Onitsha Road Industrial Estate, Owerri, a wonderful place with potential to attract investors, but for its bad road

South-east’s largest aluminium factory under threat of birthing 264 industrial plots lying fallow

The Fourth Industrial Revolution is upon the world. Africa, nay Nigeria, is still grappling with making sense of the second and the third. But several economic actors agree that many decades, pre and post colonial, of dependency on primary commodities exports has not done Nigeria any good in terms of enhancing its economic wellbeing. Yet, lip service is continuously paid to industrialisation, of which manufacturing, the process of producing goods from primary and secondary raw materials, is central. Every part of the country is ripe for industrialisation, especially the promotion of manufacturing, through the creation of enabling environments. In the south-eastern geographical region, the states of Imo and Abia, the latter of which harbours the vastly popular Aba city, are believed to hold potentials for industrial development. NWABUEZE R. JONES ANYANWU is a lawyer, but he works with International Glass Company plc in Aba, Abia State. He is the current chairman of the joint Imo and Abia branch of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), the umbrella body for manufacturers in the country. In this interview with business a.m.’s DIKACHI FRANKLIN in Aba, Abia State, he talks about the challenges to industrialisation in the two states and singles out the Onitisha Road Industrial Layout in Irete, Owerri, Imo State as holding the key to industrial development in the state. He says that, unfortunately, the government of the state pays lip service to this unique opportunity.

Let’s start by asking you, because we know that every chairman of MAN always have targets set, projections to meet upon being elected. Have you been able to meet your targets?

No, we haven’t, I’m afraid; and that’s the blunt truth. That’s a bold admission, not talking like a politician. But why haven’t you been able to meet your targets?

We have faced a lot of challenges with the state governments that make up the Imo/Abia branch of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria here.

There are challenges too that revolve around the organisation; we are apparently, managing those ones and we are doing well. We have been able to increase our membership; we have sustained the old members and increased the number of new members. But there are some areas that our members are not comfortable with and it has been a very serious issue for me. We have tried to put everything in to see how we can reduce and solve the problem and that problem is the Onitsha Road Industrial Estate in Imo state.

Every forum I go and I see government people I keep on hammering on it. That place is a wonderful place that would have brought in a

lot of investors if it was taken care of.

The governor of Imo state [Rochas Okorocha], when he was campaigning for the second term [in office], was talking of industry, industry, industry, jobs, jobs, jobs, manufacturing, manufacturing, manufacturing and factory, factory, factory. We keyed into it hoping that something would be done to attract industries and create jobs. Unfortunately those things were a campaign sham; they were not meant to be implemented. We have also appealed to him on several occasions.

Two years ago we had to move to the Imo House of Assembly, the House committee on commerce and industries had a joint ministerial visit and other ministries and parastatals were involved. We went to that industrial layout and saw a huge borrow pit that is sunk there.

There were no scientific discussion or questions asked regarding the consequences of that borrow pit on the environment. The day the disaster that is hanging there will happen, the whole of Irette community will collapse. There is no road to the industrial layout and our members in that industrial layout have closed their businesses.

You seem passionate about this industrial layout, what does it offer and what has it lost?

If you were with us when we visited the place, you would have seen for yourself. There is a factory being built there, which the owner has spent over N2 billion to construct. There were supposed to be seven industries, they could not install the machines, the machines have been in the ports for three to four years now; these are machines worth billions of naira. If that factory had been completed, it would have been the largest aluminium company in the whole of southeast region, but the equipments are lying fallow.

The man building it is in Port Harcourt and has a factory in Port Harcourt. But because he is from Imo state, he had made efforts to build it in at the Onitsha Road Industrial Layout by bringing his partners in. But there is no road to the place! It is just that – no road to go to the factory.

The gas people that are meant to bring gas said they cannot ply that road; the people that bringing the equipment said that they cannot ply that road because there is every tendency that the equipment will fall. If gas falls there and catches fire, only God knows where it will stop.

So, by and large, that has been my biggest challenge. I have tried to discuss with the commissioners for trade and commerce, all of them, before Chidi Ibe to the present one; I have been to the commissioner for environment, I have been to OCDA [Owerri Capital Development Authority], I have been to the chairman, board of internal revenue, there is no person or office I have not been to. I have been to the Speaker of Imo State House of Assembly; I have been to the governor, I have been to the SSG [Secretary to the State Government], and I have been to the Deputy Governor, all of which have yielded no positive outcome.

We made all sorts of effort to make them have a listening ear, let them stop the dredging or create a route for the dredgers.

And then look at that place, there are 264 industrial plots in that place, which if taken care of can bring a lot of investors both local and foreign.

