By Emeka Alex Duru
The arrest of Innocent Chukwuma, the chairman, Innoson Group, manufacturers of Innoson Motors, by operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), has been in the news since Tuesday, December 19, 2017.
Different accounts have expectedly, been rendered on the reasons behind his arrest. The dominant version, has however been on a business transaction he was said to have had with an indigenous bank, that went awry.
The matter, according to reports, had even gone up to the Appeal Court, before the current turn of events.
There may, therefore, not be the need to rehash the story, since it is already in the public domain.
But my primary concern with the unfolding saga, especially the manner of Chukwuma’s arrest, which many say, bore marks of bursting a drug gang, is the story it will tell about Nigeria as a country and its touted quest for diversification of economy and indigenous technology breakthrough.
My first encounter, with Innocent Chukwuma, purely in the line of duty, was during my days as the Features Editor of Daily Independent Newspapers, in 2010 or thereabout, during a facility tour of his companies.
We have not come across one another, ever since. I am not even sure he will recognise me in a crowd. We can therefore, not be said to be friends, in the strict sense of the word.
But what particularly strikes me about the man, since that meeting, is his naked bravery and sheer determination to make it, when others are literally throwing in the towel or scurrying out of the country to comfort zones.
His, is a typical story of rags to riches or grass to grace, as some may say. He is a man with average education, who after undergoing apprenticeship and was settled by his master, applied tact and foresight to hit it in a business that others were merely making marginal profit.
I recall Chukwuma stating that when he made a bold move into industrialisation through the acquisition of former Eastern Plastics, it was an adventure fraught with uncertainties, given that the factory was virtually a shadow of its old self, lacking in infrastructural facilities. But that is not the main story.
His foray into the sector actually began with attempts at fabricating plastic components of motorcycles. Before then, his firm had made marks in expanding the volume of motorcycle imports in the country.
To attain dominance of the market, the firm, had in 1994 entered into an agreement with some Chinese motorcycle manufacturers that resulted in the establishment of a facility in Nnewi where top quality motorcycles were produced.
However, the agenda of comparatively low prices and transfer of the production technology, was not fully achieved owing to the fact that the assembly process was totally manual and did not make for high volume.
It was the drive to surmount this challenge that saw the company installing a fully automated assembly line at the Nnewi plant in 1995. The new arrangement resulted to a packing technique that made it possible to arrange as many as 240 Completely Knocked Down (CKD) sets in one 40-foot container as opposed to about 80 fully built units of’ motorcycles hitherto imported in the same container.
This readily expanded the volume of motorcycle import in the country and crashed the prices.
But even with the feat, there was still the pressing need to attain economy of scale in production, hence the drive to fabricate the plastic components of the motorcycles locally.
This, Chukwuma stated, motivated him in acquiring Eastern Plastics. The company, which was owned by the old Anambra State Government, was at the time of the acquisition, derelict and obsolete.
But it was later re-equipped with state-of-the-art production facilities and transformed into its current form.
At the time of the encounter with Chukwuma, the firm, which had over 3000 workforce spread in three shifts with over all 10,000 production capacity daily, was manufacturing more than 150 ranges of plastic products.
I gathered that fresh moulds were later added to the production lines to satisfy the demands for new items.
Some of the products at the Emene site of the factory included PHCN Meter Boxes and accessories; PVC Plumbing hoses; Industrial Dust bins; Industrial Tanks; PVC Ceilings; Motorcycle covers, Shield and Crash Helmets.
The firm instructively, sources 80 percent of its raw materials from Eleme Petrochemical Industries. It also boasts of a client base that cuts across all sectors of the market.
Encouraged by the success story, the company, in February 2007, embarked on what ordinarily, had appeared a daunting task when it incorporated Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing Company Limited (IVM), to produce sundry commercial automobiles, utility vehicles and passenger cars, in collaboration with some Chinese auto makers.
The results of the heroic endeavour, today, are various ranges of brands that include Sports Utility Vehicles (Jeeps), Mini Buses and Luxury buses from the factory.
In all, more than 10,000 Nigerians are directly employed by the group. As I write, I recall the enthusiasm of one of the employees, Andrew A’Dibal, an indigene of Borno State who interacted in Chinese with the Chinese engineers, particularly his optimism that with time, the effective roll-out of the company’s products, would signal a revolution in the nation’s auto industry.
His prediction came through a couple of weeks ago, with Innoson Group rolling out various ranges of Luxury Cars and SUVs.
But with the current ordeal of the Chairman, that dream may soon fizzle out. And with that, Nigerians earning decent living from the Group and those in the long line of its value chain, will be thrown under the bus.
That, should ordinarily, be gory and scary, in a system that bothers about its own. But that is not our way of seeing things here. We were after all, here, when ANAMCO that was to be assembling Mercedes Benz vehicles, was mismanaged. We also saw Volks Wagon and Peugeot Assembly Plants overtaken by weeds, here. There is, of course, no need, recalling the Steyr and Fiat arrangements that had also gone under earlier.
And in our bizarre way of doing things, in such instances, no issues were raised on the fate of the workers that were thrown into the cold.
This is what rankles me about the so-called Nigerian Factor – a system that quickens the death of its own. Before the Innoson saga, I had a friend who saw the system for what it was.
He was an official of the Chimaroke Nnamani administration in Enugu State. By the time his boss fell out with the succeeding Sullivan Chime government, overzealous agents of State, went after business interests of those considered Nnamani loyalists.
In the process, his hospitality outfit became target of attack. After combing the books without finding anything to nail him on, they invaded his business premises in the wee hours of the night, forced open the doors and manhandled guests in the guise of looking for suspected criminals and drug peddlers.
By the time they left, without apprehending anybody, they had thoroughly traumatised the lodgers, who hurriedly left in the morning. The facility has not recovered from that siege, ever since.
These are my fears with the developments in Innoson Group and what is happening to its Founder. I shudder to think of how Chukwuma would be perceived by his foreign business associates by the time he will be through with his travails under EFCC.
By the time he is thoroughly humiliated in the days ahead, would he still command the trust and confidence of his creditors and other business partners? And what will eventually happen to the business enterprise and the Nigerian workers he has spent time and resources nurturing all the years? These are the questions.