‘Abuja is ready to host the best int’l trade fair ever’

Q:Sir, how prepared is ABUCCIMA for this year’s Abuja International trade fair?

We have been working round the clock to ensure that we have a very good fair this year and as far as the preparation goes, unlike previous years when we were making exhibitors construct temporary wooden stands, this year we have placed orders for purchase of exotic exhibition tents from China, together with 156 shell skins and then some other smaller exhibition tents.

Aside from that, our marketing team is embarking on very vigourous marketing of the fair. We have sent out invitations for participation to various state governments, cooperate organisations, individuals and various embassies within the country and so far we are receiving responses from prospective participants. Some of them are from Taiwan, China, India, Germany, Turkey, Ghana, Senegal, Parkistan and many West African Countries. The responses have been very encouraging and this year we are very sure that it will be a full outing.

Last year, the response level was also quiet high; how many organisations were involved in terms of participation?

For participation, judging by the statistics of what we are having since we started at the inception of our international trade fair because every year the participation level continues to increase, so far this year, we are not looking for anything less than 300 exhibitors and the visitors to the fair too on daily basis; we are looking forward to nothing less than 450 visitors on daily basis.

In terms of preparation, beyond the physical structures, what of security?

By next month, we will start constituting the security committees which will comprise Nigerian Police, Civil Defence, Nigerian Army, SSS and then private security.

Since we started the international trade fair, even when we were at Area 10 and until last year, we never had any incidence of theft or any unpleasantness here and that cost us a fortune because we had to pay for all of the security services.

I remember vividly an incidence at the old parade ground when exhibitors were even afraid of coming into the arena because of the presence of the military, police and all that, because we flooded everywhere with security men.

How much are you committing into the fair this year?

Maybe you are aware that we are a company limited by guarantee and we don’t get any subventions from government so we are to generate every kobo we use here and all these preparations towards a very successful and befitting outing we wont spend anything less than N25-N30 million. To get all these things in place on daily basis you know how much it costs to place 24 hours vigilance on this place.

One of the major difficulties you are likely to face is the issue of power; what are your plans for alternative power supply?

As far as utility is concerned, we have everything in place including bore-holes here and as for the power, last year we met the PHCN people and appealed to them to ensure that they hook us on to the national grid and aside from that, we purchased a big generator. There will always be power for the whole of the complex. So the generator is there on standby, in the event of any power failure we just switch over, so that one is not a problem to us.

Who and who are you expecting in terms of local and foreign dignitaries?

Usually we invite the President and where he is engaged, he normally delegates the responsibility to one of his ministers who will come to perform the opening and we have virtually all the ambassadors here; they all attend the opening ceremony; top government officials and the industrialists and other top business people. And then of course entertainment including various traditional dances.

What are your expectations in terms of income generation?

From the past outings, the fallout of the whole thing is that people, including some businessmen come back to settle in Abuja. This is because what we are trying to do is to expose the business potentials here in Abuja. So, people come in to see what opportunities are here. Our own people have the opportunity of meeting foreign investors, discuss with them, network and that has in fact attracted many people to Abuja.

How can this fair assist in job creation?

During this fair, aside from our our staff working with us, we employ some temporary staff to perform different activities and exhibitors themselves who are coming from outside set up their stand and employ the local youths who are looking for temporary employment; whom they employ to work for them in their stands; at the end of it some get permanent employment.

We also have seen a situation where these firms stay back to establish one business or the other. The main purpose is to generate interest in our economy and at the end boost job creation and reduce unemployment.

The Chambers of Commerce is expected to make input into government plans and advise government on some economic issues; how has ABUCCIMA faired in this area?

What happens is that the federal government call on the Chamber to make input into the federal budget through NACCIMA, which is the umbrella body of the Nigerian Association of Chambers of commerce. All the chambers in the country are members of NACCIMA, every chamber makes a presentation to NACCIMA; NACCIMA then receives all the presentations. We have a committee that draws up the chambers’ position and that position paper is what is presented to government. We have done well in this area.

If you were asked to advise the government; what area will you think is more pressing?

I think the area of power, because power is everything; because even if in the last few years of this democratic government in the country, government had taken that sector alone, we know how many millions of dollars have been spent and nothing to show for all that we have spent.

If government gives us power I think that on its own can go a long way in assisting the private sector drive the economy. Besides power, the banks are also not helping matters with their high interest rates. I think the government should intervene and get CBN to get this interest rates reduced because to borrow money at 22% and even more, I don’t see how people can break even.

Is it possible to fix the interest rate by fiat?

I don’t believe that it is by fiat because I think much of it depends on the CBN and the way the monetary policies of the CBN goes. This determines how CBN goes about fixing the interest rate. Just overnight you wake up and they have their own parameters for fixing it.

Is it possible to quantify how much the fair realises every year?

I cannot not tell you exactly how much. This is because various people come in from different places with different products and at the end except from our own side, I can’t quote any figure right now.

How would you assess the current budget logjam between the Executive and the National Assembly?

What we in the private sector want the budget to achieve is development of our economy’s because it is only when these things are working properly that we can think of being one of the most advanced economy by the year 2020. But then if we don’t do our budgeting right and we want the economy to move in the proper direction that we want, then that is a mirage; but if we are able to build up this thing through a harmonious relationship between the executive and legislative, things will work out well.

Do you see the possibility of Nigeria getting things right the way we are gong?

So far we are not doing badly because going by what we read in the pages of newspapers, I suppose that the coordinating minister and her team are doing a good job. I just pray that they keep it up. But the only fear there is that what they said the have achieved is not reflecting on the people and on our standard of living, and that is where fear comes in.

Talking about “reflecting on the people” where is the missing link?

I suppose the missing link is based on what government is doing with the economic gains. When you have all these policy summersault, we can go nowhere. Inconsistency of government policies is part of the problem. Most times the government tells us that ‘by so and so time we will have this mega watts of electricity supplies’ only to find out that they can’t even meet up with their targets.

You find that even you in their own planning, so many things are ignored. These things affect your own planning as individuals and corporate organisations. For instance, if you know how much it costs our members in the private sector to run factories on generators, you will know that it is expensive. If the Power minister says they are giving us this number of mega watts and they are able to meet the target, then the industrialists will know how to plan.

What specific advantages will your participants derive from this trade fair?

The advantages of participating in a trade fair is just for you to create awareness for your products. You also do same for your own organisation by making the public know where you are located and how to reach you. It also gives the opportunity for people who are looking for distributorship or agency or those who want to partner a common meeting place for business people to come and exchange ideas and establish business relationship.

Beyond creating a meeting place for investors, do you also render post-fair services for investors?

Some of these investors, when they come, they contact the Chambers. Some of them use the Chambers for their due diligence search because they have to know the kind of persons they want to deal with and we have to attest to the person’s credibility or trustworthiness; somebody you can vouch for, not just anybody that comes so that they do not play into the wrong hands.

What advise do you have for people who are planning to participate?

I assure them that they are going to have a good time and it’s going to be a very successful outing and they will have value for whatever money they invest into participating in the fair. Then for visitors, we assure them that they will meet the kind of business partners they want because we are bringing as many of them as possible.