There could also be shared utility, the energy, especially gas people can come there and establish and supply gas to companies, which is cheap energy.

There are some IPP [Independent Power Producer] people that are coming to bring in their own electricity to that place, but there is no road, there is no security, and without these things, there is no investor that can go there; the noise made by the governor about industry, job and investment will not work under the current state of the place.

Having made all these efforts and nothing has worked, are you waiting for the next government so that you can begin to make another push?

Yes, that’s our intention. We are waiting and praying that God will send a good person to come and govern Imo state, somebody that can listen because what we are fighting for is not for us alone.

If you look at Owerri, it is divided into three sections – the old Owerri, the new Owerri, where you have a lot of hotels and the leisure industry; and there is this industrial area. The industrial area is supposed to complement the two other sections and then produce, while the other two sections utilize what is produced. The old area was meant to supply the labour; that was the relationship that was supposed to be there with regard to the planning. Unfortunately, however, hotels seem to be thriving and that is where the governor is developing.

But we begged him; we are not saying that all the roads should be developed. There are about three or four major roads there, tar them and develop them, let people have access and then that place will kick off.

Let’s look at the issue of funding, especially access to finance by member businesses under your watch. Have there been collective efforts to have access to loan support through schemes offered by the Bank of Industry (BoI), for instance?

You know the thing with loans and financial services industry, documentation is very important. Some of our members do not have their books ready for them, so when they (loan providers) do their preliminary investigations they usually drop them [our members]. So many of them are on, people like GIMICORD Aluminium Company have gotten loans several times; in fact, he is the one running from them. Other companies that have their books n order are enjoying it. We intend to have a meeting and I have asked the secretary to collect the list of those who are in dire need of financing, we intend to have a business luncheon with, may be two or three of them – Bank of Industry, or some other banks, so that we can have interaction with them and know what they require and let them know our problems and see how they can be of help to our members.

Management and proper book keeping appears to be major problems a lot of companies face, especially those that are family businesses and one-man owned. How do you help your members handle these twin issues? Do you organise seminars, workshops to broaden their knowledge in matters of company management and keeping proper books of account?

Yes, there is an arm of MAN, called MAN Resource Centre. MAN Resource Centre is a consultancy manpower development arm of MAN.

Their own responsibility is to train and develop staff, they even help companies’ source funds but, unfortunately again, our members don’t seem to catch up on these things and reap the benefits. The few that are coming out and are interacting with them are getting the maximum benefits.

They circulate their courses, every month they run a course on different aspects of management or on difficult aspects of industrialization and the services of industry, they also run courses on financing. If you want to increase your funding, or if you want to raise capital and approach them, they will assist you.

But on our own, we are also doing a little tutoring for our members to appreciate. We need to involve ourselves, involving ourselves means if we have a couple of people or companies who are interested we can bring them to the branch. We have tested it twice but the number we got was not encouraging. The company [MAN Resource Centre] is a company that is supposed to make profit. It is not a charitable company like that of our own. For them to make profit, we need a certain level of participants for them to breakthrough.

What do you do to showcase the activities of your members, the kind of manufacturing that they do?

Statutorily trade fares are for the chambers [NACCIMA]. We hold exhibitions, like the ones we are doing in Lagos where we are partnering with a South African firm. We can also replicate it here.

In fact, they have come to ask me to do that but the people don’t attend much. In our last AGM somebody from that company came and witnessed the AGM and we are still talking on the possibility of doing a local one, for made-in-our branch products, where we can have exhibitions. As a matter of fact, that is what we are trying to do and other branches have started.

We intend to do that at our next AGM to have a product exhibition where people can come and see the real manufactured goods made in Imo and Abia states.

For those who are involved in one form of business or the other in Imo and Abia states, and who would be reading this interview with you in business a.m., and would like to join MAN, what does it take to be a member?

You have to be a manufacturer, and a manufacturer is different from a trader. A manufacturer is someone who gets his raw materials and those raw materials will undergo some processes to [become] a finished product either, a finished product for the last consumer or by-product for another product. In that case, you can qualify to be a member.

But we also have a procedure, we have a committee that you can apply to, that committee will inspect your factory to make sure you are up to a standard for them to allow you to be a member because every company member has a minimum standard they have to meet.

We understand the chairmanship is a tenured position, so how long do you have before your tenure is over?

I was elected to the position of chairman three years ago. I am on the last lap of my second tenure, because it is done every two years, and by next year, I should be stepping down for another person to take over.

We are waiting and praying that God will send a good person to come and govern Imo state, somebody that can listen because what we are fighting for is not for us alone

Anyanwu