Following the free fall of crude oil price in the world market, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has said that it has become inevitable to return the country to the path of industrialisation.
According to Osibanjo, industrialising Nigeria was no longer negotiable as government is determined to see the country break free from its over-dependence on oil and gas and launch into massive industrialisation bolstered by research, development and innovation of indigenous manufacturing as well as creating the right environment for investments.
In corroboration, Governors Mohammed Abubakar (Bauchi), Adams Oshiomhole (Edo), Abdullahi Ganduje (Kano) and Abiola Ajimobi who was represented by his deputy, Moses Adeyemo canvassed near-identical positions.
They all spoke in Abuja at the LEADERSHIP Summit with the theme, ‘Industrialisation in States: Developing, Harnessing and Sustaining Industrialisation Drive of the State Governments in Nigeria Towards Ensuring Rapid Economic Development.’
Also at the summit, critical stakeholders reviewed the state of the economy, berated the lip-service paid to the industrial sector and called for serious investment in critical infrastructure like electricity, transport, research and development, as well as policies like multiple taxation, land ownership system and waivers, among others, that militate against industrialisation in the country.
Stakeholders who spoke at the Summit include Chairman of LEADERSHIP Group Sam Nda-Isaiah; legal luminary Femi Falana (SAN); industrialist, Mazi Sam Ohuabunwa; President of Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), Dr Frank Jacobs, and the acting Managing Director of Bank of Industry (BoI) Waheed Olagunju.
The Vice President, who was represented by the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr Okechukwu Enelamah, assured that in the weeks and months ahead, the Federal Government would be unveiling a number of important initiatives aimed at addressing Nigeria’s consistently poor performance on various Global Competitiveness and Ease of Doing Business indices.
According to him, these concrete initiatives would focus on dismantling the many obstacles that had stood in the way of business and business innovation in Nigeria.
He stated that the fulcrum of the enabling environment envisaged would be one in which it is progressively easier to do business, policies are predictable and consistent, the government acts as a partner to business and investment, not a competitor or adverse regulator, and in which there is macro-economic stability.
“In our estimation, the singular most important enabler of business in Nigeria – i.e. investment, entrepreneurship, and industrialisation in Nigeria – is infrastructure,” he explained.
The minister revealed that work was already ongoing within the government to create a dedicated fund to tackle the infrastructure deficit.
Enelamah added that the time has come for the government to move from plan to action on the Nigeria Industrial Revolution Plan (NIRP), a comprehensive document launched by the previous administration in 2014.
According to him, industrialisation is the turn-key Nigeria needs now to make the shift from being primarily an exporter of commodities and raw materials, to being an industrial economy, adding that manufacturing currently contributes only a tenth to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), much lower than it does in other emerging market economies.
“Our industrialisation ambition is hinged on the Nigerian Industrial Revolution Plan (NIRP), launched by the previous government in 2014. It is now our duty to implement that plan in the light of current realities, taking into consideration the lessons learnt in the two years since it was unveiled.”
He said government was focusing on identifying and supporting a select number of industrial sectors in which Nigeria has comparative advantage.
“We have seen success in our backward integration policies in the cement industry; and sugar is currently trying to replicate that success. In the automotive, and cotton, textile and garment (CTG) industries, we are continuing discussions with players and stakeholders to see how we can better implement an industrial policy that creates jobs, profits and prosperity,” he explained.
One of the fundamental questions facing us as a government, he said, is: how to increase the levels of domestic and foreign investment in Nigeria, especially for the purpose of closing the nation’s massive infrastructure gap.
“These challenging times we find ourselves in call for the deployment of innovative financing solutions, targeted at unlocking capital wherever it might be found. And we are well aware that this capital is available, within and outside Nigeria – in private equity and venture capital, pension and Sovereign Wealth Funds, and so on – and like I pointed out earlier, investors are also interested in investing in Nigeria. Our approach to attracting investments will be driven by a public-private partnership (PPP) agenda,” he said.
He noted that with the scale of infrastructure deficit, the limits of government’s resources have made it expedient to partner with private sector capital, and is clearly the most sensible approach “to financing our substantial ambitions.
“I must, at this point, add that the size and type of financing Nigeria requires suggests that our preferred partners will be those who show evidence of a commitment to a long-term partnership.
