Economy
SONA Group Bolsters Nigeria’s Economy with Backward Integration
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
One of the leading manufacturing companies in Nigeria, SONA Group, has reiterated its commitment to supporting the various policies of federal government aimed at making the economy better.
One of the policies by government aimed at achieving this goal is the backward integration, where manufacturing firms operating in the country are encouraged to source for their materials locally.
As a major manufacturing company, SONA Group has vast product scope, panning across its 10 subsidiary companies, including Shongai Packaging Industry Limited, Euro Global Foods and Distilleries Ltd, Sona Agro Allied Foods Ltd, among others.
From March 12 – 14, the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) in conjunction with Clarion Events West Africa, organised the 2019 Manufacturing & Equipment Expo at the Landmark Exhibition Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos.
SONA Group was one of the exhibitors, where it showcased the company’s distinctive range of products and equipment to stakeholders.
Some of the products exhibited include Maltonic, Aqua Euro Water, high resilient injection moulded plastic pallets, Golden Choco Drink, Happy Family basins and buckets, cosmetic jars, storage crates and a host of others.
Speaking on the sole purpose of SONA’s participation at this year’s expo, Chief Operating Officer of SONA Group, Mr Ashok Manghnani, stated that, “We participate annually to display our products and innovations and in every edition, we have new additions to our line of products. We have some interesting products we recently introduced and the expo is a great platform to showcase them.
“A lot of people, including other manufacturers and consumers frequently visit our stand to take product samples which then go into the market. Umpteen times, many return for further enquiries, which in turn increases our visibility in the market space.”
Among the company’s new additions to its exhibition at this year’s expo is a variety of wafer and biscuits which include Milkie Bar Wafer, Duo Choco Wafers and Digestive Cookies; all manufactured by Sona Agro Allied Foods Ltd. The premium quality wafers are available in two sizes; 50g and 22g which are sold at affordable prices.
A new addition is the Happy Home line of dustbins which are designed to provide a more efficient way to store waste in the office and homes. Manufactured by Shongai Packaging Industry Limited, the dustbins come with a set of unique features, including reinforced rubber tyres with anti-skid serrations which precludes uneven or irregular rotation, sleek inside walls, which allows for easy discarding of waste and easy cleaning, strong body for durability, specially designed lid that enables easy lifting and prevents the ingression of water. Other noteworthy inclusions include sorghum flour, chocolates and plastic pallets.
The company revealed the ingredients for its products including the dustbins and wafers are locally sourced; partnering and supporting local employment to drive growth towards its Nigerian-made products portfolio. Also, with the implementation of Backward Integration in its manufacturing processes, SONA Group aims to bolster Nigeria’s economic growth by locally sourcing for over 90% of its raw materials used in production in all its subsidiaries.
Expounding SONA Group’s Backward Integration, Mr Manghnani commented “We strongly believe in the use of Backward Integration to maximize the quality of our products at SONA Group. A typical example is our line of biscuits and drinks as we manufacture the packaging and labels ourselves – we also manufacture labels and packaging for several other companies both local and multinationals, which sets us apart in the industry. We understand the imperativeness of agricultural development in Nigeria, hence we support local farmers, buying over 40, 000 tons of sorghum from the north.”
“We currently have two recycling plants where plastic wastes are processed into raw materials which are then used to manufacture our wide range of plastic products. This significantly truncates the cost of production, enabling us sell the products at incredibly affordable rates in the market. This, coupled with our backward integration directly improves the economy,” he added.
Further speaking on SONA Group’s contribution to economic and technological advancement in Nigeria, Ashok said “We espouse the use of technological advancement to harness the production of high quality products and as such, we do not settle for cheap machines at SONA Group.
“We import the latest cutting-edge industrial machines from Germany and Europe and participate in exhibitions whenever new technologies are invented or introduced, so as to provide our Nigerian consumers with utmost quality products.
“With all of this in place, we will continue to contribute substantially to the overall growth of the Nigerian economy.”
Other manufacturing companies at this year’s Manufacturing & Equipment Expo include Bank of Industry, Dangote, Procter & Gamble, Rite Foods, Real People Concept, West Africa Ceramics Limited, Wahum Group, Briscoe and several more.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr Wale Edun, has said Nigeria may not run to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for any loan.
He disclosed this in a chat with Arise Television on the sidelines of the ongoing World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland.
The Minister affirmed that Nigeria has no reason to approach the global lender, adding that the nation is currently relying on relatively cheaper borrowing sources from the World Bank and the African Development Bank (AfDB).
He also argued that Nigeria does not have a balance of payments problem and therefore will not need the short-term financing intervention by the Bretton Wood institution.
“I can imagine the headlines if you saw a situation whereby you were saying Nigeria approaches the IMF for funding. But the reality is that, of course, as a developing country, requiring investment, funds for the government, and investment in key infrastructure to improve the enabling environment for business, we do need funds, and we have the need to borrow.
“We have relied on relatively cheap funding from the multilateral, from the World Bank, from AFDB, and the whole spectrum of funding has been used.”
