Peter Anosike
One of the leaders of the African Tyre Village, Lagos International Trade Fair Complex, Badagry Expressway, Chief Chris Uzoma Okolo has said that many years after the exit of tyre manufacturing giants, Michelin and Dunlop from Nigeria, the vacuum they left have not been filled.
Speaking in an interview with Sunday Sun, Okolo, who is the chief of staff to the President of African Tyre Village, said that the worst was that the condition which made them to leave Nigeria has not been addressed, adding that this has also led to other companies relocating from the country.
He pointed out that when Michelin and Dunlop were in Nigeria, their products were competing very well with imported tyres.
He disclosed that what led to their relocation out of Nigeria was because they were complaining of using most of their capital to generate power as a result of the epileptic power supply in the country.
According to him, the Michelin and Dunlop tyres now on sale in Nigeria are being imported from Ghana where they relocated to because there power supply is relatively constant and overhead cost is not as high as it is in Nigeria.
He said that if the two brands are brought back to Nigeria, tyre importers would stop going through the harrowing experience of bringing the products into the country.
“Let me tell you the truth, importing tyres into the country is becoming tougher by the day. Right now, it is not everybody that is importing. The challenges of bringing them in from the ports is harrowing. That is why we are begging government to see if there is a way Michelin and Dunlop would be persuaded to come back to Nigeria. The vacuum their exit created has not been filled. We are still pained by their exit. The worst of all is that they relocated to a neighbouring country, that is, Ghana and still we call ourselves the giant of Africa. Even now that I am talking to you, the condition that made them to relocate out of Nigeria has not been addressed. That is why there has not been efforts to fill the vacuum in the industry,” he said.
Okolo said that some of the major challenges of importing tyres into Nigeria, include the clearing of the containers at the ports.
He said that the charges are exorbitant and thus eat into the capital that they are using to do the business.
He said that the focus on tyre importation from the regulatory agencies is so intense because many of them have the erroneous impression that tyre business is lucrative.
He said that by the time the tyres get to their shops, they would be struggling to recover the money that they invested in the business.
Upcoming industrialists should go to Nnewi for training –Aliyu, NACCIMA president
From David Onwuchekwa, Nnewi
Nnewi Chamber of Commerce, Anambra State under the leadership of Mr Ifeanyi Uzodike has hosted Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA) at its 2019 quarterly meeting, which is the 4th edition.
Members of the association from various parts of the country who attended the meeting on arrival visited Ngo Bros & Company Limited, Cutix Plc, Chicason Group, Tummy Tummy Noddles and Innoson Group factories to see their production lines.
In her comments after the factory visit, national President who doubles as chairman of council and executive committee of the association, Hajiya Saratu Iya Aliyu described Nnewi as a place to be.
She said that anybody who desired to become an industrialist should come to Nnewi for tutelage to see how it is being done, adding that what the members saw was so fantastic that she ran short of words to describe it.
“I’m so overwhelmed by what I have seen today. Their factories are flourishing and growing very well. Each factory produces things that are fantastic and everything produced has some perfection in it. Nnewi really shows how industrialization is being practiced,” she said.
Hajiya Aliyu noted that government needed to assist Nnewi industrialists to provide them an enabling environment to operate.
She mentioned stable and quality electricity as the infrastructure most needed to boost their production capacity and to reduce cost.
She also said that the industrialists deserve to be provided good road network to enable them bring in their raw materials and transport their finished products outside their location.
She commended Governor Willie Obiano for providing adequate security in the state, which she noted had made it possible for private sector operation in a conducive environment.
She described Nnewi chambers as a wonderful host.
Dele Oye, second deputy president of NACCIMA, said that Nnewi had always stood out in enterprenuership, noting that after the Nigeria-Biafra civil war, the Nnewi man resolved to stay back to develop his area first.
Also the Deputy National Chairman of NACCIMA, youth wing, Mr Eloka Maduekwe said that what was happening in Nnewi in the area of industrialization left the youths with courage and a brighter future in enterprenuership.
Some of the members who received the visitors in Nnewi were the Nnewi President, Mr Ifeanyi Uzodike; Mr Humphrey Ngonadi; deputy national chairman, NACCIMA youth, Eloka Maduekwe; Linus Ilozue; Ijeoma Oduonye, Cutix Plc CEO, among others.