“Government’s commitment to achieving an appreciable and sustained diversification of Nigeria’s economic base and export revenues, and creating the right environment for business and investment to thrive,” he said, “has necessitated looking at our existing policies and laws to see what interventions are possible and necessary.
“It is also very heart-warming that the National Assembly has already started work in this regard, highlighting a number of critical infrastructure and investment-related laws it will be revising in the months ahead.”
He said the ministry was working with the Ministries of Finance, Agriculture, Power, Works and Housing, Solid Minerals, the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), and the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) to ensure success in this regard.
He assured stakeholders that they would be carried along for insight, feedback and constructive criticisms.
Entice investors with incentives — Nda-Isaiah
The Chairman of LEADERSHIP Group Ltd and chieftain of All Progressives Congress (APC) Sam Nda-Isaiah, has asserted that Nigeria must avail itself of the financial crisis created by dwindling revenue to government at all levels due largely to the crash in oil price, and start redirecting the nation’s economy towards industrialisation.
Specifically, he said state governors should create the enabling environment by enticing investors with incentives, even as he posited that it was time for state governments to engage in competition among themselves the way it happened among the regions during the First Republic.
Nda-Isaiah, who stated this in his welcome address during the ‘State Government Industrialisation Summit,’ averred that instead of sulking over the dwindling resources from the sale of crude oil, attention should be channelled towards building many refineries to refine the crude, and building the nation’s industrialisation drive on the current economic crisis.
This, he said, can only be achieved if state governors concentrate on industrialisation drive in their domains and put it at the back of their minds that there are no alternative sources of income to it.
He said, “Nigeria’s industrialisation has to be built on our current economic crisis. Instead of selling crude whose price will continue to decline, we should build many refineries to refine the crude. This is one project that the government should be happy to give guarantees to banks for, in favour of serious business people wanting to take the plunge because the financial layout for such projects are huge.
“Dangote’s 650,000 barrels per day refinery will be ready in two years. This capacity is bigger than the country’s current total refining capacity of our four refineries. Refiners get almost four times more profit from their crude oil resources in addition to creating jobs for their people than they do by merely exporting the crude,” he said.
Stating that the time to have convened the Summit was 10 years ago, the APC chieftain recalled with nostalgia that “LEADERSHIP Newspapers did hold a similar conference about 10 years ago.
“There were also other similar summits during which governors were forewarned that a day like this was not far ahead. Today, oil has virtually lost its value”, he said.
He cited the United States as an instance, saying that country which used to be the world’s biggest buyer of crude oil was “now the biggest oil producer, surpassing Russia and Saudi Arabia.
“A few years ago, when the United States depended on us for nine per cent of her oil needs, we were producing two million barrels a day. Today, the United States itself produces 14 million barrels per day. So those who daydream that the day of $100 per barrel would return someday lie to themselves.”
Thanking God that oil would not return to its prominence again, Nda-Isaiah declared that the era in which state governments depended heavily on the government at the centre was over.
He enthused that no matter how the value of the naira may improve as was the case in the past three days, imports will restively remain excessively high and difficult to pay.
Nda-Isaiah said: “This is precisely the opportunity we need to become a rich country. And state governments will have no choice except to develop alternative sources of income. State governors will soon find out that industrialisation of their states is the only way out.
“The days of waiting on Abuja are gone because Abuja itself has money problems of its own. Even though the value of the naira has been improving in the last three days, imports will continue to be prohibitive because of the current value of our currency.
“Even if the naira firms up at a lower dollar price, imported goods will still remain very expensive, so local manufacturers now have an opportunity. The Central Bank of Nigeria will continue to provide foreign exchange at the official rate to mainly businessmen importing raw materials and machinery for a very long time to come”.
Urging the states to create a healthy environment for competition among themselves, the media chief asked the government to be inundated with the fact that the country’s population was tremendously growing huge by the day.
He said, “State governors need to start enticing private investors into their states with incentives, and it is time for states to start competing among themselves just like it happened among the regions during the First Republic.
“The Nigerian market is huge. Our population, currently put at 180 million people, is expected to hit 200 million in a few years, and, according to the United Nations, Nigeria’s population will surpass that of the United States by 2050 and would be the third most populated country in the world, after China and India, by the end of the century”.
Nda-Isaiah further advised government not to bother itself thinking of banning frivolous importation of items like toothpicks and eggs, as “importers would simply not be able to sell their wares because people would just not be able to afford them.
