By Franklin Alli
Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Mr. Olusegun Aganga, has faulted industry critics who said that companies in the industrial sector of the economy are dying.
Minister of Trade & Investment, Olusegun Aganga
“People are saying industries are dying, but they are not, but growing every day,” said Aganga.
Speaking during a facility tour of Sparkwest Steel Industries Limited in Ogun State, he cited the following examples, “In the last four years, about 57 new industries came up in Ogun State. The president has visited Ogun State more than seven times to commission new factories.
“The same thing is happening in Abia State where Nigerian Breweries over the last five years has spent $1 billion for new plants in the country. The brewery is the biggest and the best in Africa. The governor of the state was telling us that most of the industries that left Aba five years ago, are coming back to Aba,” he added.
We have to also commend the Ogun State government because without them, none of the new 57 industries would have come up in the state. There is also the need for State and the Federal government to partner to achieve industrial revolution in the country.
Aganga said the Nigeria Industrial Revolution Plan, NIRP, was working but needs consistency and continuity for another 5 to 7 years to achieve its mandate, saying that if Nigeria continues with the initiative, it would diversify the economy, create millions of jobs and earn more foreign exchange from export of steel products from industries such as Sparkwest.
Also speaking at the event, the Managing Director, Sparkwest Steel Industries Limited, Mr. Niyi Oyedele, said the company had grown out of an import business into a world-class manufacturer locally producing fabricated and galvanized steel structures, electrical transmission towers, power stations/substations, and telecoms towers and accessories for the Nigerian market. He added that the journey so far had been turbulent; pointing out that import duties on raw materials have continued to plague the growth of industrial activity. He commended the minister for having reversed the duty on raw materials to 5 per cent, thereby helping increased growth in their industrial operations.
Mr. Oyedele went further to say “The Ogun State Government has given tremendous support to our Factory and other Industries within the state. Indeed, Governor Ibikunle Amosun’s support and cooperation constitute one of the reasons for our success.”
“Today, we are among leading suppliers to the telecoms, oil and gas and power industries. It is a fact that we have done lots of exports to countries like Ivory Coast, Cameroun, Ghana, Gabon and the like,” he said.
According to Oyedele, the power industry is still a major challenge to industrial development, calling on the minister to get the industry to patronize local production.
“We are expanding our factory by building a rolling mill, we currently have staff strength of 600, but we will increase it to 2,500 by the time we complete the mill,” he said.
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