Market Leaders bemoan border closure, moot establishing commercial cities
By Merit Ibe and Chiamaka Ajeamo
Market Leaders and Traders Association of Nigeria, Lagos Chapter, has bemoaned the closure of the borders, pleading with the Federal Government to do the needful by reopening them as their businesses are severely affected.
This is even as the association plans to set up commercial cities in Imo, Anambra and Enugu states with the goal of pulling all street traders into an industrial hub, which the commercial cities will provide so that they can further thrive.
Speaking on the Annual Business Award and Declaration of International Traders Day in Lagos, the President of the association, Lagos Chapter, Mr Christopher Okpala, said that though the rationale behind the closure was right to an extent which is to curb smuggling and for security reasons, genuine businesses were suffering in the country.
Okpala noted that the action has led to loss of several millions of naira and destruction of their goods at the borders and warehouses, opining that the Federal Government should have hinted traders prior the closure, especially those who were into import or export of raw and finished goods.
Declaring October 31, 2019 as International Traders Day, Okpala stated that the day was prompt in view of the harsh trading environment and the fact that traders were excluded from participating in making policies that affect their activities.
“The international traders’ day will be a day to discuss and proffer solutions to the several problems bedeviling the trading community. The sector is the third highest contributor to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product after the petroleum and the agricultural sectors.
“However, the government does not give it the due recognition for its potential to grow. The community’s challenges range from total neglect by government at all levels, multiple taxation and levies by government agencies, molestations by various law enforcement and paramilitary agents, unfriendly business environment and policies by financial institutions, incessant market closures by various levels of government and so on.
“These are greatly hampering the growth of the community. We are appealing to the government to come to our aid,” he said.
On his part, though in support of the closure, Chairman on the occasion, the Corporate Brand Executive of Bel Protocol Security Services, Mr Dilichukwu Ononugbo, said the Central Bank of Nigeria should have made provisions before the closure, to mitigate the pains of small and medium enterprises.
Ononugbo added that CBN should have encouraged local manufactures with funds, grants and incentives to sustain them while the closure lasts.
…As Anambra stockfish dealers call for reopening of borders
• Say policy not friendly, healthy for their business
From David Onwuchekwa, Nnewi
Three months after the land border closure by the Federal Government, traders at Stockfish International Market, Obosi, Anambra State have not been having it easy because of price increase of their goods as a result of the scarcity the policy created.
President of the association, Chief Celestine Ezewuru in an interview with Sunday Sun said that the stockfish dealers were not against Federal Government’s decision to close the borders as it was intended to boost local production and generate employment opportunities.
But Ezewuru contended that such a policy should not have been made unilaterally by the government without streamlining it to exclude perishable goods like stockfish, which he noted was not among contraband commodities in Nigeria.
He said that bringing stockfish into the country after clearing the consignment in Cotonou as most of them do had always been easier and faster.
He said since the border closure most of their goods had remained at the border, where they are depreciating for the period the implementation had lasted.
“Stockfish dealers go to Cotonou to clear our goods because of speed and convenience. Government needs to carry stakeholders along when certain policies are to be made. They should have given a time frame so that importers would decide whether to import a particular kind of commodity or not.
“When stockfish is imported, you have 37 working days to clear your goods and you expect them to arrive your shop on the 40th day at least. And stockfish has a particular number of days to stay in your shop within which you are to sell them. If you don’t sell them within that period, the taste will no longer be the same and we have always strove to maintain the standards set by regulatory bodies like the National Food and Drug Administration (NAFDAC) and other agencies both nationally and internationally. We have never compromised, no matter the circumstances, “ he said.
Chief Ezewuru explained that some of the traders have their goods at Cotonou land borders since the announcement was made in September this year.
He said that the quality of stockfish is the codliver oil in it, which he described as very nutritional and should not be lost because of long stay at the borders.
He insisted that the goods should not be allowed to remain uncleared for two to three months, otherwise deterioration would set in.
He appealed to the government to consider the fact that many importers secured bank loans up to 70 per cent to import those goods that had been held at the borders whose interest rates on the loans had continued to accumulate.
“We join ECOWAS Parliament which we learned had reportedly appealed to Nigerian government to withdraw the policy to please do so to save many traders who are now battling to pay interests on their loans not to talk of the capital. Government policy on border closure may be a healthy development, but for stockfish business, it’s not,” he submitted.
Before now, he said, a bag of stockfish (in August) was N57,000, but the same size had gone up to N72,000, a situation he regretted had brought dull trading activities in the market.