“Anyone who imports toothpicks and chicken now is on his own, even without any ban. Traders who bring in Thailand rice at current exchange rate will probably not be able to sell in Nigeria’s current rice mass market.
“That is why the few rice millers in the country can no longer meet the current demand; and this demand will continue to rise. I don’t know why so many businessmen have not gone into the business of food processing in Nigeria. The opportunities are now limitless”.
On why manufacturers the world over are not responding accordingly despite the fact that they are fully aware of the Nigerian situation, Nda-Isaiah made handy the answer: “because our governments make things easy for them.
“If, for instance, the government declared that, in the next one year, only made- or assembled-in-Nigeria vehicles would be purchased by government at all levels, there would be a scramble by Toyota, Mercedes, BMW, Honda and others to establish assembly plants in Nigeria.
“As we speak, these carmakers have plants in South Africa and not Nigeria, even though the market is much bigger here. They complain about electricity supply but if we change the rules, they will stop complaining about electricity supply and rush here just like MTN came here and did not complain about our electricity supply. They just came and took advantage of the large market and they are happy they did”.
Urging Nigeria to stop the export of its primary products, he said, “Generally, we must add value to our primary agricultural produce, solid minerals and crude oil to get full value.
“State governments should start encouraging private investments in the solid minerals in their states and even take up shares in such private companies instead of complaining that solid minerals remain in the exclusive legislative list. Same for agricultural produce. There does not appear to be any other way out for the states at the moment. The era of free money is gone forever”.
He further expressed hope that government at all levels as well as Nigerians would take advantage of the LEADERSHIP Summit on Industrialisation “and actually start doing something for themselves.”
We are empowering large scale wheat farming in Kano — Ganduje
Kano State Governor Abdullahi Ganduje, said his government was empowering wheat farmers in the state to produce enough wheat to feed the nation as well as earn foreign exchange for the country through export.
Speaking in Abuja at the LEADERSHIP Summit on states’ industrialisation, Ganduje said the state had compiled a list of its comparative advantage in terms of industrialisation, which revealed that part of its advantages is the availability of raw materials in terms of agriculture, population and historical antecedents of being the industrial nerve centre of Northern Nigeria.
With these comparative advantages in mind, the governor said, the state began a journey of industrialisation with the objective of becoming a large scale wheat producer.
To achieve this, he said wheat farmers and wheat millers were invited to a brainstorming meeting on the way forward.
“I put the wheat millers on one side and the wheat farmers on the other side. The wheat millers confirmed to us that whatever wheat is produced in Kano, they will purchase it. I asked the farmers what their challenge was; they said it was off-takers, and now the issue of off-takers has been settled.
“The second issue was the issue of improved seeds, so we made N100 million available as loan for them to purchase seeds. We also sorted out the issue of fertiliser and agric extension workers. We set up irrigation clusters in the state and within each irrigation cluster, we were able to coordinate the farmers so that the distribution of our input will not be business as usual, so that we won’t be giving out inputs to people who are not farmers.
“In each cluster, each farm is geo-tagged to know the size of the farm, so that we know the amount of input we can give them so they don’t get excess and then sell them,” the governor stated.
According to Ganduje, understanding the challenge with a view to finding lasting solution is key to industrialisation.
“If you are talking about a commodity like wheat or rice, then definitely you must know who the producers of wheat are and rice and what are their problems. You should also know who are the buyers of the rice and wheat and their challenges in order to find a solution,” he said.
He further disclosed that his state had provided soft loans to support the farmers and also bring the producers and off-takers together in “a good marriage that has brought about motivation for improved production.”
He further disclosed that to encourage all-year-round farming in order to meet its target of producing enough wheat to feed the country and for export, the state has set up 27 farming clusters in addition to farms around dams and rivers. He said such clusters have been provided with about 5,000 water pumps and over 1,000 boreholes to boost dry season farming.
He said due to efforts by his government, a number of millers are now coming to set up within the environment where the wheat is produced so that the cost of transportation is drastically reduced, with the farmers assured of the purchase of whatever quantity they produce.
However, he stressed that institutions that promote industrialisation, such as the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Bank of Industries, must play their part very well for industrialisation to become reality in Nigeria.
