22
THE NATION THURSDAY, AUGUST 15, 2013
INDUSTRY
‘Uncontrolled imports affecting local industries’
T
HE increased dumping of roofing materials from Asian countries, especially China, into the market is undermining the competitiveness of the nation’s distressed manufacturing sector, operator have said. The Marketing Director of Nigerite Nigeria Limited, Mr Toyin Gbede, said a viable manufacturing sector is the mainstay of most developed and developing economy. He said this was why China manufacturing index remains one of the most important indicators of either growth or contraction of its economy. He said: “When a nation opens its economy to unrestricted importation of products which hitherto are manufactured by its local players, or could be manufactured through right incentives, without well thought out protection policy for such players, it puts them in great disadvantage, especially in a situation such as in Nigeria, where every manufacturer has to provide basic infrastructure such as water, electricity, access roads by its self.” He said, this is made worse where such economy becomes a dumping ground for substandard products as in Nigeria. He told The Nation that the market is filled with substandard roofing products, especially from the Far East and, therefore, impossible for genuine building manufacturers to compete on price with such products. Gbede observed that due to severe economic situation the nation is going through, our economy is becom-
•Gbede
By Okwy Iroegbu-Chikezie Asst. Editor ing more and more price sensitive with people caring less about quality. According to him, the implication is very simple to imagine, because more and more manufacturers are closing down or downsizing to reduce overhead, and this is worsening unemployment situation by the day. Furthermore, the Nigerite boss said when some people have no jobs because of government’s bad economic policies, they will go into crime. Besides ensuring that prices of local products compete favourably with imported goods, the government should provide adequate and functional infrastructure, he added. Mostly affected is the roofing material sector with various materials flooding the local market daily. Al-
•Aganga
though the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) has absolved itself of blame, some local manufacturers and distributors blame regulatory bodies and other government’s agencies for shirking their responsibilities. Also speaking the Head of Inspectorate and Compliance Directorate, SON,Mr Bede Obayi, said the agency has stand ards for the two popular roofing sheets, which are the aluminum and galvanised steel roofing sheets. He said: “We have Nigerian Industrial Standards (NIS) 488 of 2010 for aluminum roofing sheets and NIS 180, 2013 for galvanised steel roofing sheets. What that means is that SON has taken a proactive measure to ensure that these products are appropriately monitored by way of compliance which are specified in the various standards for each product.” “We set up SONCAP and MANCAP for imported and locally
produced products and offices in 29 states, where they carry out certification, routine and surveillance visits to ensure that the quality of locally made products are controlled. “Subsequently, we make sure that that company continues to produce according to the requirements of the standards; that is how we monitor the local product. For the imported ones, we apply the SONCAP principle, a strategy we have designed under the Inspectorate and Compliance Unit to monitor the borders and warehouses.” He added that SON had to review the standards of roofing sheets to ensure that they are of good qualities. He said: “We reviewed the standard minimum thickness to .15 for the or-
dinary grade, .20 for the premium grades and .30 and above for special grade used for special projects. In this scenario, opportunity is given to everybody to buy what they can afford and at the best quality. He claimed the alleged dumping of substandard materials is made worse because the agency has been excluded from the ports which accounts for over 85 per cent of imported materials. China’s population of 1.6 billion, no doubt, needs new trading routes for industrial goods, and Nigeria which is the most populous black nation, with a capacity to absorb many of these goods, is a target by the Chinese authorities, especially with our porous borders and weak regulatory authorities.
Dangote seeks more support for the Private Sector
T
HE President/CEO of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, said he decided to venture into the construction of a refinery and fertiliser plant as part of his contributions to reducing unemployment in the country. Dangote stated this in Lagos while addressing members of a business group which paid him a visit. He said the task of growing the nation’s economy rests more on the private sector and urged other investors to lend the government a helping hand in this direction. He said: “The responsibility of government is more of providing the enabling environment through the right policies and infrastructure provisions for the private sector to thrive.” He commended the current administration for focusing on issues that would help the private sector perform optimally as enshrined in
the Transformation Agenda of President Goodluck Jonathan, Dangote said no government can succeed without the input of the private sector. He also praised the Federal Government for listening to the private sector and intervening in some critical areas of attention such as the backward integration policy which started with the cement sector and now being extended to agriculture. “Nigeria has the resources and the market for any company to survive. I have always said it that Nigeria is a good place to invest. We have all in abundance. God has blessed this country,” he said. Expressing optimism in Nigeria’s economic revival through the private sector, he said the current challenges facing the country will soon be a thing of the past. The Dangote Group, he promised, will invest more in Nigeria and create more jobs.
