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Before a recent sensitization forum of Transnational Corporation of Nigeria in the ancient city of Kano, people of the state that prides itself as the commercial nerve center of the North, thought that the mega company would be just like any other firm in the country.
Indeed, despite the initial publicity concerning the fact that one of their illustrious sons, Alhaji Aliko Dangote is one of the prime movers, the underpinning idea behind this indigenous biggest private sector initiative was not fully grasped by the people. And when the company put Kano among its first ports of call in the country, Kano people who are renowned for their penchant for exploiting business and investment opportunities, trouped to the venue of the forum. Still, they did expect that they would be treated to one of the most convincing lectures on how to move the nation forward economically. At the end of the day, those in attendance, including the state commissioner of commerce and industries, who represented Governor Ibrahim Shekarau, could not hide how they were fascinated by the wonderful idea behind the formation of Transcorp. The state government pledged to be part of it. Ditto the business community.
However, the man who stole the show was, Mr. Nik Okoye, a technical adviser to the Director-General of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), Mrs Ndi Okereke-Onyiuke. Okoye, who delivered a wonderful presentation on how the company would transform Nigeria by the time it starts yielding dividends, was so convincing that at the end of the day even some of the few doubting thomases at the whole who has phobia about the future survival of the company, especially after President Olusegun Obsanjo leaves power, had no more questions to ask.
Thus, to Okoye, Transcorp is about the Nigerian dream. It is about putting Nigeria on the map of giant economies of the world. To him the company is part of the answer to the nation economic crisis. With Transcorp, things would be done according to world class standards. No more substandard productions. With Transcorp, Nigeria would exploit its comparative advantages, especially going by the attended economy of scales that would come with it.
He said Africa is spending $150 annually on importation on consumer products. Therefore, Transcorp is there to redirect the main production facilities in China to meet its transfer prices and supply to markets in Ghana, Equatorial Guinea, Senegal, Sao Tome, Gambia Burkina Faso etc.
“In Nigeria, we are so much used to ‘managing’ but in the developed world they don’t ‘manage’ And our companies cannot compete in the global market if they continue to produce substandard products,” he said. Then he cited the example of how Mexico makes billion of dollars through exportation of bathroom slippers to US. He said we have the raw material in Nigeria to produce the slippers cheaper than the 5 dollars that Mexico sells to American market. However, the only snag is that we don’t have the capacity to produce massively that we can make any impact in the global market. “And that is what Transcorp wants to achieve for the nation,” he pointed out.
In the same vein, he gave another example of how a South Korean firm captured and conquered American market for microwave ovums by usurping an indigenous company, noting that Nigeria could do the same. But we cannot do it if we don’t have a mega company that has financial muscle and the know how.
Okoye would later paint a picture of how Nigeria failed to reap the benefits of its giant strides on African Unity and peace keeping, the way US wherever she sends troops.
He said Nigeria have been lagging behind because of the absence of mega indigenous companies with necessary expertise and skill to compete globally and that is why Nigerian company did not get any thing from its efforts in Sudan, Liberia et al.
He said Nigeria would have reaped the benefits of its efforts in Liberia, Sudan and others the way United States of America did in Iraq and any other nation it sent troops for liberation or peace keeping, stressing that the nation would gain nothing despite that Liberia would soon under go rebuilding process.
“Liberia would soon embark on massive reconstruction. Where are the Nigerian companies featured here despite the nation’s great efforts towards ensuring peace and stability in that country?.
“We have lost colossal amount of human and financial resources in trying to keep peace in countries like Liberia and other African nations. But there are no rewards for us. United States ensures that American companies benefit from its exploration anywhere in the world. But Nigeria does not because we don’t have the companies that can handle such international projects,” he explained.
Speaking further, Okoye, who made a convincing presentation applauded by a cream of business community in the state, the company would give Nigeria the opportunity to compete at global market by way of providing world class delivery mechanism.
In the same vein, Okeye noted that the company, which has the likes of Aliko Dangote, Femi Otedola, Tony Elumelu, among others as directors would venture into different vital sectors of the economy, including power supply, transport and manufacturing.
He said the company would also seize the opportunity of the on-going privatization policy of the government and invest heavily with a view to achieving its objective of putting Nigeria on the map of giant economies of the world.
On power supply specifically, he said that the company would seize the opportunity of power reforms law in the country and establish its own Independent Power Plant (IPP), which he said would be gas-fed. “The government has already given assurance to license Transcorp to build an IPP to supply residential and commercial consumers. The strategy is to build a plant that will serve the uninterrupted power supply.
“In addition, the plant will be depending on a gas feed, making it independent of the nation’s weather and seasons, as is currently the case with NEPA,” he noted.
Transcorp investment in power, he said, would expand the opportunities of the industrial park and attract international companies from around the world who may wish to serve other markets of Africa.
In the same vein, the mega company would also invest in petrochemical and fertilizer manufacturing. Ditto Agriculture and agro-allied sector in general.
Another interesting idea of the company is creation of free trade zone using Dubai as a model.
No doubt, if the company is managed well, the dream of the nation would come true. Indeed, the much needed big push in the area of investments would easily be achieved. And thousands of jobs would be created for Nigerians, thereby creating abundant wealth in the process that would ultimately lead to the improvement in the quality of life. [an error occurred while processing this directive]
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