Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Coleman Wires and Cables Industries Limited, George Onafowokan, has called on the Federal Government to implement urgent policy reforms to strengthen and save local manufacturing and create employment opportunities.
Highlighting the many challenges facing the industry, including the disparity in import duties on raw materials versus finished goods, he said the sector is on life support.
“If I am importing from China to Benin Republic or Ghana, all I have to compete with is what the Common External Tariff (CET) dictates. But in Nigeria, the challenges are different,” he noted.
He pointed out that while fiber optic raw materials attract up to 25 per cent import duty, finished fiber optic products are five per cent taxed, making local production uncompetitive and killing local businesses.
He decried the fact that despite manufacturers’ many appeals, it has taken the government over two years to start addressing the issue.
Stressing the importance of creating an enabling environment to support manufacturing growth, he said this is the only way to create employment.
Using his company as an example, he said, he employs less than 800 people and operates at just 20 per cent capacity over an eight-hour shift.
He said if the company were running at a 24-hour production capacity, it could take between 5,000 to 6,000 workers.
Further decrying Nigeria’s untapped potential in the solid minerals sector, he revealed that its expansion has reached a scale where it can engage miners directly.
However, the lack of a clear framework to utilise locally-mined resources is a major discouragement.
“You can have all the biggest capacity in the world, but if you’re not utilising it, you don’t need the material,” he noted.
He noted that the approved concessions for importing raw materials needed for copper processing are yet to be signed under the fiscal policy framework.
“The Ministry of Finance and Presidency must finalise this approval. The entire organised private sector (OPS) is aware of this and waiting,” he said.
Rejecting claims that lobbying is required to push such policies forward, he insisted that manufacturers are often sidelined in policy discussions.
“Manufacturers are not politicians; we are private sector-driven people. Unfortunately, traders and the investment community get their ears faster than we do, even though we create employment,” he lamented.
He also criticised the overemphasis on agriculture without thinking of adequate industrial support.
“Agriculture is useless without industry. Someone has to process the rice into flour and the palm oil into refined products. Without industry, 50-60 per cent of agricultural produce goes to waste,” he stressed.
Source: Guardian
