An Industrialist, Tomi Akingbogun, has called on companies in the agricultural sector to reconsider their decision to halt production due to their inability to obtain Forex to import machines.
Akingbogwu said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Monday, while reacting to the decision by a tomato company to relocate to Kenya to continue production.
He said given the availability of abundant raw materials in the agricultural sector, there was still alternative means through which the company could package its products.
He said companies in the sector should look inward to package their products, given the availability of plastic materials that could be recycled to package the finished products.
“An agricultural company should need minimal importation of raw materials; we have plastics in Nigeria that can be recycled to pack the tomatoes.
“Tomato is planted in Nigeria; we know they have to import the machines, but you don’t import machines every month for an industry.
“ Any country that is processing agricultural product in Nigeria or any agricultural company should be able to look inward and see what can be done.
“Recycling of paper, recycling of plastic, recycling of so many materials can be used to package the products.
“So I really don’t think a tomato company should fold up just because it cannot access foreign exchange, because tomato is a product that should not be imported.
He, however, said it was important for the relevant government authorities to listen to the complaints of the company, due to numerous challenges encountered by industrialists.
He said it was not a good environment friendly indicator that a company that started business some few months ago would suddenly stop production.
Akingbogun said the major problem faced by industries was the issue of multiple taxation, noting that companies were unnecessarily molested and intimated by some security agencies to pay taxes.
He said that government was not paying much attention to the challenges of the industry operators.
“Immediately you open your company for production, the local, state and federal governments will come to shut you down.
“Many industries are going through pains in this recession, sometimes we go through situations while we are being attacked by some law enforcement agents by shutting down hotels and eatery places just because they want to collect taxes
“There is so much silence on the part of the government when operators in the various industry cry out on some issues.”
Akingogun said that the Federal Ministry of Labour was not also doing much to protect the interest of the employers of labour, noting that government should intensify its efforts to create enabling environment for the industries to thrive.
He said government should encourage manufactures to continue to produce by accelerating enabling environment for industries to remain in the country.
This, he said, would help rescue the country back from recession. (NAN)
