have always had a great heritage,” he said.

    He also told the crowd that the urban renewal programme of his administration which he said had been yielding results, was not aimed at unnecessarily inflicting pains on the people but to make life worth living and to improve the aesthetics of the state.

    The second day featured a comedy and beauty pageant at Cultural Centre, Mokola. The winner of the beauty competition went home with an automatic one-year employment with the governor’s wife to join her in promotion of culture and tourism, in addition to a brand new car.

    The fiesta ended with a Fuji concert at the Cultural Centre, Ibadan on Saturday. The Special Assistant to the governor on Culture and Tourism, Mr Kunmi Fakeye, said the concert as all other programmes of the fiesta, was to promote tourism and the diverse facets of the culture. “Fuji, a brand of local music believed to have originated from Ibadan. Popular Fuji musicians such as Abass Akande Obesere, Osupa Saheed and Rashidi Ayinde are special in the concert. The annual festival is meant to promote the culture and tradition of the Yoruba race,” he said.