Making Case for Increased Foreign Earnings, Unadulterated Cable Manufacturing

 Every month, the Cable Manufacturers Association of Nigeria deals with an estimated loss of several hundreds of millions of naira due to fake, substandard or adulterated cables in the market. To tackle this, as well as attract foreign exchange earnings into the country, Precious Ugwuzor writes on ongoing measures put in place by the new CAMAN president,  Mrs. Bukola Adubi to expand capacity by 100 per cent across board within the next three to five years

Sub-standard and adulteration of cable brands, failures to implement local content laws and executive orders by some government agencies, and dearth of experienced personnel in the  industry have been identified as some of the challenges confronting cable manufacturers.

This, according to the new president of Cable Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (CAMAN), Mrs. Bukola Adubi, has led to an estimated loss of several hundreds of millions of naira monthly due to fake, substandard or adulterated cables in the market.

According to Adubi who was elected into office at the annual general meeting (AGM) in February for a two-year term, since the manufacturing industry in Nigeria depends heavily on imports of  raw materials and suffer greatly from the unavailability of forex, to become competitive, cable manufacturers need extra support to continue to sustain the industry standard.

The umbrella body of indigenous cable manufacturing companies, also advocated for support from relevant agencies of government in order to attract more foreign exchange earnings into the country.

She enjoined the government to support CAMAN by making the processes for raw material clearance at the ports easier; providing development grants and funding for upgrades of machineries; making provisions for better infrastructure such as inland roads, railways, waterways among others; and provision of electricity.

Making a case for duty waiver on  raw materials for CAMAN, Adubi described duty waiver as an offshoot of financing and competitiveness, adding that  if an accredited manufacturer is given waiver on their raw materials, it will make them competitive and enable them to be able to compete with  Asian and other European imports.

To deepen local content across industries in Nigeria, the President Muhammadu Buhari led government had signed Executive Order 3 (EO3) and Executive Order 5 (EO5) in 2017 and 2018 respectively. Speaking on how the EO3 and EO5, as well as the local content laws have aided the operations of cable manufacturers, she commended the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) for its efforts in the implementation of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development (NOGICD) act and encouraged other bodies like the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), and Rural Electrification Agency (REA), among others to follow suit.

She said,”We have not really been enjoying this to the height we should be.  The one industry that has fully supported and implemented this on our behalf is the oil & gas industry. 

” The NCDMB, under the leadership of the Executive Secretary, Engr. Simbi Wabote has done great things for the industry and we are very thankful for this.  

“We pray the other industries and parastatals follow suit.  The TCN, REA, etc should begin to intentionally seek to engage CAMAN member companies in the sourcing, manufacture and supply of cables for their use.  

With the support from the oil & gas industry, Adubi, who is also the Chief Executive Officer of MicCom Cables, said that she expects  CAMAN member companies to expand capacity by 100 per cent across board within the next three to five years. 

She noted that there are so many new projects in the national budget that could help its members to achieve their expansion targets but for the lot of these, CAMAN members are not typically sought after for one reason or the other.  

“Most of these project needs are achieved using imports, which negates the whole idea of the E03 and E05.  If we get to enjoy these, we will see an exponential growth within all of our members. 

“I can tell you that the proportion of cables imported far outweighs the ones produced locally. This is a big part of our prayers to the Federal Govt.  It is terribly unfair to the local manufacturers when we are overlooked for imports. And most times, even fake imports..

”  It makes all of our hardwork and resilience, especially in these hard times, to be under-appreciated. We need a lot of support from all stakeholders in the industry. We have more than enough capacity in-country amongst all 11 member companies to accommodate the requirements of the country.  Our cables are widely accepted as being of international quality and we are competitive enough. We should be given first rights to the manufacture and supply of cables and wires in-country.”

CAMAN is an 11 member not-for-profit association whose main objective is to promote and protect the cable manufacturing industry in Nigeria.  It aims to provide the federal government and any/all parastatal with a central representative body with whom to confer and seek assistance/advice with regards to all matters concerning cable manufacturing or likely to affect such interests. 

It also aims to encourage and enforce quality manufactured products through the collection and circulation of useful information and the promotion of standards in the field of cable manufacturing.

CAMAN member companies include Bracon wires & Cables, Coleman Wires & Cables, Cometstar Manufacturing Company Ltd, Cutix Plc, Denki Wires & Cables, and Geolis Cables Ltd.

Others are Kabelmetal Nig Ltd, MicCom Cables & Wires Ltd, Nigerchin Elect. Dev. Co, Nocaco Ltd, and Purechem Cables & Wires. 

Bukola Adubi – President, CAMAN & COO, MicCom Cables