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Aloysius Attah, Onitsha
Nnewi, a city in Anambra State, dubbed the Japan of Africa because of the cluster of indigenous manufacturers domiciled in the area, was a beehive of activities recently as the 2020 Investment Summit held there.
Speakers included former deputy governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Professor Kingsley Moghalu, Ike Chioke, managing director, Afrinvest West Africa Limited, and Dr. Jumoke Oduwole, Special Adviser to the President on Ease of Doing Business.
Sponsored by the Ford Foundation, conveners of the summit included Kelechi Nwosu, managing director, TBWA Concept Limited, Nnaemeka Maduegbuna, chairman, C & F Porter Novelli, Ifeanyi Uzodike, president, Nnewi Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NCCIMA), and Dr. Uchenna Patience Nwosu, zonal director, Technology Incubation Centre, Nnewi.
The panel of discussants at the summit demanded a 20-year development plan to be tagged ‘Nnewi 2040 Agenda.’
In his keynote address, Moghalu said government should give Nnewi serious attention, with good plans and programmes, to boost manufacturing in the city.
He lamented that, over the years, manufacturers in Nnewi have been struggling to cope with the challenges of making their products available in the market without the support of either federal or state governments. Noting that the Federal Government has given good attention to Lekki Free Trade Zone in Lagos, he said Nnewi should be accorded the same degree of attention.
He also made a case for federal and state governments to patronise Nnewi products. Said he: “Nnewi’s manufacturing has in the past been neglected by the federal government, and even state governments. But economic decisions that affect the viability of manufacturing, in particular rail and ports infrastructure, and the possibility of creating economic zones, are in Abuja’s hands.
“The federal government has consistently focused almost exclusively on Lagos in this context, for example, the creation of the Lekki Free Trade Zone, ports policy, etc, and by-passed Nnewi, Africa’s Taiwan.
“Nnewi has been a famous commercial town since the 1920s, mainly for the generations of the lorry/bus transportation business (Ojukwu Transport, Ekenedilichukwu, ChidiEbere, Ekesons Transport, etc) and the auto and motorcycle spare parts trade. Nnewi indigenes also have a strong reputation for shrewdness and business savvy. Hence the popular phrase in Eastern Nigerian society: ‘Nnewi sense.’
“In the 1970s and 1980s, Nnewi businessmen began a process of backward integration, a shift from trade, mainly in motorcycles and auto spare parts, into industrial manufacturing. While this was partly forward-looking business sense, it was also a response to government policy challenges, especially politically-associated difficulties with access to foreign exchange for importation in the early 1980s when oil prices were depressed and Nigeria’s economy was still largely a statist, ‘command’ one.
“Four decades later, alas, the promise and potential of manufacturing in Nnewi has not been fulfilled. Several industries are still standing, notably Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing (IVM), Cutix Plc (electric cables and electric switch gears), Ibeto Group (synthetic marble, brake pads and linings), Intercontinental Feed Mills (animal feed), Tummy Tummy (noodles), Chicason Industries and Ngobros Industries.
“But many other industries have shut down. Several manufacturers have resorted to importation, mainly from China, in order to survive. These stresses are largely due to macroeconomic headwinds, crony-capitalist favouritism by successive Nigerian governments, and the absence of a policy-prioritisation of Nnewi’s manufacturing potential.”
He recalled that China emerged the world’s second largest economy through manufacturing. While lamenting that Nigeria was not recognised as a manufacturer at the world stage, he said Nnewi has what it takes to storm the world with made-in-Nigeria products.
He criticised the closure of the land borders by the Federal Government, insisting that the closure of borders to checkmate smuggling of foreign products to pave the way for local products to thrive was not the ideal. The ideal, he said, is to give the local manufacturers enough support to compete with foreign products.
Moghalu blamed the poor Nigerian situation in manufacturing to lack of intellectual service in the system in the area of human development and politicisation of issues of national interests by the political class. He said Nigeria has been focusing largely on economic growth while not enough effort has been made to achieve real human development and structural economic transformation.
Said he: “These are three different but interrelated concepts, and all three of them- economic growth, human development, and structural transformation, are necessary to achieve broad-based national prosperity.
“Nigeria’s situation doesn’t give room for intellectual service. It is the intellectual that designs the policies and framework for workable government programmes. In Ethiopia, they have University of Civil Service, where civil servants and government appointees as ministers and special advisers go to derive the knowledge of what they are appointed to do.
“When I was at the CBN, I discovered that top government officials didn’t understand the services of CBN. They thought that CBN was in a position to handle all monetary issues and solve all monetary problems. But CBN has its own services and boundaries. There are other government agencies that provide monetary-related services like the Bank of Industry, Bank of Agriculture and others. So, there is need for Federal Government to emulate the likes of Ethiopia in providing the enabling environment for intellectual service in the system.”
On what the Federal Government and Anambra State are expected to do for Nnewi, he said: “There is manufacturing potential beyond Lagos. The Federal Government should make Nnewi a full and specific economic zone, with infrastructure to make it viable, mainly, electricity, roads and water, as well as a seaport in Onitsha, taking advantage of the Second Niger Bridge.
“The CBN should more strategically target proven commercially viable centres such as Nnewi with its MSME Development Fund. Repayment rates will be better and higher with communities such as Nnewi that have a track record of manufacturing and overall business success.
“A state-business relations council should be established as a permanent mechanism for government business interaction with the organised private sector but with regional representation from Nnewi/Onitsha and Aba, among other areas of the country. This will provide a more comprehensive framework that is policy-focused to support the private sector.”
Oduwole commended the organisers of the summit. She promised to attract the Federal Government programme on Ease of Doing Business to the industrial and commercial city of Nnewi later this year.
Other speakers were Innocent Chukwma, director, Ford Foundation, Ike Chioke, group managing director, Afrinvest West Africa Limited, and Paul Nwulu, senior programme officer, Ford Foundation. They, along with the panel of discussants, corroborated Moghalu. They all agreed that government should chart a new course for Nnewi to enable the city unleash its potential to the fullest for the benefit of economic growth and sustainability in Nigeria with attendant benefits of job creation for the youth.
