Ex-NACCIMA DG: How Exit of Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso from ECOWAS will Cost Nigerian Manufacturers Export Markets

Dike Onwuamaeze

A former Director General of the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, and Agriculture (NACCIMA), Dr. John Isemede, has stated that the eventual exit of Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso from ECOWAS would cost Nigerian manufacturers export markets for cement and other products.  

Isemede made this remark during an interview on ARISE NEWS Channel’s “Morning Show,” where he also argued that the federal government could achieve a zero-borrowing fiscal regime by stopping oil theft, creating an enabling environment for optimal exploitation of the country’s solid minerals and reviving the productivity of the agricultural sector to produce enough food and raw materials for Nigerians and the industrial sector.

He also said that the government should prioritise reducing the cost of governance, adding that 10 ministers are enough for Nigeria.

Isemede also called for a reduction in interest rates on banking lending, even by presidential fiat, to revive the country’s ailing industries and create jobs.

According to him, Nigeria’s export trade would worsen “if Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso leave the ECOWAS because we are talking of a market of over 80 million people where we are selling cement and so many other things.”

Speaking on how Nigeria could fund its budget without borrowing, Isemede stated that “oil theft can be stopped in one day because it is not being stolen with buckets and jerry cans and the government has the security reports to stop it.

“We are talking about subsidising petrol consumption of neighbouring countries as if they are taking the petrol away in jerry cans rather than trailers.

“When Mr. President came in, he promised us a commodity board. Have we seen it? Do you not know what the commodity board did to Western Region from 1946 to 1986?  

“Under the Maputo agreement of 2003, 12 per cent of our national budget should go into agriculture.

“We are importing sugar from Brazil. Was the rice distributed during Christmas wholly produced in Nigeria?

“Let us look inward and use our experts. How many professors of agriculture do we have in this country? We have over 200 universities with Faculties of Agriculture; we have research centres and donor agencies,” he added.

He recalled that when he was the director general of NACCIMA, the contribution of solid minerals to Nigeria’s GDP was 0.03 per cent.  

“Today, is it up to 0.5 per cent? But over 30 per cent of the GDP of South Africa is from solid minerals,” he added.

Isemede said the priorities of the government should be on reducing the country’s high cost of governance, lowering the interest rate on lending to 5.0 per cent, and pushing money into the industries.

“How can we wake up the dead industries if we cannot reduce the interest rate? How can we create jobs for the younger ones?” he queried.

He added that Nigeria should focus on promoting export trade rather than relying on import trade by strengthening its export policy with an export programme that would develop foreign markets for made-in-Nigeria products.

“Nigeria accounts for 75 per cent of the world’s yam production but does not export one tuber. 

“When I was at NACCIMA, ambassadors were coming to me with targets they had to generate income out of Nigeria. Will ours be a culture of importation?

“Today, we rely solely on import duties from the customs without expecting anything from the export side. We export only crude oil,” he said.

According to him, there are 12 varieties of mangoes in the world, and all of them are found in Benue State but no one is getting mango juice from them.

“There are a lot of things we can do without borrowing money,” he said, adding that there are many ways to fund the national budget, which include consuming Made-in-Nigeria products and blocking leakages in public finance.

Isemede pointed out that failure to carry the private sector along was one of the reasons the presidential foreign shuttles failed to yield foreign direct investments.

According to him, Nigeria has signed all sorts of agreements with foreign governments without taking the private sector and experts along.  

“There is presently a big gap between the private sector and the government. In the past, it used to be that the government and the private sector would sit down and look at the budget,” he said.

Isemede also pointed out the need to review certain expenditure sub-heads of the federal government.

“Recently, Mr. President was in the South-east where he promised them a rail line from east to the north. Meanwhile, the Coastal Highway (from Lagos to Calabar) is there, including existing rail lines projects that are still running. The question is: can the country shoulder all these at a go?” he asked.