Efio-Ita Nyok10 May 2016|6:40am
Congratulations on Governor Ayade Benedict for completing the Garment Factory.
My personal concern is that Hiring 2000 youths for a start is going to be a great task and burden on its operations. I wish such a promise was not made upfront.
As an entrepreneur I would suggest a gradual intake of human capacity based on market demand for products. In all sustainable enterprises, the market demand for products drive the need for capacity increase. This demand supply price mechanism drives virtually all successful business ventures.
However, let's hope the administrators of the factory have a hidden plan to make it sustainable with such high labor cost. But in general, a tap in the back for Gov Ayade for pushing this through amidst tight financial position of the state government
—Princewill Odidi
Atlanta-based Development Consultant
9 May 2016.
The above statements are attributable to Mr. Princewill Odidi, an Ikom-born Atlanta-based Development Consultant. As usual, the statements incited thumbs up and acerbic opprobrium. This publication is to capture the criticisms that greeted Odidi's congratulatory messages of Governor Ben Ayade's Garment Factory.
Okoi Obono-Obla: I do not think government direct involvement in the conceptualization, execution and eventually running of garment factory is in tandem with the current economic trend which favours privatization of public enterprises. This is why ten years the government privatised all public enterprises in the State and sold them to private investors.
The problems that led to government privatizing public enterprises is still here. I therefore do not understand why after ten years of privatisation government is now returning to the old fashioned way. I think government should be a regulator rather than an investor. Government should rather create a conductive environment for investment to thrive. So I do not know why somebody like you schooled in western liberalism should be celebrating the return to state control of the means of production which international capital frowns against.
I can get that this factory will eventually fail unless it is sold off.
Missang Oyama: I've always had the conviction that history is very good guide to a man's journey in life. If a man does not know where he is coming from, he may not know where is going to.
Historically, government has never succeeded in business ownership in our clime. The questions that beg for answers are: Is governor Ayade set to break the jinx here and what happens after he leaves the reins of power? Has the problems that led to the moribund nature of so many state-owned companies solved? Have we not gone back to the same old era where government gets involved in business ownership and end up wasting resources without desired returns on investment?
Again, why didn't the governor conceive a project in line with the availability of raw materials where the state has comparative advantage? Why didn't the governor get private investors to invest in this project after creating the enabling environment with necessary infrastructures?
I'm deeply concern about the success and sustainability of this project in the long run.
Obasesam Okoi: We should not be deceived. There's no such thing as garment factory. In fact, I drove past the site this morning on my way to the airport. What is there is an empty building just as the empty warehouses at TINAPA.
An empty building isn't a factory. I saw it with my two eyes and will share the photos I took here for us to see. Nothing of such is happening.
Davis Olayi: Princewill Odidi is it a garment factory or a mega sewing outfit?
Peter Offem Ubi: the glorification of Gov Ayade garment factory by some in Cross River State is a disturbing development. Important question need to be answered, otherwise, our people have simply been sold good begs of deception.
It will be best now to file a petition using the legitimacy of the freedom of information act to demand expenses into the construction of this project. Who was the contractor? What was the contract process like…Was it a fair legal bidding process? Was the state assembly involved in the allocation of funding to this project, how much money allocated to the project and was it worthy of the little building standing today by the Goodluck Johnathan bypass -moreso, is it a State/Private partnership project? Was the land used for the project a government land or obtained from private citizens -if from private citizens -was compensation given to the owners or is violation to the peoples right in order? We cannot be in glorification without full facts to determine any faulty line on illegalities.
While the garment factory may seem a fine idea, a hopeful fair employment sector across the board amongst citizens, and a needed development state industrial sector; inspite of acknowledged benefits, if any illegal process led to the final development, we must take to consideration and admit a rape to our democracy, and it is an affront on our people's sensibilities in a democratic society.
Joseph Odok: Can we think Cross River and leave China as submitted by Chief Okoi Obono-obla? What is our attitude to corruption in comparison with China? We lack the discipline for state-owned enterprises.
Besides the legal framework for Garment Factory is shrouded in secrecy as pointed out by Peter Offem Ubi. Princewill Odidi I fault your submission on this and it appears compromised.
Ifere Paul: Na who tell you say dem don complete garment factory? @ Princewill Odidi
Missang Oyama: @ Princewill Odidi: The concept of enabling environment is quite relative with respect to its application in developed and developing economies across the world.
Of course, in developed economies infrastructural problems are not issues to contend with whereas in our clime the challenge of infrastructure is the bane of our development.
In Nigeria, when the concept of enabling environment is mentioned, it is not so much about taxation and its variances but so much about our predicament in terms of acute infrastructural decay. I dare to assert therefore with all due respect that creating enabling environment as applied in development does not have a universal application. Its meaning and application varies in view of the peculiarities of different nations.
