folake4u:

izzou:


I don't know about PH, but when it rains in Lagos, there's this raincoat made of nylon that some women usually hawk

I was surprised when i knew that it was imported.

Like....nylon that was cut into a raincoat size, was imported?

We don't produce anything in this country. So, i won't be surprised is Oxford Maths Set gets to 15,000 someday

GloriousGbola:


we have collectively fked up this country in so many ways with our choices which are now coming home to roost

it is now cheaper to import exercise books than to print them
same for sanitary pads

i think we may even be importing the wood pulp used for the paper.

It will always be cheaper and easier to import than produce because of the difficulty in doing business.

From very funny government policies, to the risks of security and transport, to the ever increasing cost of raw materials, to dubious staff and vendors...Omoh..

Anybody thinking the country will get better is still on Colos. We are simply enjoying now. It just gets worse as we move on.

I went to somewhere in the interior of Ogun state, and you will not believe that Cassava is a scarce commodity there, despite hundreds of acres lying fallow.

The reason? Nobody wants to farm. All the young boys and girls don run go town go find money.

So the few people wey plant, they slam ridiculous prices on it

Nigeria!

Itsrm:


I was recently having that conversation with madam when I bought soap and saw it was manufactured in Indonesia

The way Chinese are flooding
our markets with everything is scary

They have started using our local names to open businesses sef

You will see..Made in PRC and Packaged in Nigeria by Olurundara Ventures or Ndubest Brothers

Na lie oh . Na still Chinese get am.

izzou:


The way Chinese are flooding
our markets with everything is scary

They have started using our local names to open businesses sef

You will see..Made in PRC and Packaged in Nigeria by Olurundara Ventures or Ndubest Brothers

Na lie oh . Na still Chinese get am.

GloriousGbola:


na so we dey see am.

Nigerians run rings around oyibos and their processes.

if you are not native you cant understand. it is also why the likes of dangote hire indians as management. because in the end i guess thoe ones have enough sense to understand YOU DO NOT KILL THE GOOSE LAYING THE GOLDEN EGGS. maybe it is the nigger in u, i dont know - the same way you see farm workers robbing the business into insolvency, is the same way you see officer, manager, executives, directors and CEOs doing the same

i watched a promising company die because the oga and his crew were using style to steal the oyibos forex investment

everyone in the industry understood what was happening , because some costs were being obviously inflated

today the oyibos have pulled out, the company is under nigerian ownership, and the oga - i dont think he has been able to find another ceo job since then.

the guy built the company with his hands and destroyed it with his greed

izzou:


The way Chinese are flooding
our markets with everything is scary

They have started using our local names to open businesses sef

You will see..Made in PRC and Packaged in Nigeria by Olurundara Ventures or Ndubest Brothers

Na lie oh . Na still Chinese get am.

izzou:


The way Chinese are flooding
our markets with everything is scary

They have started using our local names to open businesses sef

You will see..Made in PRC and Packaged in Nigeria by Olurundara Ventures or Ndubest Brothers

Na lie oh . Na still Chinese get am.

afrodoc2:


Or Ndubuisi has a factory in China manufacturing at reduced cost for him.

That one still dey

I really no blame Biden when e hammer their products with a higher tariff.

These guys now rent shops and retail their products. Nigerians are now battling to compete with them in retail too.

Chinese?I fear these people

GloriousGbola:


based on recommendations, i bought these pads.

my daughter concurs and says they are very good. they are half the price of any other pad on the market

but they too are made and packaged in china.

they are already killing always market, as always costs twice as much . if always dies, what next?

afrodoc2:


Or Ndubuisi has a factory in China manufacturing at reduced cost for him.

izzou:


It will always be cheaper and easier to import than produce because of the difficulty in doing business.

From very funny government policies, to the risks of security and transport, to the ever increasing cost of raw materials, to dubious staff and vendors...Omoh..

Anybody thinking the country will get better is still on Colos. We are simply enjoying now. It just gets worse as we move on.

