By Franklin Alli

MANUFACTURERS of iron and steel for telecommunication and electricity industry have called on the Federal Government to “Be the First” in buying quality Made-In- Nigeria products, saying this will lift the sector out of the wood.

Recall that recently Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, LCCI’s Business Confidence Index (BCI) ranked the manufacturing sector lowest with a paltry five percent compared with the financial sector 35 percent, Hotel & Restaurant and Telecoms & Postal sectors 29 percent, and agricultural sector 18 percent.

Wale Akinbiyi, spokesman for manufacturers of the telecom and power tower, attributed the little contribution  of the sector to  the economy  to lack of government patronage, among other factors.

According to him,the dominance by foreign firms coupled with harsh business environment which creates additional burden on cost of production, lack of patronage and incentives from government are also clogs in the wheel.

“Local industries that manufacture these products are insisting that government should patronise them particularly for the reason that they create jobs for Nigerians and reinvest their profits in the economy, all in their bid to contribute to the growth of the nation’s economy.

“If government patronise our products , it can increase our workforce and  this would reduce the number of the unemployed  in the labour market,” said Akinbiyi.

He disclosed that  manufacturers  in the sector now have an average capacity to produce 150,000-200,000 tons; hence they want government to patronise them by purchasing, if not all, at least, between 100,000-200,000 tons of their tower products.

Akinbiyi noted that private companies purchase from these local manufacturers, but the federal government does not because it prefers to import these products from countries like Sri Lanka, Turkey, China, Indonesia etc.

“This is not helping the local manufacturers and the economy in general. Even foreign companies based in Nigeria which are owned by Turkish, Chinese and Indians patronise  local manufacturers but the federal government prefers to seek the services of foreigners who will go back to their country to get the materials duty-free while for the local manufacturers, raw materials import attracts between 20-25 percent import duty. This is killing businesses and not encouraging local content”, he said.

“Continuing, Akinbiyi said manufacturers in this sector are hopefulthat government’s patronage will stimulate growth in their business and in the long run contribute to economic growth and development. “In countries like China, Sri Lanka, India etc, manufacturers pay about 50-70 dollars as salary. There is no corporate social responsibility unlike here where companies pay good salaries and still engage in community service,” he said.