Despite the oil market crash that has hit Nigeria hard, many governors are still not creating the right environment to attract big money investors from whom their states could raise substantial revenues, industry watchers say.
They add that a number of Nigerian states lack good road networks and efficient communication systems which would aid farm-to market and factory-to-market access.
They say the Federal Government is also culpable, as it has failed to develop seaports, airports, roads and other infrastructure around the country.
“Some states do not really have friendly policies,” said Frank Udemba Jacobs, president, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), in a telephone interview.
“In the Eastern part of the country, the major problem is insecurity. Apart from Enugu and Anambra, many states in the region do not really have friendly policies. There is also dearth of infrastructure in those areas,” Jacobs said.
He said states should be able to offer free land, lower taxes and better infrastructure in industrial clusters as no investor would want to put money into where they would not get good returns.
Out of the N180.12 billion invested in all of manufacturing and agro-allied industries in the first six months of 2015, N128.3 billion went to Ogun, representing 71.23 percent. Ikeja and Apapa industrial zones got N15.74 billion and N6.98 billion respectively (12.61 percent combined), while Edo/Delta zone had only N106. 2 million (0.06 percent).
Also, Imo/Abia got N97.8 million in investment(0.05 percent), Oyo/Ondo/Osun/Ekiti combined had N12.53 billion ( 7 percent), as Kano/Sharada/ Challawa received investments worth N2.74 billion (1.5 percent).
Furthermore, investors pumped only N48 million into Kano Bompai (0.02 percent), N1.69 billion into Anambra/Enugu (0.93 percent), and N4.7 billion in Bauchi/Benue/Plateau (3 percent) within the period.
Rivers got N1.2 billion in investment (0.65 percent), Kwara/Kogi received nothing within the period (0 percent) and Abuja had N30.7 million (0.02 percent). Kaduna cluster got investment worth N6.010 billion (3.3 percent).
In 2014, investors pumped in N691.77 billion, out of which N514.87 billion went to Ogun State, representing 74.42 percent of all the investments.
Apapa and Ikeja in Lagos contributed N15 billion and N85 billion in investments, which represent 15 percent of the total within the period under review.
The others (12 other clusters ) shared 10.58 percent of all the investments within the period.
This situation has persisted in like manner for over three years.
“The attention has always been on oil money,” said Ike Ibeabuchi, managing director, MD Services Limited.
“Investors want lower taxes, but many states and local governments use touts to collect numberless taxes and levies. Which state in Nigeria gives tax holidays to investors, apart from one or two? Infrastructure challenges raise logistics cost, and investors will rather come to places which are proximate to ports, and where they have access to raw materials and markets,” Ibeabuchi said.
The Boko Haram challenge has prompted many agro-allied and solid minerals based industries to relocate from the North-East and some other areas in Nigeria’s north to other regions. A sanior manager of Flour Mills of Nigeria once said they had to stop production in the North-East owing to insecurity.
Many states have consciously attracted investors nearer to where they can get raw materials. Cement industries are currently located in Ogun, Kogi, Cross River and Sokoto, where they can easily get limestone and gypsum.
“There is the need to develop the solid minerals sector to aid Nigeria’s industrial growth,” said Shehu Sani, president, Miners Association of Nigeria (MAN).
ODINAKA ANUDU