I went to somewhere in the interior of Ogun state, and you will not believe that Cassava is a scarce commodity there, despite hundreds of acres lying fallow.

The reason? Nobody wants to farm. All the young boys and girls don run go town go find money.

So the few people wey plant, they slam ridiculous prices on it

Nigeria!

folake4u:


It is really sad to watch. I don't even know why these Oyibos can't see the handwriting on the wall. They can be just dùmb anyhow sometimes.

My company has Indians, Americans, Chinese, Lebanese and NIGERIANS in top management. It is the Nigerian top officials that mostly do the nonsense.

Oh well, I totally get your point. The way some costs are inflated is QUITE ALARMING!! You'd be wondering from where to where.

We have a problem in this country and it isn't our leaders per se.

Oh well, I totally get your point. The way some costs are inflated is QUITE ALARMING!!

Amoto94:
An acquaintance who is working with Dangote Refinery said that some of the employees were sabotaging the man's efforts by stealing equipments, supplying substandard products, and financial misappropriation were rampant these were the reasons for the delays and setbacks

GloriousGbola:


its not so much hat they are dumb, but that they are coming from an environment where these are not factors in running a busienss

and making them part of your business will slow you down

i did my IT in siemens in 1999. siemens has multiple businesses - power, computers, phones, telecomms.

one day someone came to buy a phone. an office phone. they gave have a form in triplicate or quadruplate. not sure. it took over 30 minutes for the transaction. go to accounts, go to warehouse, go to office A .

the staff i was with was grumbling - this is so inefficient, see how they are wasting time. at the time, it sounded like he knew what he was talking about. today i know the process was in place because of people like him.

you put a simple quick process in place and they are exploiting it. if you are not coming from that system you will not understand. my sister complains that we in nigeria are always so negative, so suspicious, always demanding multiple clarifications on everything.

na so e be




these guys inflated the leases on sites. a site that going rate was maybe 5m for a year, became 20m. the lessor, took like 6m and kicked the rest back to them. that is how they were eating the investors money. the investor was doing their own audits, but they had no idea about real estate costs in Nigeria. everyone else in industry knew what was up, because why will you pay 20m for 5m lease. theft from its

Covid hit and the house of cards collapsed. a business can survive a bad economic turn. it cannot survive a bad economic turn and massive internal theft/looting

BlueRayDick:


I doubt ur acquaintance is right on this .

In the oil and gas industry , most if not all of the equipment are imported from abroad . How will employees import substandard products/ equipment when they have the mandate to buy from international suppliers of repute ?

They will get proforma invoice from the manufactures , open form M, LC’s , have their banks and the suppliers banks sort out payment terms and all. All of these processes have control. Some of those equipment even pass through SON ( standard organization of Nigeria ) .

If they were buying from local market, I would agree with this line of thought. Those international suppliers they purchase from abroad have a reputation to uphold .

The fact that Dangote actually uses Indians as top management staff makes this line of thought kinda unbelievable. Those Indians will fire anybody that appears incompetent or becomes a liability in the team without bating an eyelid

BlueRayDick:


I doubt u lenacquaintance is right on this .

In the oil and gas industry , most if not all of the equipment are imported from abroad . How will employees import substandard products/ equipment when they have the mandate to buy from international suppliers of repute ?

They will get proforma invoice from the manufactures , open form M, LC’s , have their banks and the suppliers banks sort out payment terms and all. All of these processes have control. Some of those equipment even pass through SON ( standard organization of Nigeria ) .

If they were buying from local market, I would agree with this line of thought. Those international suppliers they purchase from abroad have a reputation to uphold .

BlueRayDick:


Looking back now and having a deeper understanding of the multifaceted challenge manufacturers face in this country, I think the promise of presidential candidates in the last election ( especially Peter Obi ) to make the country move from being import dependent is actually political talks and lamba . It’s not something any president will be able to do in 8 years .

