INI:)JJSTRY ---
~
Manufacturing industry: Storie. b, ,\yomlde Ow~mlbl.
B
landmark ror Nigeria nnd Nigerians. For !IOIIlC slakchokkn to the manufacturing
Nigeria
Is
definnely mO'liIlg rorward,
allhough Ille~alns 8 chalknQI.g COl~t.ry to do
Ji1)~
Still many hurdles to cross
business.
La&08
ECOM NC 52 Is actually II
sector,
Monday, 1 October. 2012 1
Nigerl.ul Tribune
Speaking on the growth orNtgc:rta. Ocmck Roper. the CEO orNovare Equity PartDcrs, an investment company In Africa. pointed out that then:' had been a lot or developments In the counlry. -but tt Is stUl a Challenging
envtronmenL -
However. contrary to
output In Nigeri a and
pos itive
other developing counll'les had dropped to
NovaTC'S outlook
or
lhe
lnvcsunent climate In the
country, the report or the United Nations Industrial Oevelopment Organ15aUon (UNlDO) on manufacturi n g production in Ute 5I';COnd quarter or 20 12. showed Ulat the growth rate or
the lowest level sln芦 the bcglnn1ng or 201 I . Taking a crtucaJ look at
lhe
Nigerian
manuIaclurtng Industry. there: are dear evidences or growth, but most Urnes It oscillates at an embarrassing raUo based
Stakeholders disagree over business environment in N~eria
E:;pm the helg Itened tnsecurtty COfIOI:m5 In SOlLIe parts d UJ'! ClIUrll'Y, the Minister lOr- Trwk uxl blvestmoU.
D
Dr OIustgun
Al;anga.
has polnl!';d O.Jl thEll Ntgerta sUIl rem; Ims the most allractlv-: desUI\IlUOn ror Investmen~ In '\fl1ca Spc:akb: gal a IOrum ovathe ,.~du:lld. IJ-c mlnlsltt polnled O-.lt Ihll Nigeria a1t.ract.ed f-6 bffilon laboul N930 bOlton) as Foreign DI.n:ct In A Sl.lrJc \l (FUll in
2011 aJunc. CU:lng statlstK::s from the
United NaUons Collunisslon JOC T'mdc wld Devdopment fUNCTADl, the tnlnislc:r slated lhat the world trade development body rated NJger1a as the 25th m08t likely countJy to aurnet tn....::stmoll fund in
"'"
"""'- a In related development , the President. Manufacturers Assoclallon of Nigeria IMAN) Dr Kola Jamodu. at a forum, noted an l:ncr~
In lnVCSlmenl as -=11 as improved 1l1OlO\"l';l' for lhe Industrial seClor of thc economy w1Lhln the ~t ~
,.,.,..
Jamodu said Ulal the sector had wll..!liSSCd an increased manufacturing Investment. as 240 new factories commenced opem.uons In Ute last one year with a proJccted t.~ of N 140 bUlIan. He added that some members or lhe man ufacturers aSSOdaUOlI had expanded their
Price of beans increases by 300% IE "路ederal Guven menl's n:SoI'I'e to m..ili lOad Insecurtiy a th-.Og of the past maY' further be comprom sed as some staple food prices, spcdIkaIIy beam. conUnue to risc, ch,e to aUendam tsaues of 000 ling and ingecwtt} tIl 30me fanning communl ,les In the
T:
.,..,tty. Resulh! from a l1lllIitet survey can1ed 0 Jt In 80me
major maritels wllhln the Lagos metropOlis revealed
Umt UIC pnceofbeans has risen astronomically to N32. 000 a bag. as u.gatnst Ihe N 13,000 It sold for per bag six months ago. According to stakeholders In the agricultural seClor. the price hike could be attributed to scard.ty or the commodity as new beans had not arrived In Ute markets 119 It should
around Ulls time or the year due 10 floods wWch had ravaged parts of the northern states where beans.ls. maJOrc:rop. and also, lhe 8ecurlty challmge5 tIl the country. Findings at the popular Mile 12 market revealed that a standard mcuure (mudul 01 beans now se1l5 ror N 1.200. as against N250 previously; represenUng more Utan a 300 per ttnt hike.
