_Mr Uchenna Nnadị is the Director General of Nsukka Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NSCCIMA). He speaks on the agency’s innovations and challenges in this interview._
*How does NSCCIMA promote Nsuka-grown products?*
Nsukka Chamber of Commerce is on the verge of achieving Geographical Indication (GI) status for Ose Nsụka (Nsụka Yellow Pepper). It has been a huge collaborative work of many stakeholders as is being championed by NSCCIMA. There are also ongoing efforts to organize the Ose Nsụka farmers into clusters to attract government and institutional supports to boost production to export scale.
NSCCIMA has been assisting SMEs on exploring the value chains on cashew nut aggregation and processing. It is also exploring organizing the traders through their associations such as Nsukka Zonal Amalgamated Traders Association (NZATA) into groups for foreign trade missions. This will transform the traders from serving importers/exporters to becoming importers/exporters and co-manufacturers of the goods they trade on.
The Chamber is exploring ‘Town and Gown’ programmes with the University of Nigeria, Nsukka; Federal Polytechnic, Ohodo; State University of Medical and Applied Sciences (SUMAS), Igboano, and others to replicate Oakland and Silicon Valley here.
*How much support does NSCCIMA enjoy from the seven LGAs that make up Nsuka zone?*
They have been supportive, particularly during our trade fairs. However, there are many rooms for improvement, including each LGA having permanent representatives in the Council of the Chamber, providing permanent trade fair grounds for the Chamber and supporting the Chamber in many SME programmes such as SME incubation centres, aggregation hub, commodity exchange market, and domestic export warehouse.
*What challenges do you face?*
There have been many challenges confronting NSCCIMA in attaining its goals. Chambers of commerce are a novel concept in this part of the world, where traders’ associations are the only known private sector business membership organizations. Intensive and extensive awareness campaign is required, in conjunction with governments support.
Chambers of commerce are a private sector advocacy organization. In its advocacy for optimum business ecosystem, some governments see the Chamber as opposition instead of a partner in economic development of the zone.
The Chamber is still at its infancy, and like every infant, teething issues abound as it trudges on, and with the support of the media, governments, traders and other stakeholders the Chamber will deliver on its goals of irresistible Ease of Doing Business and economic transformation of Nsụka Cultural Zone
Many multinational companies exiting Nigeria. Is it a curse or blessing in disguise?
To the weak, every event, every incident is a curse, while to the strong and courageous, every event, every incident is a blessing. Covid-19 supply chain disruption, Russia-Ukraine war and the Israeli-Palestine war with their resultant adverse economic incidents together with the prevailing global inflation have compelled multinational companies/corporations (MNCs) to optimize their global operations. These companies, such as UAC/John Holt, who were into palm produce, left Nsụka Zone long ago. The zone has not got their replacement till date, which led to the abandonment of the seaport and the programmed airport at Ogwurugwu in Ụzọ-Ụwanị Local Government Area of Enugu State.
Nigeria is a mono-economy, overly dependent on rents from crude petroleum products with poor industrialization, and food and agricultural production capacity. Nigeria is also ranked low on the Ease of Doing Business, basic infrastructure, Human Development Index and Transparency Index. These negatives conspire to give Nigeria low purchasing power and high cost of doing business. No global business entity will survive in such environment. And this environment explains why Nigeria features prominently in the list of economies that MNCs are exiting in recent times.
*What could be done to reverse the trend?*
Every responsible economy lobbies MNCs to establish within its boundaries. Clusters of MNCs in a geography boost such a society in many ways. Nigeria can and should do everything within its power to reverse the trend. Two things can be quickly done to reverse this trend, and they are significant improvement in basic infrastructure and Ease of Doing Business.
In the basic infrastructure domain, Nigeria can prioritize its focus on power supply and transportation. Purpose-driven road and railway networks are a good place to start. Ease of Doing Business has many ingredients, but Nigeria can start with integrated, transparent and simple macroeconomic policy framework that attracts and rewards production and productivity.
