Nigeria is at crossroads over a deliberate neglect of its industries as multiple consequences manifest in youth restiveness. The productive capacity of its teeming youths that would have been harnessed to create jobs and grow the economy has been crippled by successive years of poor investment in industrial development and poor infrastructure.
The Idu Industrial layout is one of the numerous industrial hubs in the country suffering severe neglect, but has the potential of spurring growth and jobs, particularly in Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Located within the Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC), the industrial zone was specifically designed to attract industrial clusters into the nation’s capital. But it appears to have missed its core mandate, which is to drive production and offer opportunities for job creation to the teeming unemployed Nigerian youth.
On the spot assessment by Businessday, for instance, showed that the road leading into the industrial layout and most of the connecting roads are in a very poor state. This is despite the fact that the layout houses some notable government offices such as the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) and Nigeria Pharmaceutical Council of Nigeria.
Staff of the few companies seen in the place told Businessday of the huge absence of government support and intervention for an industrial platform which hold huge potential for massive jobs that authorities, endlessly speak about.
Sharing their own experience, some business owners narrated how the AMAC authorities, increasingly extort levies from them, without bothering about how to fix dilapidated infrastructure that would enable investments in the layout in line with the initial plan.
Michael Nwobodo, an engineer and a graduate of Materials and Metallurgy from the Federal University of Technology Owerri (FUTO), berated government for abandoning the industrial cluster, and strongly believes there are several ways authorities can intervene.
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According to him, “The source of our materials is from some of our big suppliers who have the capacity to bring in the material from outside the country. We have lots of people that patronise us such as estate managers, individuals in building engineering segment, cold room constructions among others.”
“Having my own business has been a vision I developed while in the university,” Nwobodo who deals on production and fabrication of aluminum roofing sheets at the layout,” told Businessday, as he narrated his tough experience as a business owner.
He said: “One key challenge in expanding my business and employing more people has been the inability to access loan, the requirements from the commercial banks are difficult and the interest rates are too high.
“If government can create special intervention fund for the industrial cluster, it can take thousands of people out of the streets.
In January 2020, Dikko Umaru Radda, Director General, Small and Medium Enterprise Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) announced federal government’s plans to convert the Idu Industrial Centre to a furniture and wood enterprise cluster.
The choice of Idu as a pilot followed a study to ascertain the viability of industrial centers in the country.
Radda had assured that the cluster, project expected to help cut down foreign exchange leakages from furniture imports would meet all the standards required to have a world class cluster for furniture and wood production, However, it is not clear what is being done, as Businessday found during the visit that the place remains a shadow of itself.
Chimaeze Iweadighi who sells aluminum products and fabricates sheets and accessories also corroborated Businessday findings. According to him, nobody from the government comes to ask how the industrial cluster can advance from its current state, rather tax officials are always at their behest despite no support of the government.
He said: “Since we have been here, there are no government incentives to drive our businesses. The interest rate to access loan is a problem, so I had to save the little I could to enable me buy equipment.
“If we can access loan, it can increase capacity of people doing the job. With loan, we could expand conveniently and reduce the pressure of unemployment.
Interestingly, the Idu Industrial layout also hosts some notable companies such as Pepsi, Alibert Furniture, Aguwa roofing Sheets and BUA Cement.
But key concerns are that government is not doing enough to incentivize businesses and intervene in particularly in the areas of infrastructure and electricity inorder to the lower cost of production.
This comes at a time the Nigerian economy had seen a 6 per cent contraction in the second quarter and is projected to worsen.
Experts also believe that such industrial projects and programmes like Idu would be critical especially as Nigeria readies to benefit from the African Continental Free Trade Area, Agreement (ACFTA) which has already taken off in January with huge opportunities for trade, investments and business opportunities.
Celestine Okeke, an Associate Consultant at the Department for International Development (DFID) said: “When we don’t do one thing well, it robs us of several opportunities. Can you tell me a sectoral and road map of the Federal Capital Territory administration to support industrial lay out such as this .Can they tell us .I challenge them to say it. This industrial lay out can be a game a reference point.”
He believes Nigeria can learn from China which had a dramatic transformation from a huge agrarian society to an advanced industrial nation.
“China got to where they are today through massive investment in its industrial production. It has also created world class institutions such as the Asia Investment and Infrastructure Bank based in Beijing, where countries can access loans with moderate interest rates to help their local industries.
“In China for instance, there is a trade department in the government which constantly checks on businesses and offers special support and interventions. Even in the United States, we’ve seen the country intervene when big companies are going through trying times.
“This is what I expect our government to do to expand opportunities for wealth creation, especially now there are concerns of economic downturn with the coronavirus pandemic,” Okeke stated.
He further suggested that the government can adopt a Public Private Partnership arrangement to resuscitate the ailing industries which are in dire need of special interventions.
Tony Ejinkonye, former President of Abuja Chamber of Commerce and Director of Business Development, (Africa) Esilkroad Network LTD told Businessday that the concept of Idu Industrial layout is good but that government got it wrong ab initio because most of the land there were not allocated to industrialists.
He said: “If you do further findings, you’ll find out that most of those at the industrial layout now got the land through second source, from people who got the initial allocation. This inevitably spikes cost of production for most of the industries there.”
He however advised on several options left for government, including, for instance, providing infrastructure. “Some people there have their own transformers and the roads are in deplorable conditions. The government must intervene and incentivize the place to attract more industrialists,” he noted.
“Also, there have to be policies in place to make that place an industrial designation that could attract more industrialists there? There is no piece of legislation or incentives.
“If you dig deeper, you’ll find out that there are all sorts of taxation there by the municipal authorities who also disturb truck loads carrying out industrial goods and services. There is what we call Industrial clusters which ought to have electricity, infrastructure, and other basic infrastructure that will drive industrial purposes for wealth creation.”
