Chairman, West African Ceramics, Alhaji Lawal Idrisu, says manufacturing in Nigeria has been made tougher by the ongoing economic recession and the influx of substandard products, which gave some Nigerians the wrong notion that cheap inferior products are better than locally made goods. In this interview with FRANCIS KADIRI, the owner of the third largest ceramic firm in Africa proffers solutions that can save the situation. Excerpts:
How will you access the Nigerian building materials sector, especially as recession bites harder in the country?
It is very difficult to survive in the building materials market, especially as the country struggles to survive under the claws of recession. To make the matter worse, the influx of cheap and substandard products has also made survival difficult. The economy is bad; so people strive to buy all they need with the little they have. If care is not taken, they will compromise quality and that means they will compromise safety. Therefore, it’s only those who know the implication of buying substandard products that would spend the little they have on quality and safe building materials.
How do you tackle the influx of substandard materials?
The choice is between substandard cheap products and qualitative products that cost more. In a tough economy like ours, people need to be educated on the implications of using fake but cheap building materials. The public needs to know how not to build a cheap house that will eventually kill the owner when it collapses. Another sad fact is that most Nigerians prefer to import substandard goods in order to make quick profit, to patronising the locally made, but qualitative goods.
What is the future of tiles manufacturing in Nigeria?
The problem with Nigerians is that we are used to imported items. Unfortunately, a large number of locally made products are superior to some imported ones.
Let me give you a vivid and verifiable example: Nocaco cable is a locally made cable that is far superior to cables imported from China. If you have the time, please experiment. Nocaco cables don’t get hot when you use them. But when you apply Chinese products to the same circumstance, you will see how it will react.
So, Nigerians need to change their mentality about locally manufactured products. In ceramics, there is the same problem of preferring imported products to locally made ones. If you take Royal Tiles and subject it to stress, you will find that it will hardly break.
Despite our reputation, which is well known, some people simply want to enjoy the ego that they use imported products, as if Nigerian products are inferior. We have to work on ourselves to overcome this erroneous mindset.
Any challenge with access to raw materials?
We face challenge of proximity to raw materials and that is the reason we had to move our factory to Ajaokuta. The first reason is in order to site the factory in a place where we will access local raw materials needed for tiles production. Secondly, we have readily available gas in Ajaokuta. Next, is the availability of electricity as a result of the Geregu power plant, and then comes my desire to provide jobs for my own people, the people of Ajaokuta.
The Nigerian building environment is awashed with the problem of building collapse, which has been ascribed partly to the use of substandard materials. What is your take on this?
In the building industry, a lot of substandard goods are being brought in from China. It is also true that there are some companies in Nigeria which also produce substandard building materials. If you check very carefully, you would discover that they do not have the IOS Certification.
Those substandard products do not have the endorsement of the Nigerian Institute of Building.
This is because only industries that have what it takes to manufacture standard products get IOS and NIoB certifications. IOS and NIoB would actually subject the product to standardisation tests and scrutiny before it is certified.
Unfortunately, not many manufacturing companies meets either the IOS or NIoB pass mark, but they continue to produce goods for public consumption. This is dangerous. The use of substandard imported building materials is also responsible for the spate of building collapse in Nigeria.
Doesn’t that suggest that the regulators are not doing much to curtail the menace?
I wouldn’t say they are not doing their job, because the producers of these fake products have continued to device new means of importing their substandard products. To be frank, importers are very smart. It is not easy to nab them. They contravene the law strategically. For example, when our regulators go to sleep at night, the importers take advantage of those times.
How then do you think we can have affordable housing in Nigeria?
The prevailing economic situation is not conducive for a lot of people. I think we can start working, so that we can improve the economy and consequently attain affordable housing after year 2020. Yes, Nigeria might be able to achieve affordable housing delivery after 2020, but not before then.
Do you think government has done enough to create enabling environment for local production of building materials?
The government is doing its best, but it is still not enough. Government should do more in the area of encouraging local manufacturers. If they want more building materials to be manufactured in the country, they have to encourage local producers. We need better incentives, duty rebates, tax holidays, provision of loan facilities from banks, among others.
We have had to source for funds from overseas to build industries in Nigeria and that has a lot of economic implications. Gas has become costlier and many of the daily needs for running of equipment have become extremely high. These problems do not in any way encourage local manufacturers. Government should put in place policies that would cushion the effects of these challenges as is the case in other climes.
What provision do you have for technology transfer, since most of your machines are imported?
Of course, the issue of technology transfer is crucial for Nigeria. However, it is not directly under our purview. I think the Ministry of Science and Technology would be able to discuss policies that will encourage technology transfer into Nigeria.
If government insists that all its ministries and agencies should use standard locally made products, it will certainly develop the sector and grow the economy
Don’t you think you should train people locally to handle any tasks currently being executed by expatriates?
Yes, we are doing that. As we speak, we have brought in tilers from overseas to come and train our local tilers in Nigeria. We believe that our local tilers are trying, but there is room for improvement, especially in the area of alignment between tiles. We discover that local tilers have to be trained in order to accurately determine the alignment between tiles, so we brought in artisans and technicians from China and India to rub minds with our local Nigerian tilers in order to improve their capacity as well as our service delivery.
If government bans importation of building materials, do you think local manufacturers could meet local demand?
That is possible if government supports local manufacturers. Encouragement is all we need to wax stronger. When I say encouragement, I mean government needs to support us by patronising our products. If government patronises foreign tiles manufacturers, when we have very good locally made ones, we cannot be encouraged. If government insists that all its ministries and agencies should use standard locally made products, it would certainly develop the sector and grow the economy, because it will necessarily lead to increase in local production, which will have multiplier effect on job creation. We can even export.
Are you aware that Babatunde Fashola recently advocated patronage of locally made goods in the housing sector?
(Cuts in) Fashola is not the first minister that is saying that. The fact is that most of them will prefer to buy imported materials into their homes.