Successive governments (particularly the military ) killed the manufacturing industry and made it quite difficult to do business at a reasonable margin. I remember the late 90’s and early 2000’s when the Ilupeju industrial estate was still buzzing . When we go to see our relatives around that Onipanu side , I always see all those Empee , textile companies and all when we pass through ilupeju from Oshodi.

I think the successive military government laid the foundation to 4ck the manufacturing sector and the civilian government that came after them were too busy basking in the euphoria of self government to bother about revitalizing the sector with forward thinking policies. They just focused on the easy way out (importing ) , while paying lip service to revitalizing the sector

GloriousGbola:


not everything will be bought from abroad

cable will be bought in nigeria
Please do not mention SON. SON is a rubber stamp for all sorts of rubbish
the oil and gas industry is not a monolith, especially now that we have local players.

there are 1000 ways corrupt people will slow process
we are due a payment on a project. na one lazy very lazy guy wey suppose sign. i told my partner this guy will demand something my guy called me back to say yes, the guy demanded something. the payment has been hanging for a week. work has stalled. now take that and multiply it.

also, if you do not have proper inventory management and security in place, your people on ground can steal materials, or swap them out with lower grade. my partner was in a police station being grilled by police and soldiers because they caught some riff raff under him stealing materials on another project. a situation where you must look at everyone around you as a potential thief and rogue. how will work move if i am double or triple checking everyone?

BlueRayDick:


I doubt ur acquaintance is right on this .

In the oil and gas industry , most if not all of the equipment are imported from abroad . How will employees import substandard products/ equipment when they have the mandate to buy from international suppliers of repute ?

They will get proforma invoice from the manufactures , open form M, LC’s , have their banks and the suppliers banks sort out payment terms and all. All of these processes have control. Some of those equipment even pass through SON ( standard organization of Nigeria ) .

If they were buying from local market, I would agree with this line of thought. Those international suppliers they purchase from abroad have a reputation to uphold .

The fact that Dangote actually uses Indians as top management staff makes this line of thought kinda unbelievable. Those Indians will fire anybody that appears incompetent or becomes a liability in the team without bating an eyelid

He could be right oh.

My guy worked at Dangote Refinery when it was under construction. Na street guy sha

Before them finish, e save money use am go UK.

Unless you are paying Nigerians well enough like the Shell and Chevron, they must find a way to massacre you

izzou:


I just took the message and kept the messenger one side.

With his wealth, how many manufacturing industries him get?

I still believe the state governments can start the change, but then, those ones wan chop fast because 8 years dey quick finish

BlueRayDick:


State governors want to rule for 8 years stealing as much as they can and then relocate to senate house where they can 4ck the country even more .

I think it is only rich states like Lagos , Delta and Rivers state whose former governors have fed so fat that don’t really nurse idea of going to senate after their terms as governor . Those ones think of becoming the president 😂

BlueRayDick:


I am a Nigerian and I know how corrupt Nigerians can get especially when they are in a position to take decisions that revolve around costs of a business they don’t own .

However , saying Dangote refinery start date was delayed because staff were stealing and supplying substandard equipment is something that is almost unbelievable .

This is not he first business Dangote is setting up. Man has set up several businesses in the manufacturing sector plenty of times . He has wealth of experience on handling these challenges than almost any Nigerian businessman . He didn’t just become African richest man with a system that allows employees steal and sabotage his business na. Haba!

There may be several reasons why his refinery didn’t start up at the agreed date , but claiming it is due to employees supplying substandard products and parts is far fetched abeg.

This is not he first business Dangote is setting up. Man has set up several businesses in the manufacturing sector plenty of times . He has wealth of experience on handling these challenges than almost any Nigerian businessman . He didn’t just become African richest man with a system that allows employees steal and sabotage his business na. Haba!

izzou:


If i was a state governor, i would pick one food item....Maybe Rice.

Open a Rice board or Commission

Put an order that the commission will buy rice from farmers at XXXXXX price. As long as you have it, we are buying.

Even person wey no wan farm, go use him empty land plant rice. Afterall, he cannot lose.

