…Calls on governors to build industrial estates
Many industrial ventures are progressively collapsing in the South-East zone where there is a serious decay of the needed infrastructure, especially power to sustain them.
In this connection, one of the notable industrial giants in Nnewi, Anambra State, Chief Chika Emenike, chairman and chief executive officer of Kotec Group of Companies, has ex-rayed the problems militating against industrial revolution in Southeast. Chief Emenike accused Igbo politicians of pursuing their personal interests at the expense of real development in the zone.
He called on the South-East governors to pay adequate attention to setting up industrial estates and create enabling environment for operators in the industrial sector. Excerpts:
Cry of industrialists in South-East
Industrialists in the South-East are the most affected in terms of having the needed enabling environment to operate. We virtually provide all our factors of production including water, electricity and access roads. These things do not concern government of the day. They don’t want to know how industrialists struggle to provide all these things. Are we talking about funding which the industrialists in the South-East are meant to source 100 per cent by themselves without government assistance? We have numerous problems as investors in the industrial sector and we are becoming used to them. The problems have been mentioned a million times without external help coming from anywhere. We only survive by the grace of God and we are not going to relent in our efforts because government has refused to help us.
Business diversification
Some of us have, because of hardship in the manufacturing business, come back to importation that has been dropped some time ago. Some manufacturers have taken up importation full time again in order to remain in business, importing ship loads of goods and also diverting to other investments since government has neglected the industrial sector. Government has forgotten that if factories are closed down and people are unemployed that the next thing is increase in crime wave and when there is insecurity government will definitely be blamed and the entire society suffers it. Our politicians are after their personal aggrandizement, having spent huge sums of money to win elections. And once they get into power their next preoccupation is how to recoup their expenses. That is why they don’t perform. And after recouping their expenses for the previous election they begin to talk about second term. When will they have time to talk about industrial development? So, that is why the industrialists suffer and that is well pronounced in the South-East.
Governments in power in Anambra
Former Governor Peter Obi did a lot during his own time and our new governor, Chief Willie Obiano, has given signs that he is an action governor who may be better than former Governor Obi based on what Obiano has already done in the area of security because it is when you have adequate security then you can now talk about industrial progress or progress in other areas of development. Governor Obiano is trying since he does not take chances and that is what we want in Anambra, an action governor. We hope that the action will be extended to giving the needed assistance to local manufacturers as he has indicated interest in agricultural revolution in the state.
Individual efforts
Now, our staff strength increases because we expand on daily basis despite our constraints in the manufacturing sector. We even have new products in the pipeline which I will not disclose until we perfect our plans. This is to show you how dogged we are, arising from individual efforts. And we thank God that our products are doing well in the market. But because of electricity problem we spend almost all we realize as profit on power generation. We use 6,000 liters of diesel every day and you can multiply this by N157 per liter or whatever amount they sell now and see what we spend. And since we started our factory where we produce Tummy Tummy Instant Noodles we have not used public power supply because when it comes at all and you apply the machines and gadgets, it destroys them straight away because of low quality power supply. We spend over N20 million on diesel every month and this does not include the maintenance of the electricity generators. If they have any problem, the spare parts are imported. So, we have been managing all these problems. And we are not giving up. Last time we had a prayer session at the factory site, and when I looked at over 1,000 people under the employ of the company (Tummy Tummy Instant Noodles section) I began to ask myself what will be the fate of those people if the factory were not running. And don’t forget that we have our workers in the whole federation where we have our distribution outlets. So, assuming the factory is relocated to the South-South where natural gas is used to power the machines then these workers will go into the society and some of them may turn to kidnappers or constitute other kinds of social problems because they are not employed. So, this power problem is a very serious one. Some of our people in the Northern part of the country are coming home because of insecurity, the activities of Boko Haram, in that zone and they should be engaged in one thing or the other, but how can this be possible where constant and quality electricity supply is not assured. Some of them have refused to come back to the East because they are not sure of what they will be doing if they come back home. It is the industrialists that will provide jobs for them so that they can take care of their families. Yet in all these things we pay our tax. What government is supposed to do, it cannot do it. It is a big problem. Now, there is an erosion threat to our factory. We have done the costing and we are going to do it by ourselves. If you wait for government to do it, that means the factory will go. So, we are really facing a lot of challenges.
Incentives
If I tell you what we buy a piece of land here (in Nnewi) you will not believe it. There are some governments that woo us to come to their states, to give us free industrial site and construct roads to our factories. So, I think it is worth doing, to find out those serious industrialists and government should know what to do for them to assist and encourage them. Serious industrialists should be assisted.
Producing instant noodles
The challenges have to do with survival of the fittest because there are so many companies in the business of instant noodles production. The challenges are all about meeting the market demands. Our product (Tummy Tummy) has high demand no matter the other products in the market. We don’t have dull moments in our sales. The product is highly acceptable wherever we take it to. The only challenge we have is that there are some raw materials we source locally like palm oil, refined palm oil. South-East is blessed with palm produce but we were told how people from Indonesia came and took the palm seedlings to their land and they are now the people producing palm oil in the highest commercial quantity. So, the palm oil is imported from Indonesia and we buy from the importers for our production and that really affects our cost of production.
How to fight unemployment
Job creation is easy but it is only difficult because of corruption in our society. Government ventures do not last. If this factory belongs to government it will be difficult for it to grow. People who handle government ventures do not take them as their own business. They go there to enrich themselves and because of these corrupt practices nothing moves. Job creation becomes a difficult task for government and they can’t support the operators in the organized private sector who are better positioned to create these jobs. That is the problem.
Industrial estates as the solution
It is time for the South-East governors to wake up from their slumber. If you go to Calabar, Cross River State in the South-South there is a free zone. Government in that state established an industrial estate and provides the needed infrastructure including road and electricity. There are so many buildings made available for industrial ventures there. This attracts a lot of people to manufacturing business and a lot of job opportunities are created. You have so many expatriates and Nigerians working there. There are all sorts of factories within the industrial free zone. When I visited the place, I cried for the South-East. It is not there are no available acres of land to build these industrial estates in the South-East but it is just because there is no political will to do that. It is not that the money is not there or that the money involved is so much that it could not be sourced. It is lack of foresight. Go to Lagos and see the Igbo building factories and setting up other ventures. But it is just because of the absence of an enabling environment that has made them glue up to other states at the expense of developing their own South Eastern zone. Governments of the South-East should as a matter of urgency set up these industrial estates in their individual states and when that is done you will see our people coming back home to invest. So, as our governors in the South-East meet over security issues, they should in the same way meet for industrial revolution in the South-East, giving adequate support to those already in the sector and do all they can to set up industrial estates in their individual states. This way, jobs will be created and security problems will be easily handled since many youths will be gainfully employed.
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