Ogun secures CBN’s N5bn for industries

As part of strategies to stimulate the Nigerian economy and spur manufacturing activities, Ogun State government has secured N5 billion loan from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to fund extractive industry which will, in return, supply raw materials to industries.

The move, according to government officials, is meant to develop and unlock potential in the extractive and agro-allied industry, with a view to securing much desired, cost-effective raw materials for manufacturing industries, thereby saving the country a huge chunk of foreign exchange used to import inputs.

Speaking at the launch of plastic pallets export to West African by Shongai Packaging Industry Limited in Sango-Ota last week, Bimbo Ashiru, Ogun State commissioner for commerce and industry, said government secured the fund to develop agricultural and extractive industry value chain in order to guarantee uninterrupted agro-allied raw materials to industries.

“There is N5 billion CBN loan for agriculturists and farmers, which we will start disbursing very soon. What we are trying to do is to encourage development of agriculture value chain that will lead to industrialisation and encourage our out-growers, our farmers, to produce goods that will serve as raw materials for our industries,” Ashiru said.

“We are trying to provide necessary infrastructure for them. We are encouraging them to do some packaging, storage facility. If you don’t have that, produce will get spoilt. We are even trying to move to rural roads, and very soon, our people will start fixing the roads. That will help farmers to move those produce from farm to industries and to other consumers,” he said.

“Agriculture value chain development is key; backward integration is key to us; investment in agriculture, storage of produce, processing and industrialisation are very key to us,” Ashiru said.

The commissioner noted that the export of plastic pallets, which are meant for use by breweries and bottling plants, shows that Nigeria is moving in the right direction in terms of local manufacturing of necessary products that could save the country a huge chunk of foreign exchange annually.

“We are now talking about exporting goods out of this country, which is the way to go. I always say that Nigeria has no business being an import-dependent economy. With a population of over 180 million, we should be feeding other African countries, and now we have started doing it. The plastic pallets they are exporting is about 40 containers,” he stated.

“About two months ago, I commissioned some of Shongai export products which are agro-allied based. This time around, it is packaging products. It shows that we are endowed with a lot of mineral resources and this, we want to encourage. We want to reduce over dependence on importation of goods,” he concluded.

RAZAQ AYINLA, Abeokuta