By Adedapo Adesanya
As part of moves to deepen Nigeria’s revenue diversification process, the federal government is targeting sourcing for N5.09 billion to revive the garment and leather industries.
The Director-General of the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC), Mr Chidi Izuwah, made this known in Abuja.
He stated that the amount, N5.089 billion, would be sourced by government from a partnership between the private and public sectors.
According to Mr Izuwah, it would be made up of 80 percent debt and 20 percent equity with zero financial contribution by the federal government.
He spoke at the presentation of the Full Business Case (FBC) compliance certificate to the Nigeria Correctional Service (NCS) in respect of the proposed NCS shoe and garment factories in Aba, Abia State and the Janguza Tannery Factory, Kano State under the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) arrangements.
He said the PPP would also lead to the creation of 1,290 direct jobs, multiples of indirect jobs locally and savings on foreign exchange demand to procure uniforms abroad among other significant benefits to the country.
Mr Izuwah said the next stage towards the actualisation of the project was for the NCS, through the Minister of Interior, Mr Rauf Aregbesola, to secure the Federal Executive Council (FEC) approval to enable NCS to sign the PPP contract and achieve immediate take-off of the project.
While attributing the achievements recorded during the development of the PPP project to the economic reform agenda of President Muhammadu Buhari, he expressed confidence that a formal ground-breaking ceremony to signal the take-off of the projects in affected states will happen soon.
He explained that the proposed PPP arrangement between NCS and Erojim Investments Limited (a local company) and its technical partner, Poly Technologies Inc., Beijing, China, is aimed at establishing a world-class factory using the most modern technology and quality inputs to produce high quality shoes, garments, and leather products to meet the demand of NCS and other Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), whose personnel wear uniforms and make use of other accessories.
“I am delighted to state that the successful start-up of this PPP project will no doubt lead to the revitalisation of Nigeria’s shoe, garment and leather industries in compliance with the federal government’s local content policy initiative encouraging MDAs to look inwards in meeting their basic needs.
“This project was competitively procured using the very proven ICRC Swiss Challenge PPP bidding method. This process involves subjecting the private sector initiated proposal to competition to create value for money while ensuring that the private sector takes significant financial risk and creates the efficiency needed to ensure that the project is delivered to time and specifications.
“The ICRC played a key role as part of her mandate to ensure that the nation attracts the required private investment to build our infrastructure stock to further bridge the infrastructure gaps across the country in line with President Muhammadu Buhari’s commitment to the private sector-led economic development and inclusive growth,” he said.
Modupe Gbadeyanka