‘We are committed to reviving Nigeria ceramics industry’

Eguakhide Patrick Oaikhinan is a professor of material engineering, with specialisation in ceramics. He is the CEO of Epina Technologies, a global learning, management, and engineering blended solutions provider in Africa. In this interview with ODINAKA ANUDU, he explores the Nigerian ceramics industry and gives suggestions on how to bring the tottering sub-sector back to life. Excerpts:

How will you generally assess the Nigerian ceramics industry?

Nigeria has had glass factories for over 30 years. There are at least eight of them located in six states and producing mainly containers for beverages, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals as well as louvre blades and hurricane lantern globes. Cement production commenced in 1957, with the construction and commissioning of the Nigerian Portland Cement Company. The efforts of earlier ceramic training centres with several pottery experimental workshops across the country between 1960 and 1980, have not resulted in the emergence of small-scale ceramic industry. Today, there is no single ceramics manufacturing business in Nigeria that can compete with the international ones, or pass quality standards tests.

It is estimated that Nigeria spends N30bn on imports of ceramics products yearly. How do we cut these imports?

Nigeria’s yearly imports are more than that. Our country is currently the 13th among the world consumers of ceramic products, mostly ceramics sanitary wares, ceramics spark plugs, ceramics porcelain, ceramics floor and wall tiles.

In spite of the available indigenous potential for ceramics manufacturing business, the Nigerian government and the citizens have not shown much interest in its development. The negligence is due to lack of clear understanding of the meaning of ceramics; lack of significant number of professionals with appropriate skills and expertise in ceramics manufacturing business, and absence of avenues for people interested in ceramics manufacturing business to pursue their ambitions. Now, no university or higher institution in Nigeria offers training in ceramics science/engineering/technology. Thus, skill gap is a major problem. So, you cut imports by developing the sector locally addressing problems enumerated here.

What is the state of benefaction industry that should supply local solid materials or process them for use by ceramics manufacturers?

The few surviving ceramics manufacturing businesses in Nigeria are producing far below their installed capacity because of problems of having to do the processing of their feed raw materials. In developed countries, there are industries that are processing raw materials (.i.e. clays, feldspars, quartz/silica, etc, for the ceramics manufacturing businesses.

Our local ceramics manufacturing businesses are struggling to process their own raw materials. This they do without knowledge of the chemical and mineralogical compositions, physical and mechanical properties of these raw materials. The absence of these data has led to low qualities of their ceramic products.

How do we rejuvenate this industry, from the private sector perspective?

One way to assist ceramics manufacturing businesses in Nigeria is to bring them together under one roof. Epina Technologies hosted a two-day international conference and training workshop in November 2013, on “how to set up small scale ceramics manufacturing business.” The 2014 International Ceramic Trade Fair is coming up and will take place between July 23 and 24 at Sheraton Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos.

It is meant to foster interaction between diverse stakeholder groups in the sub-sector, to receive updates on availability of ceramic raw materials locally and emerging technologies to grow Nigeria’s ceramics industry.

This year, Epina Technologies will host for the first time in West Africa ceramics trade fair, expected to showcase the solutions, technologies and methods available to transform our raw materials to useful ceramic products. It will provide delegates with the opportunity to know more about ceramics and how it is used in our everyday lives.

As a way of addressing the issue of attracting young people into the ceramics industry, we need to develop a number of ceramics training programmes. These programmes should be designed to educate and engage young people in the world of process manufacturing and to raise awareness of the exciting and challenging career opportunities that are available within the ceramics industries. For employers, this will improve productivity and competitiveness by making sure people have the right skills for their jobs; motivating people through recognising the skills that they have, provide relevant and high-quality training across whole industries. The private sector contributions will be developing people as part of expansion or succession planning for their businesses. This industry can create over 500,000 jobs in Nigeria.

What role does government have to play?

Government should set up a world-class Ceramics Centre of Excellence to train personnel and provide a National Apprenticeship Framework for the Ceramics industry (NAFCI); to establish ceramics manufacturing business clusters in key areas that drive industry productivity and competitiveness. The effective implementation of these strategies will require the coupling of resources together.