SMEDAN, Japanese firm partner on Vehicle Recycling Plant
T
•Director-General Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON) in Computer Village discussing with phone vendors.
‘Shea butter export can boost Nigeria’s non-oil earnings by $2b ‘ E
XPERTS yesterday in Abuja said that the export of processed Shea butter could boost Nigeria’s nonoil earnings by $2billion annually. They gave the figure at a briefing on the forthcoming 6th International Shea Industry Conference organised by the Global Shea Alliance (GSA).The Global Shea Alliance is the coordinating body for the development of the shea butter industry worldwide. The conference is an annual gathering of producers, exporters, wholesalers, retailers and other stakeholders in the shea butter industry. The Director-General of the Niger State Commodity and Export Promotion Agency, Mr Mohammed Kontagora, who is also a member of GSA said that Nigeria’s potential in the sector was largely untapped. He said that Nigeria, which presently accounts for 57 per cent of the global shea value put at about $4 billion dollars, could address its challenge of poverty through shea butter export.“Nigeria stands a better chance of improving its economy through the processing and sale of shea butter.“ The current global shea value stands
at more than $3.8 billion. “Shea butter has the potential to eradicate poverty, this is the sector I believe we all have to go back to,” he said.Kontagora said that there was no other genuine means of enhancing the rural economies of communities that had comparative advantage in shea butter production. He added that there was no better option to rural women empowerment than in the promotion of shea butter as a food and cosmetic product.On the export capacity of Nigeria, the DG said that more than 50,000 tonnes of the product could be exported from the country per year.He, however, bemoaned the lack of adequate statistics on shea butter production, noting that it was one of the factors militating against the development of the sector in Nigeria. Earlier in her address, the President of Alliance, Mrs Eugenia Akuete, solicited the support of government and other stakeholders for the development of the sector in Nigeria.She said that the growth of the sector could em-
power more women to contribute to the wellbeing of the families and those of their local comm-unities.“Women collect nuts across the Savannah area stretching from Senegal to Uganda and South Sudan.“Millions of women make shea butter that millions more in West Africa consume daily in food and skin care products.“The Shea has tremendous impact on local economies, for every one dollar of shea exported, local villages receive an additional 50 per cent of income,” she said. On her part, an executive committee member of the alliance, Mrs Salima Makama, pleaded for support and publicity for the forth-coming conference. She said that the conference would create opportunities for Nigeria and Africa to develop the local shea butter industry and open new economic opportunities for its citizens. Makama urged states with comparative advantage in shea butter production to take a cue from the Niger State Government’s shea development road map.
HE Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) and the Kaiho Sangyo Japan have begun discussions on the proposal for conversion of the Industrial Development Centre (IDC) at the Idu Industrial Layout, Abuja, to a vehicle recycling plant. The Centre is one of the 23 established by the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment as a business incubation center and Industrial Park, but have remained largely under-utilized over the years. The proposed vehicle recycling plant is expected to recycle entirely endof-life vehicles to be turned into three kinds of steel namely, metal, aluminum and copper, which will then be converted into motor body and spare parts in the nearest future. Speaking on behalf of Kaiho Sangyo Japan, the Project Consultant and Team Leader, Mr. Masayoshi Matsushita said that while he was working with United Nation Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) in Nigeria, he noticed that a lot of dead and abandoned vehicles littered most nooks and crannies of the country and they were an eyesore and could contaminate the environment. “I saw the waste emanating from these end-of-life vehicles hanging around the whole place, I decided that something good could come out of these comatose automobiles which cumulatively numbered about 400,000 in the whole country and about 8000 in the FCT alone. We went into partnership with the Abuja Investment Company on the development of this project. With the help of UNIDO and JICA, we were able to come up with this company to delve into automobile recycling of ELVs”, said Matsushita.
ABUCCIMA to provide exotic tents for 8th Trade Fair, says D-G
T
HE Abuja Chambers of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agri culture (ABUCCIMA) says it will provide “exotic tents’’ for ex hibitors at the forthcoming Eight Abuja International Trade Fair. The fair will hold between Sept. 26 and Oct. 10 at the Jeremiah Useni International Trade Fair Complex, Airport Road, Abuja. The DirectorGeneral of the Chamber, Mr Joe Wenegieme, stated this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) yesterday in Abuja. He said the tents, measuring 2,125 square metres and with capacity to accommodate 156 exhibitors, would be brought from China. “We have bought these exotic exhibition tents from China; we will be clearing them very soon. I have received the bill of laden from the supplier. “Unlike previous years when exhibitors were made to construct their own temporary wooden stands, we have placed orders for exotic exhibition tents from China. Wenegieme described as encouraging, responses from countries, state governments, corporate oganisations and other prospective participants to the chamber’s invitation.