In this interview, Mr. Rasheed Olaoluwa, Managing Director/CEO Bank of Industry (BoI), justifies why governments and the citizens should patronize Nigerian manufacturers of high quality products instead of imported goods.
You have toured the Momas Electricity Meters Manufacturing facility, what is your assessment of the state of the infrastructure and equipment on the ground?
We just finished the factory tour of Momas and this is a factory where they produce prepaid electricity meters. I must say that I have been very impressed really by the level of technology on displays here. People who have an engineering background would understand what I mean here. I saw semi-conductors, integrated electric circuit and the process of making these circuits.
It is the first time this is happening in Nigeria. For me, the key issue is, we have a company in Nigeria that is owned by a Nigerians that has the capacity to supply almost all of the electricity meters that we need in this country. For me, there is an industrial policy issue here. BoI wants to help Nigerian companies like this that have the capacity to produce what Nigerians or Nigerian businesses require.
We don’t need to import such things. This is one of the reasons why our foreign reserve has been under pressure-we keep importing what we produce locally; I think the major strategic step for our country to take is to come out with an industrial policy to ensure that any company we have identified as having capacity to produce items locally, such companies are given supports and patronage.
Momas produces all kinds of meters-pre paid and post paid, they have even developed a very robust platform that ensures that from your mobile phones you can check how much is the balance on your meter, and whether you need to re charge or not.
These are things that we should be very proud of as Nigerians. I am very proud of what they have done and they require supports that they can get from us, Nigerians and the Nigerian governments.
How do you integrate your customers so that they patronise one another?
Yeah, that is a very good question. You will have noticed that I was asked the Chairman of Momas (Engr. Kola Balogun) some questions as we were going around the facility. When we got to the part where he showed us the plastic casing, I mentioned to him –are you procuring the cases from Innoson Plastic Manufacturing, one of our customers, and he said, yes, they get only the big ones.
Of course, we encourage our customers to patronise each other. There is a portal that BOI is putting up right now which will actually show case every BOI customers in terms of all their products, the profile of the company, etc. so that Nigerians can access and patronise these companies. So, it is a very good point that you have made that our customers can support each other.
To what extent has the bank assisted this company?
We supports Momas in terms of both long term loan as well working capital. So far so good, the company is meeting its obligations.
How much?
I don’t think the client want me to mention the amount (Laughs)
How can we as a country develop our own industrial base?
We cannot develop our industrial base if we are bent on patronising imported goods. What I am going to do to be very specific, is from time to time, I have meetings in Abuja and I am going to put it on the table; I am actually working on a presentation which I intends to make to the Federal Government.
We have identified our customers and other customers we have identified in the economy who have capacity, not just capacity, we are talking about good quality outputs, people who can actually produce good things like Secure ID; the company is among the most modern card manufacturing companies in the world, so we really do not have justification for importing cards anymore in this country.
Momas where we are today has a very modern prepaid meters manufacturing facility, so we don’t really have reasons for importing those things, rather we need to really find a way to support companies like these to grow and create employment. Momas has capacity to hire 500 staff if they are well patronise but currently their staff strength is 100.
So that is the impact of what we are talking about. We have been exporting our jobs to other countries because we have been importing goods from them. We need to begin to really support our own manufacturers. That is what BOI is out to encourage.
What informed your visit to NFE Industries Limited and Knight Metal Manufacturing Company Limited, subsidiaries of Wempco Group?
These factories were commissioned recently. NFE Industries Limited in particular, processes steel billets for wire rods .They are used for processing products in Nigeria that are used to produce nails of different sizes, they are used to produce barbed wire, wire mesh and so on and so forth. Before this facility was commissioned, as a country, we used to import wire rods. So this is the first group that is actually producing this item locally. This is a very good development, and I am really very impressed.
Again, we are seeing a company that is producing a product locally to the highest international quality, and I think as a government, we can support and protect local manufacturers like this. Am aware that there are people who still imports wire rods up till now but with this new factory, there is no justification for continuing to import.
And luckily from my discussions with the company’s executives, the ex-factory price here is actually cheaper than imported steel rods; so really, no one has any reason to import. I really benefited from the discussion in knowing what are the factors responsible for their cost efficiency? You hear a lot of manufacturers complaining about how harsh the environment is and all that but here is a local manufacturer that has managed to put together the various factors of production such that the ex-factory price is actually cheaper than imports.
This gives me a lot of hope that indeed, Nigeria is on the right track; the Industrial Revolution Plan is working, and I think, going to the future a lot more facilities like this are going to come up that will ensure that we become more self-sustained as a country.
Looking at the ceramic products, there is made-in-Nigeria on the cartons, what is the bank doing to encourage citizens to patronise locally made quality products?
Before we got to this tile factory, we saw the nail factory and on the bags of nails it was written Made in Ogun State Nigeria. That was because the former governor of Ogun State, Otunba Gbenga Daniel insisted that they shouldn’t just write made in Nigeria, they should write Made in Ogun State Nigeria. But guess what?
Our own fellow citizens complain that they don’t want that; that they should write made in China, that it helps their markets; so they have to put some Chinese words on the bags. I think we need to get over this inferiority complex among our citizens. A product that is made in Nigeria to the highest quality, we should be proud of it that it is our own as supposed to longing for products made outside Nigeria. So it is a psychology, it is an orientation that we need to change.
How many of these factories do you think can service the whole of Nigeria?
Okay, the factory that produces billets, wire rods has 300 thousand metric tonnes annual capacity; that is massive. I think at the end of the day it calls for industrial policy. We want to support local producers. They are the first to take a step in this particular direction, so we would like to support and encourage a number of other producers to come on board so that there is competition just like you have seen competitions in the telecom sector.
Initially, the MTN was charging N50 per minute, till today you know how much completion there is in that sector; at the end of the day, it is in the interest of the consumer. So they have taken the first step and with support in terms of industrial policy, and consumer, other producers will be encouraged to come into the picture. Once there is competition, the price will definitely come down.
To what extent has the bank key into the NIRP?
Yeah, again, we just finished looking at the ceramic tile factory, where kaolin is mined from the nearby mining lease in Ogun State, the kaolin is mixed with a lot of other raw materials to produce tiles and you can see they are of international quality tiles-very rugged, you can designed all kinds of things on it and you can even put your name and picture on it;
this is one of the key sectors identified in the Nigeria Industrial Revolution Plan; the three being agro processing of our agric produce into intermediate raw materials for industries; the second is Solid minerals and metals this group we have just visited today is a strong player in that sector. (vanguard)