While maintaining that government’s inconsistent policy is a setback to the industrialisation drive, he said Kano State is happy that the federal government has announced that it will stop the importation of wheat, rice, tomatoes and many other perishable items, adding that the policies should not be reversed.
“For Kano, as an agriculture state, this is a very important policy statement and our belief is that this policy is not to be changed because when some years back the Nigerian government said it had banned the importation of wheat, Kano State was in the forefront in the production of wheat. But midway, the federal government lifted the ban on importation of wheat and then the price of wheat crashed and all the wheat farmers were left cold. So this policy that bans the importation of certain items, if it is allowed to stay, will assist our state,” Ganduje stated.
Establishment of proper legal framework, key to our industrialisation – Gov Abubakar
Bauchi State Governor Mohammed Abubakar has said the primary focus of his administration is the establishment of a proper legal framework that would attract both local and foreign investors.
The governor, who spoke at the LEADERSHIP Summit noted that on assuming office on May 29, 2015, his administration was confronted with several issues and gaps which required them to look inward to source funds in order to improve industrialisation by increasing Internally Generated Revenue (IGR).
“Our primary concern was the issue of dwindling resources which necessitated us to look inward and begin to develop sources of revenue that are internal to the state. This of course depends on the policies, but policies, I believe, must depend on good legal framework.
“We discovered there were gaps and we needed to rush legislation so that we can prepare grounds for industrialisation and grounds for IGR,” he said.
The governor added that his government had met the Fiscal Responsibility Act and the Public Procurement Act, which had been domesticated in the state.
“What we need now is a quick intervention with a regime that will attract real investors to come in for the industrialisation of the state. We enacted a public private partnership bill which is currently before the State House of Assembly,” he said.
“We are pursuing vigorously now the establishment of the Bauchi Geographical Information System; this is to enable serious investors within the shortest possible time to acquire land which is very key to industrialisation
“We believe that, in conjunction with the reforms in the land management systems which we are pursuing vigorously now, these two systems are a sine qua none to the industrial development of any state, not only in Bauchi State, to attract industrialisation.
He maintained that “there were several other programmes, but key to the industrialisation of the state is the establishment of proper legal framework for our industrialisation.”
Review oil block allocation, waivers, other policies — Falana
Legal luminary and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) Femi Falana, has called for the review of the oil block allocation in the country to give states access in order to enable some of them fund their individual industrial policies.
He also advocated the drastic review of land tenure, the strategies for fighting corruption and duty waivers which he said are inhibitors to industrial development in the states.
“States need more money. I am sure if you give the oil blocks that some people have made so much money on by just calling in prospectors to take away our oil, the states will have money to fund their industrial take-off. But we give them to people who are middlemen and they have made so much money that they complain it’s too much for them”, he said.
He described as lopsided the policy on waivers on importation and tariffs, saying “they are conduits for corrupt ministers and heads of agencies to finance their fancies.”
In his presentation entitled, “Developing Appropriation Framework for Rapid Industrialisation: The Legal Perspective”, at the LEADERSHIP Summit, he said that land was a key factor in that effort, and lamented that the original intent of the Land Use Decree, which was to make land easily available to Nigerians, had been compromised.
He also said that the absence of documentation of land, expensive as it is, had constituted a hindrance in industrial policy of the state governments and urged them to reduce the cost and put in place processes that would ease access to certificate of occupancy without which investors could not be encouraged to come in.
The senior advocate pointed out that if the state governments streamlined their land policy, it was capable of yielding enough revenue for them to finance their industrialisation policy and programmes.
Falana listed other factors that have continued to impede industrial growth in the states as inadequate attention to science and technology, absence of rule of law, corruption, challenges of accessing funds, trade liberalisation, energy situation, and the abandonment of agriculture and solid minerals as a result of over-dependence on oil.
He stressed that without science and technology and the relevant research and development, no meaningful development in the industrial sector would be recorded.
On corruption, he said that the level of it in the country was a major impediment to industrialisation and noted that waivers as a policy was being corruptly applied in a manner that was blocking avenues through which states could raise revenue to back up their industrialisation programmes.
According to Falana, another challenge making industrialisation in the states appear herculean is access to funds. He warned that trade liberalisation introduced by the international community was an impediment to industrial growth as it had turned the country into a dumping ground for cheaper goods from developed economies and was squeezing locally manufactured products out of competition.