There is no nation in the world that runs a 100% socialist or capitalist economy. Just like in some of your examples, all the airports in Nigeria are owned by the government with all the bureaucracies. Again, judging from the peculiarities of our environment, how many public-owned companies or business ventures have succeeded?
Any development that is initiated without taking into cognizance the historical and cultural peculiarities of the people is bound to fail. In my submission, I talked about the issue of initiating project along the line of raw materials where the state has comparative advantage. You and I know that our people don't grow cotton. I've often asserted that the key development model that should be applied to jump-start our local economy is the Bottom-Up model with an inward looking perspective. Sir, did I hear you say the ownership of this project is irrelevant?
Honestly, the ownership of the Garment Factory is a fundamental issue. It is very much against our constitutional provisions for a sitting state executive to set up or run his private business enterprise within the state. There will be an obvious conflict of interest. This project has always had the coloration of the state ownership as depicted by the governor, yet the ownership is still shrouded in deep controversy. The onus is on the governor to clear the air with documented evidence.
In this regards, I would most respectfully crave the indulgence of Chief Okoi Obono-obla to help us clear the air here with respect to the constitutionality of a sitting state executive running or setting up a personal business venture. I think it runs contrary to our constitution and other extant laws.
*Sequel to the criticisms captured above, Odidi took out precious time to take his critics to the cleaners. Read his response.
Princewill Odidi: @ Chief Okoi Obono-obla and Eau Ad, I have never looked at the garment factory as a government owned business except if i am wrong. In a communication I had with Mr Ayade last year, he had opined that he started work on the garment factory one year before he became governor. To my understanding it maybe a PPP, but the details of which I do not know. The Hon Speaker, John Gaul Lebo is in a better position to tell the public the ownership structure of the factory.
But let us assume this factory is owned by the government, there is nothing wrong for the government to invest in capital intensive projects especially when the investment returns is long-term but the need is immediate. The whole argument of privatization and the need for the government to stay away from production but rather create enabling environment for investors is an argument that does not really hold in Nigeria, it is text books assumptions.
To be factual, I have previously argued in an article published in Guardian newspaper last year that “the dissolution of the commodity boards and eventual privatization of state owned corporations in Nigeria, an economy where the productive forces are not fully developed and our service clientele type of entrepreneurship who prefer middleman profit sharing role in business enterprises than industrial reinvestment culture is the bane to unemployment in Nigeria”.
In fact, governments do engage in successful businesses. over 70% of most of this Chinese companies in Nigeria handling virtually most of our construction and other projects are actually, partially owned by the state of china. Why haven't we questioned state involvement in production activities when we hire Chinese firms to do our bid? Even the Western world that is busy pushing privatization on the throats of African economies, their own governments are heavily involved in production services.
The Atlanta airport is owned and managed by the City of Atlanta, Atlanta Metro Line is owned and managed by The City government, US Post office is owned and managed by the Government, US rail system is owned and managed by the US department of Transport the list continues. Dont get me wrong, a thriving private sector is good for the capitalist economy, so does a public private partnership as practiced in China. The current growth and expansion of the Chinese economy cannot be compared to any western capitalist economy.
Given the history of African economies which is neocolonialist and imperialist influenced, the Chinese economic model is rather ideal to advance economic growth. It is on this basis I congratulated Mr Ayade on the completion of the garment factory. Whether it is still a warehouse as Obasesam Okoi has pointed out, is irrelevant. You know I cannot mislead the public, what do I stand to gain?
To the best of my knowledge, correct me if i am wrong, this project was not captured in 2016 state appropriation bill, so if Mr Ayade or his private company owns the project with no evidence of public funds being used, and intends to use the factory to serve a public purpose through employment generation as alleged, I dont think congratulating him is out of place. My concern is not so much about the ownership of the factory or sewing workshop whatever we prefer to call it, my concern is the financial sustainability of the project and her ability to continue to maintain the staff strength amidst harsh economic realities of the relationship between high cost of labor and market demands and profit..
On using one of the warehouses at Tinapa as suggestted by Obas, dont forget Tinapa is under the management and control of AMCON. Considering the enabling laws establishing AMCON and how her reclaimed assets are managed, we cannot just use their assets for a garment factory.
@ Missang Oyama, taking your line, that historically governments have not succeeded in running businesses, consider the Chinese and revisit your comments. That previously state owned companies failed, does not imply this will fail. In life, you will never learn until you fail. In developed societies, when the government talk about enabling environments as conditions to attract investments they are talking about low taxes, exemptions, and other business friendly perks. You and I know this things don't work in Nigeria. Even if Nigerian government makes taxes zero, it has no impact on investors as per enabling environment, our major problem scaring investors is corruption, insecurity and insincerity of Nigerians in business partnerships. This brings us back to the state involvement in production without which the private sector will continue to lie dormant and unemployment will continue to rise.
I stand to be corrected.
With whom do the readers stand —Odidi or his critics?
Efio-Ita Nyok
Is a Blogger & the Editor of Negroid Haven