He also said that the country will tap a range of instruments to help finance this year’s budget deficit and improve the economy.
“We have relied on Nigerian savings by convincing them of the macroeconomic plan of the president, and what it holds in terms of the prospects for growth of the economy and business, and improvement of the business environment.
“Of course, we have approached the Euro bond market, which is, of course, the commercial end of financing. So we’ve done that whole spectrum. When it comes to IMF financing, typically financing from the IMF is to help with short-term balance of payments issues and crises.
“In the case of Nigeria, we have a positive trade balance. We have a positive current account balance. Our reserves are growing. The Governor of the Central Bank recently announced that we had achieved upwards of $10 billion improvement and increase in the reserves.
“We need to use equity. We need to rely on crowding in the savings, particularly of the private sector in Nigeria and the private sector around the world in the form of foreign direct investment. We have to remember that at this time, we have had significant gains in terms of improving the economic environment,” Mr Edun stated.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange rose further by 0.33 per cent on Thursday, January 23, as appetite for unlisted stocks continued to grow.
During the trading session, the value of the bourse went up by N7.6 billion to N1.767 trillion from the N1.76 trillion it closed in the preceding session, as the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) made an additional 10.33 points to wrap the trading day at 3,120.3 points compared with the 3,09.80 points recorded at the midweek session.
Business Post reports that the share price of Okitipupa Plc increased on Thursday by N4.35 to end the day at N47.90 per unit compared with the previous day’s N43.55 per unit, and Food Concepts Plc gained 14 Kobo to settle at N1.74 per share, in contrast to the preceding day’s N1.60 per share.
On the flip side, Impresit Bakolori Plc suffered a decline of 10 Kobo yesterday to trade at 95 Kobo per unit versus Wednesday’s closing price of N1.05 per unit.
When the exchange closed for the session, the volume of securities bought and sold by investors went up by 70,008 per cent to 407.4 million units from the 581,160 units transacted a day earlier.
Equally, the value of shares traded during the session jumped by 16,665.9 per cent to N391.2 million from the N2.3 million recorded at midweek, and the number of deals increased by 65 per cent to 30 deals from the 20 deals posted on Wednesday.
Impresit Bakolori Plc topped the activity chart as the most active stock by value (year-to-date) with 406.5 million units worth N386.1 million, followed by FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc with 4.3 million units valued at N170.4 million, and Geo-Fluids Plc with 9.1 million units sold for N44.3 million.
However, Impresit Bakolori Plc snatched the top spot as most active stock by volume (year-to-date) with 406.5 million units worth N386.1 million, as Industrial and General Insurance (IGI) Plc dropped to second position for selling 26.3 million units sold for N6.3 million, and Geo-Fluids Plc occupied third with 9.2 million units valued at N44.3 million.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira recovered about 0.26 per cent or N3.99 against the United States Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Thursday, January 23 after coming under pressure in recent times.
During the session, the exchange rate of the local currency to its American counterpart closed at N1,548.59/$1 in the official market compared with the previous day’s N1,552.58/$1.
Also, against the Pound Sterling, the domestic currency gained N3.32 yesterday to trade at N1,912.21/£1 compared with Wednesday’s value of N1,915.53/£1 and on the Euro, it improved by N3.82 to sell for N1,617.72/€1 versus N1,613.89/€1.
The forex market may be reacting positively to news that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) would launch a FX Code, which will serve as a guideline to the banking industry to promote ethical conduct of Authorised Dealers in the Nigerian FX market, next week.
The code will further reduce speculative activities, eliminate market distortions, and give the CBN improved oversight capabilities to effectively regulate the market.
The bank noted that authorised dealers would subsequently conduct all FX transactions in the interbank FX market on the EFEMS approved by the apex bank where transactions will be reflected immediately.
However, in the black market segment, the Nigerian Naira lost N5 against the greenback during the session to quote at N1,665/$1, in contrast to midweek’s rate of N1,660/$1.
As for the cryptocurrency market, it was lively yesterday as attention is increasingly centered on potential policy developments under the government of President Donald Trump of the US.
On Thursday, President Trump signed an executive order to ban the digital dollar and promote crypto and AI innovation in the country.
Meanwhile, the US data released recently showed the “all tenant rent” index, which leads the shelter inflation in the Consumer Price Index (CPI), rose at a slower pace last quarter. That has raised hopes that the US Federal Reserve will walk back on its hawkish December rate forecasts.
These helped Ethereum (ETH) gain 5.4 per cent on Thursday to sell at $3,394.79, Solana (SOL) appreciated by 4.4 per cent to $260.86, Cardano (ADA) jumped by 2.9 per cent to $1.00, and Litecoin (LTC) expanded by 2.6 per cent to $116.78.
Further, Bitcoin (BTC) rose by 2.1 per cent to $1o4,978.31, Ripple (XRP) leapt by 0.7 per cent to $3.16, Dogecoin (DOGE) increased by 0.6 per cent to $0.3572, and Binance Coin (BNB) soared by 1.6 per cent to $710.31, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) traded flat at $1.00 each.
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