Erisco Foods and utilisation of CBN’s N2bn fund

A couple of weeks ago, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) visited Erisco Foods Limited, manufacturers of Ric-Giko, Nagiko and Erisco tomato paste brands as well as other food products.

One of the reasons for that visit was to see how the company utilised the N2 billion it accessed recently from the CBN’s Commercial Agricultural Credit Scheme (CACS).

Another reason was to assess the impact of the recently discontinued access to foreign exchange of 41 items on the local producers. Tomato paste is one of these 41 items discontinued from accessing the foreign exchange.

It was an amazing sight for Paul Eluhaiwe, special adviser to CBN governor on development financing and his team, as they walked into the factory, with a capacity of 250,000 tons of tomato paste processing.

The company generates its own electricity, water, installed various kinds of machinery for production, raw materials, among other things.

“We have seen your work from the factory. We want our banks to see the reason to finance the real sector of the economy. If we don’t do it, no other country can do it for you. The world is a global competition; so we need indigenous business, entrepreneurs and banks to do that. We see a lot of machines lying down there. They are not utilised. If they are put into use, you will discover that you can get as much as 4,000 workers on this project,” Eluhaiwe said.

Erisco Foods has invested about $150 currently, has over 1500 workforce compared with 500 it had before getting financing through banks.

Eluhaiwe was pleased that the restriction on access to foreign exchange for 41 items imported into the country is having positive impact as the company enjoys more patronage from consumers.

Eluhaiwe challenged the government to come up with policies that will address smuggling in order to reduce influx of sub-standard products into the country.

Eric Umeofia, president of Erisco Foods Limited, appreciated the effort of the current government in reviving the economy, saying he is determined to contribute his own quota in making sure the country, which presently imports most of its in tomato paste needs, begins to export in large quantity.

“We have confidence in this government and the current CBN management. Again Nigerians should support and buy our own products for a better economy and better health because if we do that it would increase the country’s foreign reserves,” he said.

Speaking further, he said, “CBN has been so good to us and we have been able to access up to N2 billion. Our target is simple: We want to turn Nigeria from biggest tomato paste importer to an exporter of tomato paste. And with president Buhari, we are sure we are getting there because the policies are right.”

Umeofia, also known in manufacturing circles as ‘The Tomato King’, led his team to seek technical partnerships with experts in backward integration executions as well as experts in the tomato value chain. This is in order to kick-start his vision of developing the tomato industry from the basic modernised plantations to setting up of refinery plants for conversion of the harvested tomatoes into concentrate. The concentrate thus produced will eventually lead to the stoppage of importation of foreign concentrate for use in Nigerian tomato paste factories such as in Erisco Foods’250,000 tons per annum factory in Oregun, Lagos State. The factory is reputed to be the largest tomato paste factory in Africa with plans to become the third largest in the world by the first quarter of 2016, with an increased production capacity of 450,000 metric tons per annum.

Erisco Foods is already in the process of launching massive tomato plantations through backward integration in Sokoto, Jigawa, Katsina and Zamfara states. Umeofia and has been a vocal crusader for Nigerian government and the international community to support indigenous manufacturers and local investors as the fast and effective means of revamping the floundering fortunes of Africa’s most populous nation. It is his firm belief that serious investors can only come into an economy such as Nigeria if her own nationals have staked impressive investments of their own provided that financial institutions are prepared to give the requisite support in line with President Buhari’s economic agenda.

HOPE MOSES-ASHIKE