By Peter Egwuatu

In its bid to create additional jobs in the country, Nosak Group is seeking government intervention in the area of tariff on its imported raw materials.  The Chairman of Nosak Group, Mr.Toni Ogunbor at an interaction with newsmen in Lagos revealed that the Group will soon open up a plant in Calabar which will create additional jobs for Nigeria, even as he lamented the high cost of doing business in the country.

According to him, the increase in our plant capacity will generate additional 250 jobs. We want the federal government to intervene in the payment of tariff on our imported raw materials. At the moment we pay 10 per cent instead of 5 per cent that some manufacturers in the same industry pay. For instance, companies that import raw sugar pay 5 per cent, so what stop us from paying the same rate. We import raw materials on ethanol to process it for companies in Pharmaceutical, Cosmetics, Alcoholic Beverages, Hospitals, Paint companies, etc.”

However, as part of the company’s strategic plan, Ogunbor revealed that in line with its backward integration initiative, plans are already on to utilise local raw materials such as Sorghum, Corn, and Sugar-cane molasses to produce its final product- extra neutral ethanol.

According to him, “This will add to the foreign exchange gain of our economy, create thousands of employment opportunities in the value chain (Farmers to Distillers).  To this extent, he called on government to intensify efforts towards reviving the agricultural sector, saying, “We are going to partner with farmers when we open up the Calabar plants. They are going to be supplying us all the raw materials that will be required to produce ethanol.

So, government should encourage such farmers to move away from subsistence farming to mechanised farming and by doing so there will be job creation.”  He lamented the bad roads across the country and sought for government intervention. He said, “In our own case, we repair the roads that linked the company and provide power which are all capital intensive and eating deep into our profit.

If government can provide all these things the money used in these areas would have been used to expand production that would create jobs. So there is need for government to create enabling environment that will attract investors into the country.” He called on the government to quickly review some of its policies and regulations in order to attract greater investments in key areas that will lead to growth and development of the country.

…Nosak Distilleries eyes capital market, seeks govt support

Following the high cost of sourcing funds from the banking industry, Nosak Distilleries Limited is putting plans in place to access the Nigerian capital market.

The Chairman, Nosak Group, Mr. Toni Ogunbor revealed this in Lagos saying the greatest challenge facing the company is the high cost of sourcing fund from banks.

According to him, “Manufacturers find it difficult to cope with interest rate as higher as 15 per cent, so we want government to provide intervention funds that will help manufacturers to continue production in large scale which will lead to creation of jobs for Nigerians.”

He commended President Goodluck Jonathan for the intervention fund from the Bank of Industry (BOI).

According to him, our company has benefited from BOI, but the fund is not enough to carry on with our business. Though, we have applied for another which we hope with continuous engagement we might get another fund from there. The BOI told us that at the moment it cannot exceed what they had given us since the available fund is for smaller manufacturers.

Continuing, he said, “We are preparing this company to access the capital market in order to tap the abundant benefits, especially long term funds that will help us expand our production capacity.

“It is the ambition of this company to be in the capital market but we have to put our financials in order so that when we come to the market it will be viable. Already we have started exporting our product, ethanol to Ghana and plans are in place to extend it to other neighbouring African countries.

“The company commenced operation in July 2002, and specialised in the production of high purity beverage grade ethanol, with a daily production capacity of 100,000 litres. The plant was increased to 250,000 litres per day with the commissioning of the second plant in October, 2007.