‘We cannot continue to import tomato paste when we can produce it here’

Eric Umeofia is the president and CEO of Erisco Foods Limited, maker of tomato paste. Umeofia is an ardent canvasser of ‘Buy Made-in-Nigeria Products’ and believes that only genuine support for indigenous manufacturers will drive the Nigerian economy and grow jobs. In this interview, he tells ODINAKA ANUDU that Nigeria has the capacity to export tomatoes between 18 months and three years from now if only all hands are on deck.

Where do you get fresh tomatoes?

I want to reply you with a question: Where do tomato sellers in Lagos get their products? Are these tomatoes farmed in Lagos?  When you get down to the factory, you will see a large number of baskets. We get tomatoes from the north, but we have realised that buying few trucks today and few others tomorrow is not helping us. We get our tomatoes from Kano, Katsina and Sokoto. It takes a day to transport them and if you have issues on the road, you will lose all of them. That’s why we are fast-tracking our northern plant to make logistics easier for us. It is not possible to buy the quantity we need from Lagos because it’s expensive here. Ninety-five percent of tomatoes sold in Lagos are from the north. We are supposed to run twenty trucks every day but we can’t because of these logistics challenge.

People are wondering what you are using the dollars you are asking the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to give you to do. So can you tell us why you need huge amount of dollars?

We need dollars to buy tin plates. These tin plates (displays them) are not done anywhere in Africa.

But we have packaging companies in Nigeria that can produce tin plates?

Give me their names and I will buy them from the manufacturers tomorrow. All companies import these tin plates from China.

How do you get concentrates?

We have concentrates here. I will take you to the factory and you will see dry tomatoes and how it is produced. The concentrate has been banned, so all we need is to eat what we produce. Go anywhere and invest. We are investing in Jigawa and Katsina. I have released papers on this and have said it clearly in the media. Only few Nigerians can make the sacrifice we make. We do it here instead of importing.

There are reports that show that many manufacturers, especially large companies like yours, are getting more dollars now than before. Are you among those currently getting more foreign exchange?    

Dollar access is not hidden. My records show I have taken only $24 million dollars from the CBN despite having operated in this country for six years. Foreign companies are getting $15 million and $30 million at a go to import finished goods, but a genuine manufacturer like me cannot get dollars. My stand is that we cannot continue to import tomatoes when we can make them here.

But there was a 60 percent window created by the CBN for manufacturers last year. Did you not benefit from it?

My applications have been in some of the banks for six to nine months and they haven’t given me. So I didn’t benefit.

You recently announced your plan to move your plant out of Nigeria. Are you still leaving Nigeria?

No.

Why change of mind?

The government has solved the problem. The matter has been resolved.

So you mean you now get more dollars, since this was your main complaint?

All I have said is that the matter has been resolved and we are here.

To what extent will setting up a plant in the north support your goals?

It will provide nearness to raw materials advantage. That’s why we keep telling financial institutions in Nigeria to support us to export tomatoes in 18 months. They will not say ‘no’. They will tell you it’s an excellent idea but will turn back to support importers.

No company has been done injustice like mine. We are using Nigerian fresh tomatoes, but they won’t support us.

When are we expecting the plant in the north to take off?

It will start by the last quarter of this year.

So how much will the plant cost you?

I can’t say how much it will cost when the country is not ready to support me. I will not leave the country despite frustrations from the CBN.

Don’t you think there are many manufacturers also asking the CBN for dollars which are in short supply?

If there are no dollars, all of us will endure. But why must you give them to importers of finished goods while manufacturers are suffering?

But these people getting dollars have proven they are producing locally?

Do you believe this? I have challenged them to come to the television, let’s debate it but they are running away. I came here with good intentions and nobody will chase me away. Why should anybody give $20 million for the importation of fish or $15 million for frozen fish?

What is the current capacity of your Lagos plant?

My capacity is 450,000 metric tonnes a year but I can’t even produce up to 20 percent of that. Don’t you think it’s frustrating?

The president has done his part but financial institutions should support manufacturers. Seventy percent of indigenous companies here have closed down already. How can you pay salaries, run diesel and other expenses and still remain afloat when importers are given  soft landing? We don’t have dollars or naira again because our money is in stock.  How can I compete with importers? We are not appreciated. If CBN saves $100 billion in foreign reserves without supporting local manufacturers, the money will finish in three to four months if there is any problem again in the economy. How can I compete with firms that get 30 percent rebates in their countries?

When I developed garri cube, they said it was not possible. But they have now seen it is possible and we can produce anything we want locally.

 

What plan do you have to curb post-harvest losses when your factory in the north starts fully?

We have no reason to lose food products. When you harvest tomato and fail to use it in two or three days, you get wastes. So plant nearby and use it within two to three years. There is nothing like tomato storage. Take tomatoes and put in a deep freeze and you will find out that it is perishable.  We are an authority in tomato processing. Thank God for the government plan to apply the cement success method on tomato. If foreigners are proud of themselves, we Nigerians will support our own. People canvassing ‘Buy Made-in-Nigeria’ are the ones supporting importation.

How will you assess the new tomato policy?

Excellent! However, the policy is not the issue but implementation. That is a ban on concentrate and it is for two or three years. I have intelligence information from China Customs that Nigerians import $1 billion worth of tomato from that country every year. They value the money for tax purposes. So who is fooling who? The tomatoes our importers are bringing in from China are not eaten in that country or any other country.

If ministries, departments and agencies will support President Buhari, things will work better. In tomato, we will continue to support farmers to ensure that tomatoes are exported in two to three years’. We want government to ban more items that are inimical to the Nigerian economy, like food seasoning. I commend the President, Acting President, Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment; Minister of Agriculture and others. I urge others to join hands to enable them to deliver on their promises.

The ‘in-thing’ now is the use of rail to transport tomatoes. Do you plan to tap into this?

Remove tomatoes from the rail system for now. How do you move tomatoes by rail when the sauce will be dropping on the floor?

There was a first phase of this which transported 1.6 metric tonnes from Kano to Lagos. The drivers of this are looking for crates and want to use deep freeze…

What I think they would want to do is to keep it at room temperature, not in deep freeze. It’s a good idea but you know when you enter fully into it, you begin to think twice.

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