‘Businesses in Imo state are crippled over challenges’ says OCCIMA DG
For many months, businesses in Imo state have continued to face plethora of challenges with members of the Imo state chamber of commerce worst hit, while recovery is sluggish, This was the picture painted in by this interview granted by GRACE EMEJURU, director general of OCCIMA to Business A.M’s DIKACHI FRANKLIN
You are the director general of the Owerri Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (OCCIMA) could you say the biggest challenge facing your members this time?
It is the problem in the state that affects everybody here, the economy, social, political, are affected. It is the problem of insecurity which has affected everybody in the state. You know as the member and leader of the body of the organized private sector (OPS) in Imo state, our members are the worst hit by the security challenges in the sense that people do not do their businesses the way they are supposed to attend to them.
People are afraid to move from one corner of the state to the other, most times, they need to close their shops before 2pm. So, it has really affected the business of our members. We are really touched by this insecurity. And we also believe that just as we are all pleading, that the state government will do something about it.
But is there anything that OCCIMA in collaboration with the state government is doing or planning to ensure that members whose businesses are seriously affected are assisted?
So far, I think there can be nothing to be done for members’ businesses now but the only thing that can be done to them is to assist those people by ensuring that there is peace and security in the state so that people can go out for their businesses freely, do them the way they are supposed to do them and feel secured and go back to their homes when they are supposed to go. So, this is what we are looking for the government to do.
And if some of us listened few days ago, there was an interview with the commissioner of police in the state where he has assured the citizens of Imo state that they were doing everything within their power to ensure the security of lives and properties are protected. And that everybody should work as a team for the security of lives and that security will be assured in this state.
And that is what we are agitating for in this state for now. And we believe there are better days ahead and things will equally return to normal in the state. Because the Southeast is known for peace and this type of insecurity, unknown gun men and all that will be no more in the state.
And this is what the people and the police are looking into to resolve so that people can go back to their work and we are telling our members that things will definitely return to normal.
Does it not give you concern and worry when members of OCCIMA are not doing their businesses?
Why not? I feel very bad, I feel sad because when members are not doing there businesses and you call them for meetings or may be to participate in chamber activities they feel reluctant, they feel bad and nobody is going to feel strong to come because there is no security.
But when there is freedom of movement and they transact their business freely and you call them for meeting and other activities of the chamber they willingly oblige.
I feel bad about the insecurity because it makes the chamber look as if nothing is happening. We have so many programmes lined up but because of the security challenges, we have to pipe down so you do not tell them to come to the meeting when they are not even sure that if they step out they will come back home .
In respect of this challenge, are there some activities the chamber has embarked upon and finished?
Yes , we have embarked on a lot of programmes in the chamber, Last year, we had seriously the issue of COVID-19 which affected everybody and there was lockdown for some months. But by the grace of God, after the lockdown we came back again and did some programmes in collaboration with the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC).
We had made-in-Imo products exhibition, we had the palm oil seminar, a seminar for palm oil producers in the state, that was also done in collaboration with Nigerian Export Promotion
Council.
OCCIMA also had the business summit and that was its median summit in collaboration with Partnership Initiative for Niger Delta (PIND), though there was COVID-19 but it was a success because members came and gave their support and different people from all parts of the state participated.
Then we had an exhibition which was inform of a trade fair but it couldn’t work out the way we wanted it with the issues of centres and all that, but it could not work out the way we planned it. But we are still planning and the next one will come out really good.
But in January this year, we had a programme on business summit. This we did in collaboration with SMEDAN and ministry of commerce and industry. The state government partnered with us and it was a huge success.
Success in the sense that we had a lot of people coming from different states in the Southeast. It was a-day event, representative of SMEDAN came from Abuja. And it was a dialogue session
On February last year, we had a programme on tax appeal tribunal which we invited the tax group from Abuja and one of us, a senior member of the chamber, then president of South East Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (SECCIMA) and now the in-coming president of
National Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry. Mines and Agriculture(NACCIMA) who is in the person of John Udeagbala was present.
He came for the programme and we all participated. And hopefully by the grace of God, I believe we still fix another edition of that programme when things normalise in the state.
It is a gradual process, only that in the state, we have a lot of challenges here and there and when they come, these constraints draw our members and other sectors of the economy backwards on your planning as if nothing is happening.
But right now, we have other programmes lined up. These programmes, one of them will come by next month when we will have a summit for SMEs for tertiary institutions. We are still working on it; we are not yet done with the planning and I believe it will be a huge success. We also have another business summit programme, business dialogue and all that, so these are some of the events the chamber intends doing.
Are you saying that the present insecurity in Imo state is a threat to the smooth running of the Chamber?
Yes there is insecurity and unrest, they affect the activities of the chamber. And OCCIMA is the apex body of the business class in Imo state, so when the members who are equally belong to the business community are not doing well, they cannot go to their businesses and they cannot do anything to further their businesses, you cannot invite them to the chamber or to any activity or function because everybody is unstable. That is why we pray for stable society and security in the environment.
It appears members do not embark on foreign business mission like the members ABACCIMA, PHCCIMA, LCCI etc?
. As for trade mission, when we have slots, we put members who are interested. When there is insecurity like the COVID-19, it affected everything, NACCIMA was also affected. Some of these countries like China, South Korea etc were affected by the lockdown and they were not allowing people to come.
What about the numerical strength of the chamber, are you still getting registrations of new members?
Yes the chamber is growing, we are getting new members. You know what we are really doing now is not getting members only but getting quality members. And that is what we are really going out for, to speak to people who can understand the terms of the chamber’s activities and are ready to participate fully in the activities of the chamber and not just anybody coming into the chamber.
Do your members worry or complain over the unhealthy business environment in the state like members of the manufacturers Association on Nigeria, Imo/Abia branch?
Yes when I came in here as the director general, people were complaining about the harsh business environment. But on our own part, when the former governor Rochas Okorocha was here, we visited him to work with his government and you know barriers.
When governor Emeka Ihedioha came in, the president of the chamber also met him and we were trying to have a working relationship with his government but that government was shortlived.
We are still pushing with the incumbent governor Hope Uzodinma so that, the present administration will recognize the place of the chamber in the economy of the state. I believe every state government must work with the chamber, this is the real apex body of the business community in the city who understands the economy, who understands the terrain of business who understands the challenges people are facing. When the governor gets them involved in his planning, they will give the government credible reports for his planning.
Finally, do have any word of encouragement to the members of the chamber?
My advise to members of OCCIMA as the director general is that, they should not give up, once there is life, there is hope. And I know for sure that God is a faithful God and when you think nothing is happening, God is really doing something, let’s work together and the chambers will move forward.