He joined other discussants at the summit to posit that industrialisation was a pipedream without sufficient energy supply and stressed that in the pervading situation of decline in oil revenue, the urgency to explore and exploit other industrial sources, like agriculture and solid minerals, had become even more imperative.
On the funding of their industrialisation programmes, Falana urged the states to be courageous enough to challenge the federal government on certain policies like taking loans from banks abroad, demanding the details of recoveries from corrupt Nigerians as well as revenue from the application of the rule of law
Falana enjoined state governments to join hands with the federal government in its drive to recover stolen wealth by previous administration.
“No state has an agency to work to recover looted funds. They expect EFCC (the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission) to do all the work. Yet, they want to benefit from the proceeds”, he said.
Falana said controlled state liberalisation will help the economy but not the one-fits-all solution propagated by the Bretton Woods institutions whose leadership he accused of corruption and bad faith.
Falana reminded government officials of the excessive haemorrhage caused to the nation’s economy by medical tourism and recommended that more investment should be made in the fields of health and human capital development.
Until the country invests heavily in research and development, Falana said, it should consider call for industrialisation a mere wishful thinking, adding that infrastructure is also key.
“If Nigeria thinks with 5,000 megawatts of electricity, it can compete with South Africa, it must be a joke,” he said, noting that smaller countries like Kenya had surpassed Nigeria in the provision of energy to power their economies.
He challenged civil servants at the State level to be more productive since most of the infrastructure now in use were products of the defunct Public Works Department (PWD).
Farming, he said, is key to industrialisation, but the governments at the state level have to do more to attract investment in solid minerals.
Insecurity, bane of industrialisation – Oyo Deputy Gov Adeyemo
Oyo State Deputy Governor, Chief Moses Adeyemo, blamed insecurity and a decline in technical education for the lack of industrialisation at the state level.
According to him, the search for industrial growth will continue to be a pipedream if proper institutional framework and requisite logistics are not provided to ensure security of life and property.
“There is no part of the country that is secure. We need to have security in place before people come here to site their companies and invest,” he stated.
The deputy governor said if Nigeria could change the narratives on kidnapping, robbery and general insecurity, more foreign investments would be attracted.
He recalled that the major challenge the Abiola Ajimobi-led government first confronted was the internecine clashes between members of the National Union of Road Transport Workers in 2011. He said the governor did everything to ensure that the war ended and peace returned.
He also noted that the country’s human capacity has also been on the decline because of the neglect of technical education.
“We must change our emphasis to encourage science and technical education if we must industrialise,” he said, adding that Oyo State government was developing its agricultural sector to boost the economy of the state and make it less reliant on federal allocation and to generate internal revenue.
Chief Adeyemo urged Nigerians to eschew corruption as efforts are being made to set up industrial zones, which he described as the “fulcrum for industrial take-off.”
He contended that Nigeria needs to take the issue of patriotism seriously in order for the country to savour the goodness of industrial revolution that the new administration had conceived.
Attitude, not mere policy, needed for industrialisation – Oshiomhole
Edo State Governor Adams Oshiomhole, has stated that the right attitude, and not mere policies, was necessary for industrialisation in the country.
The governor said at the two-day LEADERSHIP’s Summit on States’ Industrialisation at the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Centre in Abuja.
Oshiomhole, who was one of the discussants, said: “I believe that the issue is not so much about policy. There is nothing that has been said here today that was not said 20 years ago. The challenges are, why do we have so much gap between policies and realities?”
The outspoken governor also took a swipe at political office-holders, especially governors and ministers, who often go abroad in the name of attracting foreign investors, describing such tours as mere “official holiday.”
He noted that real information about such investors is always available in the country, hence such visits amount to waste of resources.
“So, for me, the conversation shouldn’t be about policy issue but robust conversation on how to prevent and deny the federal and state governments and every player from using their discretion to undermine well established policies,” Oshiomhole said.
Private sector, infrastructure, policies are critical – Ohuabunwa
Former chairman of Pfizer West Africa and founder of the Africa Centre for Business Development Strategy and Innovation, Mazi Sam Ohuabunwa said the government needs to consciously court the private sector to fast-track diversification of the country’s economy from oil to industry.
According to him, “Our choices are limited. The oil we depended on for years has finally failed us. Foremost among our limited options is to industrialise.”
