Excessive imports crimp Nigeria furniture industry

 

The dumping of largely illegal imported furniture into the Nigerian market is slowing down the growth of local furniture manufacturers.

This was disclosed to BusinessDay in an exclusive interview with Oduwole Kayode, CEO of Fountain Fields limited a high end local furniture manufacturer.

“To help the local industry, excessive importation must be reduced. We are not saying to totally eliminate foreign competition, but if these companies want to sell in Nigeria, let them come into the country and set up factories and produce locally. When they produce locally they can create more jobs for the people and help the economy of the country to grow,” Kayode said.

Furniture making in Nigeria is a multi-billion naira industry that employs hundreds of graduates and non-graduates in the country.

It is perhaps for this reason the federal government thought it wise to place a ban on furniture importation some years ago to encourage local manufacturers.

However with the near absence of enforcement on the ban, foreign manufacturers are having a field day and almost stifling the local competition.

The desire to produce the best quality furniture that could compete globally has always been the vision of the company, according to Kayode whose firm has been in the market since 1998.

“We decided to make improvement on our productions. What they do at Turkey is to make frames but we introduced innovations to make the door stronger. We introduced the honey comb.”

Honey comb gives the doors an edge so much so that they come with pressure resistance unlike the normal doors rings hollow when someone knocks on them.

The near-absence of raw materials such as timber has impacted the local industry, according to Kayode.

This is despite the fact that many investors have at some time or the other ventured into timber production.

At a point Nigeria even became a major timber exporting country.

In fact, as at the early 1970s, a combination of wood products and agricultural commodities provided more than 70 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

But all that appears to be in the past as the rampant incidence of artificial deforestation in which trees cut from the forest are not replanted have affected output in the industry and forced many of the companies to close shop.

Fountain Fields who now imports most of its raw materials from Turkey and assembles them in Nigeria has managed to stay competitive with top foreign furniture brands.

Kayode insists that it is not always true that foreign furniture is better than locally manufactured ones.

“When you compare the doors made in China and Turkey, you will realize that the doors we make here are better but we have to import the same materials.”

He however agreed that the industry is proliferated with substandard products.

“Some Nigerians produce same doors, but instead of honey comb, they put newspaper because they have no access to the material. That’s the reason they sound hollow when you knock on them,” Kayode said.

 

 DANIEL OBI & FRANK ELEANYA