- Stakeholders Collaborate on Local Raw Materials, Equipment
Stakeholders from the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, Raw Materials and Research and Development Council and Clarion Events are working on an arrangement that will ensure availability of raw materials, machinery and funding for large corporations as well as operators in the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise sector of the Nigerian economy.
This was disclosed at a press briefing in Lagos, where they also announced the plan to organise an exhibition for this purpose.
They said the two-in-one event tagged Nigerian Raw Materials Exposition and Nigerian Manufacturing and Equipment expo, aimed to bring together, equipment manufacturers, suppliers as well as raw materials suppliers in a relationship that would see each depending on the other for critical equipment and input.
The Director-General, RMDC, Dr. Hussaini Ibrahim, said that the NIRAM expo was a flagship programme of the council premised on economic recovery and growth plan of the Federal Government, which was based on optimising the use of local content and empowering local businesses.
He said, “It is hinged on an industrial development strategy based on sustainable sourcing of raw materials.
Ibrahim said the previous editions of NIRAM had been responsible for local sourcing of high quality starch, glucose syrup and extracts, fruit juice concentrates, among others, by industries.
He said, “The NIRAM expo also created a platform for highlighting the challenges to local sourcing of gypsum and today, most of these challenges have been addressed and cement industries can now look forward to the sourcing of gypsum from local miners.
“The 2017 expo will ultimately result in increased patronage of high quality raw materials or intermediate input from local sources in preference to imported ones and therefore help to conserve foreign exchange and free funds for other development purposes,” he said.
In his remarks, the President of MAN, Dr. Frank Jacobs, said the 2016 edition of the Nigerian Manufacturing and Equipment expo, which incorporated NIRAM expo, was created in response to government’s commitment to industrialisation and diversification of the economy.
He said, “It provided a veritable platform for the SMEs to learn processes on how to boost their output, reduce cost, drive quality improvement, manufacture for new market and secure funding for growth.
“A major feature of the 2016 NME expo was the chief executive officers and government’s forum tagged, ‘Manufacturing Partnership for African Development’ session which was co-chaired by MAN and the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment.
“These C-level sessions that took place alongside the NME enabled policy discussions between major stakeholders from both the public and private sectors of the Nigerian economy.
“A key aftermath of the 2016 mPAD forum was the provision of cheaper funding for the industrial sector by the Bank of Industry.
“In 2017, the sessions will again give top stakeholders in the private and public sectors the opportunity to appraise developments in manufacturing and jointly propose quick-win solutions that will help our country revive its manufacturing sector.”
Jacobs added that the 2017 event was expected to attract over 3,700 visitors and exhibitors, consisting of multinationals and member companies of MAN, large and small firms and other manufacturing equipment distributors from over 120 leading local and international suppliers. “There will be on display the latest manufacturing equipment, machine tools, technologies, spare parts and manufacturing raw materials,” he said.
The Managing Director of Clarion Events West Africa, Mr. Dele Alimi, said the recent inclusion of the NIRAM expo into the NME would afford several companies and countries that had registered as exhibitors and visitors to the expo, a rare opportunity of exposure to the entire manufacturing value chain, which would include machinery, equipment, financial support, professional consultancy and raw materials.