producdon bage by as much
as NIOO blIllan. a posllkln which sparked oIT COJ1lrOVer.iles Contrary to this, the World Bank posited Utat Ute Investment climate In Nigeria was sill! not very friend ly, not 10 talk or drawing the necded Investment Into Ole
"'""tty
Reporu by the apex bank revealed that entrepreneurs' blggcst problems were epileptic power supply. access to ftnance and Insecwily. The I1':pon specillcally put the loss of manufacturtng rompanks to outage to about 4.3 per cent of their sales ~ ~1ille flnns opera.t.tngin the sc:rv1ces sec:tOC" kist about 6.3 per ttlll to epllepUc dCCU1cllY supply. 111C report also showed lhat companies In the manufacturing sector lost 2.3 per cent of their revenue to corrupUon while tbo&c in the service sector IOSI about 2.2 per <=L
on poor fu n di n g, Infrast r uct ur al dlallcnges among a host of oOler factors. Accord,lng to th, stakeholders, absem:e or a stable and errectlve power system was perh aps the Single most Important factor mllila t ing against a sustained growth of the Nlgenan manuractUring 5CCIOr. Govcrn ments have In the past made promises on Improvements In clcctridty supplk:8, all of which had railed to materialise. It was esti mated iliat a slable electricity supply system wouJd lead to a 25 per cent Increase in Ule rate 0( economic growth. Acoordlllg to analysls, the cu r renl power ge n erlltlon which osdllales between 3900 and 4000 megawatts was abysmally luw when compared wtUl what Ule country needs to have a total Industrial revolution. An analyst pointed out that If most of the manufacturing companies were working at full capacity, they alone could gulp ovcr 30,000 megawaLlS. The na tlonal g.ld presenlly npcrates on a Tadta1 system. which Is extremely fragile and prone LO breakdowns. Due to Ule fragllny or the national grid. gcneraOon levels above 3.500MW rrequently lead to naUonal system collapse. Despite this discouraging stallsUcs, stakeholders In the mallufactu.rlng sec lOr, speclncally the Lagos Chamber or Commerce and lndustzy fLCe!), have commended the Federal Government for the noticeable Improvement of power supply across majof" dUes tn the country over the last few monUlS. Accordtng to MrGoddk: Ibru. President or the chamber, It was a good developmenl for Nigeria. cspeclally for bUSiness concerns U18.1 had to deal with high cost of producUon Induced by allernallve source of
=cgy. 路No doubt, epil eptic elecl..!1dty supply has been one or the mosl daring challenges conrronUng businesses In Nigeria 0'II:t' Ome.. We IteJdJy wgc the goyemment to sustain and bu ild on the curren t
tempo. - he said, According to him. a sun'C)' conducted by LCCI showed lhat electricity supply Improved by an a~ or 35 per cent in most parts d Lagos 0'II:t' Ute last three months. Looking back at the decline in Ote sector ~ the last 52 years, the North. which used to ~ known as a major hub In Africa for textile indusllies. has somehow nuled out due 10 the collapse of Lhe Industry desplle Federal Governent's spirited dJorts to resuscitate Ule Induslry. The ctosure or the United Nigerian TexUles PLC (UN11..I, one or the Nigeria's leading textile nrms, opened anolher unpleasant dtaplcr In Ole Nigeria's econol'll.k:: hlstory. RccenLly, there was a healed debate bdwee:r;1 two focal bodIes-Nigerian As8odaUon for Chambers of Commerce. Industries Mines and Agrk."l1IlUre and the Manufacturers A!JsodaUon. as to "i1Clhc:r InduSU"les U1 the sector were fuUy optimising thclr fuU potcnOal. Thougb tho:: Federal GO'fCfnment has made spirited errorts to resUSCItal!'; Llle sector by doling out billions or doUars In balloul funds, there has been major disarray as stakeholders constanUy complain that UlC)' have been cut oITfrom the runds by political industrtallsLS who end up using lhe money ror 111C1r ~gauL
How true Ihls Is remains largely unsubstantiated as the Bank or IndUSlry. which Is the Industrial apex bank, conlillually releases names or compank:s wtUl clear cut growth afler becoming benenclarles or the Federal Governmenl's largesse. Insecurity has become a major plague In the manuracturlng sector. as many Industries In the country's ~olallie region are scared of perrormlng at their optimum ror fear of altacks by variOUS Insurgent groups. The speculaUOns U18t over 800 companies clo!sed shop over the last one ~ IS relative when compared to the Issues which continue to berall the sector.