By Merit Ibe
The Managing Director of Coleman Wires and Cables, Mr. George Onafowokan, has expressed confidence in investing in Nigeria than running away which people term as ‘Japa’.
Onafowokan, who made the disclosure while reacting to reasons Coleman company doesn’t receive awards without cogent reasons being attached to it, stressed that not everybody will ‘Japa’ as there is a need for some people to remain here and invest, for those who have run away to have something to fall back on when they return.
“To us, investing in the cable business is very important because not all of us have to run away from Nigeria, some have to wait to develop the country by investing. ”
Onafowokan also promised more investment in cables, saying the scoop is getting bigger with the huge population of over 200 million people.
“We believe the scoop is getting bigger with over 200 million people and we believe more opportunities are coming in. For this reason, we are building more capacity.
“Today, we are proud to say we have the biggest cable company in sub-Sahara Africa and based on what we are producing in the Sagamu factory, we will be the biggest manufacturer of cable in Africa.”
Onafowokan assured Nigerians that the company will not rest in its oars in producing high quality and affordable cables that will place Nigeria on a pedestal of greatness.
As a result of its giant stride in the cable industry, Coleman has been nominated as a brand of the year by Leadership Newspapers.
Reacting to the nomination, the Colman MD, noted that, “we don’t want to be seen collecting meaningless awards for sponsorship sake. We believe we are to be awarded based on what we have done or our precedent. For us in Coleman, it’s all about local content, and capacity building. Everything we do here is 100 percent indigenous. We are proud to say that we make quality affordable products being made in Nigeria.
In a letter sent by Vanguard management team, Coleman has successfully driven the company to become a-$1 billion investment and also emerged as the biggest cable company not only in Nigeria and West Africa but the entire of Africa.
Coleman MD has also been voted as the best businessman of the year.
The company exports its products not only to West African nations but also to other parts of Africa, thereby contributing significantly to the Federal Government’s export initiative.
Coleman has driven the cable industry towards meeting Nigeria’s cable needs through the production of power cables, small specialised cables, TV cables, oil and gas instrumentation cables and high-voltage cables for transmission and distribution, among others.