The foremost industrialist said that to lay the foundation for rapid and sustainable industrialisation in the states, massive investment must be made in energy, especially power, transport (rail, road, sea and air) and science, which must be guided by “the current liberalisation and privatisation scheme to attract the much need private sector investment in the development and management of our infrastructure.
“Additionally,” he said, “all state governments must build industrial estates and industrial clusters in all senatorial districts and provide land and services as stimuli for industrial take-off in states.”
Drawing from his lived experience, Ohuabunwa stated “nothing will promote productive activities in Nigeria, especially in agro–production, than liberal availability to credit at single digit interest rate”.
He therefore urged government to sustain the current effort by the Central Bank to subsidise interest rates, noting that commercial banks cannot yet be trusted with keeping interest rates low.
Calling for the maintenance of macro-economic stability, he said there is no alternative to the institution of what he called “a regime of investment promotion and consistent policy framework” because “never again must we institute policies that punish investment. We need to court investment, both local and foreign, aware that investment, like water, will follow the lines of least resistance.”
Mazi Ohuabunwa said if the business environment is not conducive, local investors would be driven to other countries “as we have seen Nigerian industrialists going abroad to build plants.”
He argued that beyond the introduction of incentives like tax cuts, pioneer status tax holidays and export expansion grants (EEG) “promotive policies must be made to endure so that benefits will accrue over the long term.”
Global competitiveness in industrial and agricultural production, he noted, is driven by creativity and innovation; therefore, the country’s leadership must invest heavily in research and development so as to rigorously market and apply the products from such ventures.
Lending their voices to calls for investment in R & D, the executive chairman of the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI), Prof. Mohammed Sani Haruna, said he was both pained and worried that successive governments were not serious about investing in research and development.
According to him, the nation is yet to take advantage of the manpower available and most of the nation’s industries downplayed the components manufactured or fabricated in the country.
Prof Haruna said NASENI had lived up to its vision to establish and nurture an appropriate and dynamic Science and Engineering Infrastructure base for achieving home-initiated and home-sustained industrialisation process through the development of relevant processes, appropriate local machine design and machine building capabilities for capital goods and equipment manufacture, in spite of neglect and the paucity of funds.
He lamented that the budget for research, science and engineering has always been less than 1% since the advent of democracy, and therefore urged government and other stakeholders to patronise and encourage the creative genius of Nigerians by engaging them before seeking machine components abroad.
Speaking in a similar vein, the Director General, National Office for Technological Acquisition and Promotion (NOTAP), Dr. Dan-Azumi Ibrahim, said in spite of efforts being made to increase human capacity and institutional development to reduce dependency on foreign technology consumption, the country still laid emphasis on technologies from elsewhere.
Appropriate environment is vital for industrialisation – MAN
The Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) has posited that for the nation to achieve the much needed development of the manufacturing sector, the process will depend on the creation of enabling environment and the super-structure for rapid industrialisation.
In its submission made by the association’s president, Dr Frank Udemba Jacobs, at the Summit, further said that the experience of emerging economies had shown that certain conditions, such as sound and sustainable macroeconomic and regulatory environment, basic infrastructure, and raw material import substitution, among others, must be met if accelerated manufacturing is to be achieved.
He, however, said he was convinced that the country had sufficient industrial policies and incentives, which, if fully implemented, would propel the country towards its industrial destination.
We’ll fund genuine ventures – BoI Ag MD
The acting Managing Director of the Bank of Industry (BoI), Mr Waheed Olagunju, has said the bank will continue to provide funding for business ventures whose owners are competent and have character.
Speaking at the LEADERSHIP’s Summit, he said many people did not get loans because most of the promoters lack the requisite bankable proposals that meet BoI’s set criteria.
In what he tagged the six Cs, Olagunju said capital flow, capacity, character are key elements the bank looks out for before processing request for funding.
“Where a key factor is missing, the fund may elude an investor,” he explained, just as he underscored the need for investors, too, to be willing to share in the risk of funding their business “sometimes to the tune of 30%.”
He alluded to the success story of Innoson Motors as a venture whose owner was dogged and realistic.
He said though Innoson founder started as a motorcycle spare parts dealer, his vision to have the first indigenous automobile firm was supported by BoI which funded his assembly plant “because he has character.”
He enjoined business owners not to spend facilities extended to them on luxury or to limit themselves to importing finished goods only, noting that the key driver of the economic prosperity of any nation is manufacturing.
-Leadership
