Relocate Your Overseas Factories to Nigeria, FG Tells Manufacturers

Dike Onwuamaeze

The federal government has tasked importers at the Lagos International Trade Fair Complex (LITFC) who have manufacturing firms abroad to relocate them to Nigeria.

This task was delivered yesterday in Lagos by the Minister of Industry, Trade and Industry, Dr. Jumoke Oduwole, during an interactive session she had with traders and business owners at the LITFC.

Oduwole said the volume of trading going on at the LITFC is certainly the biggest in West Africa and contributing significantly to growing the gross domestic product (GDP) of Nigeria.

The minister said: “Many of you are industrialists. And we know that. Some of you own factories elsewhere. You cannot be enriching other countries (I will not mention names) and giving jobs to others when you can do it here.

“So we are going to help you and partner with you for your backward integration. So that you are not manufacturing somewhere and bringing them here to sell to our people. You should be manufacturing here, and selling here and exporting to other countries.

“And we will partner with you to make it work. Because you have the experience.”

She said the federal government was ready to provide necessary assistance that would enable some of the traders to formalise their businesses.

Oduwole said the mere fact that trading was a highly informal sector could not be ascribed to a lack of sophistication.

She added: “I used to be a lecturer at the University of Lagos. And I did some research around here once.

“And I know that some of you prefer to fly under the radar. But you are moving billions of Naira internationally while preferring to stay under the radar. But you cannot make us feel that your informality means that you are small. You are not.

“And we know that you are not. And it shows in the figures. So that is an informality that is begging for formality and we will work with you on that.”

The minister assured the traders that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is concerned about their welfare and improving their ease of doing business.

She added that the government would look into their complaints on poor infrastructure and concerning 22 roadblocks they encounter between the ports and the LITFC and another four checkpoints on the Badagary Road to Republic of Benin.

“We are not going to leave you alone from the federal level. I’m taking this message back. And so Mr. President is being fully briefed,” the minister said.

In his remarks, the Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Balogun Business Association, LITFC, Mr. Okechukwu Ezeibe, said traders were afflicted with high cost of doing business, which they transfer to the larger economy.

“We transfer that to the consumers, and you are one of the consumers. So we urge the government to do something to change that,” he said.

Ezeibe said it was depressing when traders are treated as strangers in their own country not minding that he was born and brought up in Lagos Island about 70 years ago.

“Must we take that from our own country? I was born in Marina some 70 years ago. My first son was born 40 years ago.

“So I do not know who is more Lagosian than my family. We have lived all our lives in Lagos. We don’t have another place.

“I have paid all my taxes in Lagos. Many of us have all our children here.

“We have no other place to call home.

“Madam Minister, you have seen the decaying infrastructure, despite the money we pay yearly.

“We are paying billions of Naira to the government, and we are not experiencing it.

“Nothing has come our way.”

Ezeibe also lamented the lack of rule of law and due process in the manner in which Lagos State Government is sorting out issues with the traders, especially the recent demolition of shops in the market that cost traders billions of Naira in losses.

He said: “If local investors are treated this way, I wonder what will happen to foreign investors.

“We are scaring foreigners away because we report to our trading partners.”

Ezeibe said incessant demolition of shops was denying them credit support from their foreign suppliers who are afraid that they might not recover their money.

In her welcome address, the Executive Director of the Lagos International Trade Fair Complex, Ms. Veronica Ndanusa, stressed the strong commitment of the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment to the growth and development of trade in West Africa and the promotion of commerce and industry in Nigeria.

Ndanusa said that the LITF complex has, over the years, served as a strategic platform for exhibitions, international trade fairs, eco-west trade fairs and so on, and business engagements that bring together manufacturers, traders, investors, and entrepreneurs from Nigeria and across the globe.

“It continues to contribute significantly to the federal government’s vision of expanding Nigeria’s industrial and trade capacity,” she said.