Investors Threaten to Close Shops at Calabar FTZ

7 May 2009

Calabar -- OPERATORS of businesses at the Calabar Free Trade Zone have threatened to close shops or sell at very exorbitant prices, as 87 per cent of production time was being sustained through the use of generating sets rather than power supply to the zones.

According to the Managing Director of Combination Industries, one of the firms operating in the free-trade zone, Nic Mirpuri, the company relies most of the time on generating sets to power its production equipment.

He said that as much as 47 litres of diesel was being used each hour to run the firm's machineries, adding that recently, a total of 115 hours out of the weekly 132 hours were run on generator.

According to him, with the current situation, the incentive of free-trade zones to encourage manufacturers may have been defeated unless the problem of power was tackled and solved, adding that when power exists at all in the first place, it was never a clean power (stable power supply) as there would be surges, low or high voltage which makes it most of the time unreliable and of no use to the companies. He disclosed that as the first firm to start production in the zone, he tried developing wind-energy, but was quick to add that the problem was that of distribution by the relevant authority.

Also speaking on the problem faced by the zone, the Managing Director of First Medical and Sterile Products, Dr. Isaac Nnadi said that his firm utilises a minimum of N1.5 million on one-shift of manufacturing work, adding that power remains the greatest setback for the Nigerian economy which must be solved to encourage Nigerians and foreigners alike to take the call for local production very serious. For the owners of Stonecraft Granite and Marble, Mr. Tony Aleogena-Raphael, the situation was the same as he advised that Nigeria must solve the problem of power supply if the high cost of production which was discouraging investors in the country must be addressed

Also painting the ugly situation, the General Manager of the Calabar Free Trade Zone (the government agency in charge of the zone), Mr. William Akpogu confirmed that power supply remains the bane of the zone, adding that the Calabar Free Trade Zone needs a 9.3MW energy capacity but that to ensure that the investors were encouraged to continue producing in the zone, government still subsidizes the energy needs.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/content/view/35231/49/

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Two words: White elephant

What are they waiting for? any investor whose investment requires electricity should be look towards solar and wind energy if the investment must survive in Nigeria. if not waste of time and money, i dont see Nigeria ever resolving the electricity situation, the leaders need their loophole to steal money through contract award. And electricity is the biggest loophole in the country today.

@topic,

Which yeye investor be dat? Didn't he count the cost before sinking money into the business? Does he thinks Nigeria will suddenly provide uninterrupted power supply simply because of him?

Roflmao!!!! Sheeesh!!! Where are the real good laughter emoticons when you need them!!

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Tayo-D:

@topic,

Which yeye investor be dat? Didn't he count the cost before sinking money into the business? Does he thinks Nigeria will suddenly provide uninterrupted power supply simply because of him?

What sort of comment is this? Now you are blaming investors operating in the free trade zone due to the inability of your Government to provide
basic needs of the zone. Retract your statement, and reason logically, please.

Any free trade zone in other clime of the world are operated on certain standard and principle e.g Dubai free trade zone, i mean, if we are not ready to operate the zone lets call a world press conference and showcase our indepth stupidity as a country.

and so the story continues,

busi-bodi:

and so the story continues,

hhhmmmm truely the story continues 
NIGERIA WE HAIL THEE
how will the other parts of the world knows that niga as a country herself is also a scam.

@meexteriox,

meexteriox:

What sort of comment is this? Now you are blaming investors operating in the free trade zone due to the inability of your Government to provide
basic needs of the zone. Retract your statement, and reason logically, please.

Any free trade zone in other clime of the world are operated on certain standard and principle e.g Dubai free trade zone, i mean, if we are not ready to operate the zone lets call a world press conference and showcase our indepth stupidity as a country.

Retract my statement? Think logically? Let me tell you what is not logical. It is any investor coming into Nigeria thinking the govt will make power available to him. For him to assume so is to not have done a proper business plan in which he would have studied Nigeria and know what to expect in terms of power supply. Anybody who plans to do business in the country must as a matter of business cost, include what it takes to run on generators 24/7.

Forget the appellation - Free Trade Zone. There is nothing free in that zone!

What's also  illogial, is to compare Nigeria FTZ to Dubai's, or anywhere else for that matter.

Nigeria is very close to being a failed state. Until we get rid of the morons we have in power, at all levels,
we are doomed.

And I agree that the most important part of any venture is a business plan. Here you assess your risks
and determine viability of the business interest. Nigeria is such a high risk place to invest, that even contracts signed
by goverments may not only be disregarded, but can be cancelled at any time by successive goverments. Power for the
sake of it.

Yaradua has only confirmed that. Policy continuity is non existent. Policy summersault is constant. Leadership? What leadership?.
Power generation? That one is that another avenue for monumental fraud.

What a waste 

Bloody white elephant - Flawed from the on set - I would have thought that proper planning was done. Money should have been set side to build a private power plant but unfortunately this is Nigeria.

why dey want close shops at calaber,dey never see anything

where is Nigeria going?_{thats all i can ask!}

Naija don fall inside well finish.

i agree with Tayo-D, they should have done benefit-cost calculations before they looking for awooof

Shame to this country

yea, any investor has to do a proper fesibility study be4 venturing into biznes. even if they come to lagos, wont they pay for diesel here? all companies plus banks in lagos run on diesel, some spend as much as 3m on diesel every month. diz r costs they pass over to d consumer, they ought to have done thier pricing in such a way dat they take into account these costs plus they ought to hav come with enuff workin capital, nigeria is still one of the only countries in the world where a company's sales can increase annually by more than 30% while profits can hit more dan 120% where d global average is around 30% on sales, foreigners who come ere despite every, do u think dey r fools?

Everything is failing because of power supply. My food lost strength and change taste before morning because of power supply. I cannot sleep because of power supply, i cannot do proper feasibility studies because of power supply.

That company ought to do a thorough feasibility studies before coming. Even small boys like us do before anything.

Government should wake up to it's responsibility.

Solar energy is pretty expensive, unless you import components direct from Europe or Asia.

Feasibility studies would have nipped this in the bud.

they better close up as things are only going to get worse at least going by what soludo said.

GOOD PEOPLE GREAT NATION

good people hopeless government

We are exporters. Where in Calabar can we get 10,000 tons of honey, charcoal, cocoa & palm oil each annually? Please kindly give us detailed information if you know where we can get them.

Akada World Trade International Limited
6, Olusegun Obasanjo Way, Beside DHL Office, Ita-Eko, Abeokuta, Ogun State.
Tel: 08037226372 & 08085196184
Email: akadaworldtrade@yahoo.com