GloriousGbola:


there are original circuit breakers and fake ones. and you cannot tell by looking. if the procurment guys gave PO to dodgy contrcator for electrical panels and that one provided fake breakers, you will be having faukt and not knowing what is happening - more so if your technical team are oyibos who have not worked in an environment with fake spare parts

on a project years ago, we ran a cable to our office server room power installation. i specified a cable sized 95mm. after we commissioned the cable was warm [sign of overheating] i could not understand why. it was a very very frightening time. in the end my boss intervened and another vendor was commissioned to put in 120mm cable. i was looking like i did not know what i was doing, but then the people who replaced the cable called me aside and showed me - a 70mm cable had been supplied and the size information scraped off and 95mm stamped on it

there are people with machines in alaba that lay insulation on cable. they will join cable and use the machine to hide it.

all you need is one corrupt guy on your team who is not thinking that far ahead.

a vendor i worked with on a project was my boss paddy. he tried to cut corners and i fought him and fought him. he eventually did the right thing. a year later , a site he had worked on three or four years befoe had a major failure. his pipe [which has a lifetime guarntee] had failed and petrol was pouring everywhere. the gutters were full of petrol. in fadeyi. this was ambos admin ad fire service mobilized and filled the gutters with foam. it could have become a major fire incident.

that day my boss threw up his hands and said - i am tired of my friend! what was unspoken was that the same thing would have happened in the more recent site if i had not fought the guy.



no matter how much experience you have, enter a new business/enterprise there is a learning period or curve during which people can chop you if they are like that . you dont have any vendors or suppliers you have done business with. you want to be careful. if i tell you cost of this service [A] is 2A or A+x or A² how do you know? it is during the project when you now meet with subcontractors or other professionals you can build your own network and supply chains

BlueRayDick:


U are missing the point .

Big conglomerates like Dangote have international engineering companies they patronize for equipment and parts . They don’t call Okey Japan or Ndubest Technical services to get their parts for them. They have a procurement department whose job is to negotiate terms and see through the procurement process with these international engineering firms . They have a trade finance team who will see through the opening of form M’s with CBN and facilitate the payment for these items. There’s control to these things . Some of these equipment even require the manufacturers to send experts down to Nigeria for installation. I know these things .

Dangote has set up Dangote Cement factory , Dangote Sugar, Dangote Flour , etc in the past . He even set commissioned the largest Feetlizer plant in Nigeria as recent as 2022 which I believe was commissioned at the set date .

I am not buying the story that Dangote refinery did not meet the set date for commencement of operation because of staff suppying substandard equipment . I may agree with other reasons

GloriousGbola:


so, in line with what you said -

do oil companies import generators or buy locally?
do they import the vehicles their personnel use or buy from nigerian vendors?
i am sure you also know about local content policy and its stipulations

there is no oil platform in nigeria running on 101% imported parts - infact that is a recipe for a different problem since the nigerian environment is different .

example: an indian changeover is more reliable in nigeria than a UK changeover. because an indian changeover is built and designed in an environment like nigeria, where you can changeover four times a day, vs uk where you may NEVER changeover in the lifetime of your facility.

it is even possible that some of the 'international standard parts' brought in came with their own problems. that is when you will find how many things are damaged by Nigerian voltage

izzou:


It will always be cheaper and easier to import than produce because of the difficulty in doing business.

From very funny government policies, to the risks of security and transport, to the ever increasing cost of raw materials, to dubious staff and vendors...Omoh..

Anybody thinking the country will get better is still on Colos. We are simply enjoying now. It just gets worse as we move on.

I went to somewhere in the interior of Ogun state, and you will not believe that Cassava is a scarce commodity there, despite hundreds of acres lying fallow.

The reason? Nobody wants to farm. All the young boys and girls don run go town go find money.

So the few people wey plant, they slam ridiculous prices on it

Nigeria!

OasisX:


.....na here we dey worship today. Our Daddy dey perform bréast cancer miracle. Daddy dey sück it comot for Bae's body.

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