MR. Babatunde Ruwase is the Vice-President and Chairman, Trade Promotion Board of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry. A top operator in the logistics industry, Ruwase is also the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Lagos-based Platinum Freight Forwarders Limited. In this interview with ROSELINE OKERE, he unfolds the strategy foe effective hosting of this year's Lagos International Trade Fair- the biggest in West Africa. Besides, the chamber's top shot discusses the nation's macro-economic issues, with focus on resource distribution. Excerpts.What should the exhibitors and visitors to this year's Lagos International Trade Fair be expecting'We are looking forward to hosting a successful trade fair this year.The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has organised this trade fair for the past 26 years. We have a standard that we have created, which we continued to improve upon every year. We expect that this year's fair will be better than the previous ones. We are moving the venue of the Lagos International Trade fair to Tafawa Balewa Square (TBS) due to the current construction works going on along Lagos Badagry Expressway. This year's fair at TBS will have necessary business, communication and infrastructural facilities to provide a conducive setting for business.In fact, that is where we started the trade fair. We do not want our visitors and exhibitors to experience the kind of traffic crisis, which we encountered last year due to the construction work going on at Orile/Mile two road. We are going to be using the main bowl and the Cricket Pitch of TBS and we are going to build modern stands for the exhibitors.What is the theme of this year's fair and what informed your choice of topic of discussions'The theme for 2012 Fair is: 'Promoting Trade for Sustainable Economic Transformation'. The main objectives of the fair are to promote therevitalisation and diversification of the Nigerian economy; Nigeria's non-oil exports; Accelerated development of commerce and industry; Made-in-Nigeria products; Agriculture and agro-based industry; The evolution of Nigeria's trade with the outside world; Direct attention to the role of the private sector in the Nigerian economy; and Prospects for foreign and local investments in strategic areas.The chamber chose the topic because its main objective is to promotes trade and industry and also represents the opinion of the business community on matters affecting trade and industry of Lagos State and where applicable the whole federation. It is incorporated as a non-profit making organization and its income and property are applied solely for the promotion of its objectives. It is the central organization for collecting distributing and disseminating information of a business nature, especially regulations, tariffs, opportunities for trade and other matters affecting local and foreign markets.The primary objective of the chamber remained to promote, support or oppose legislative or other measures affecting trade, industry, commerce and agriculture as well as representing the opinion of the business community on the above matters in particular, and the economy as a whole.How do you intend to tackle the traffic and space constraints'Compare to the main trade fair complex, the area in the TBS is even much bigger. The Fair will take place at the Main Arena, Tafawa Balewa Square, in Lagos, with a total exhibition space of over 50,000 square metres. We are aware that there may be human and vehicular traffic around the complex during the trade fair, we are partnering with Nigerian Road Safety Corps, Ministry of Transport, LASTMA and other private security operatives to ensure that there is free movement of goods and people in and around the complex. The TBS is going to serve a good purpose for the trade fair. It is not really busy, apart from the High Court; most of the ministries around the area are not really busy.Apart from the Saturday and Sunday during the fair, we don't envisage any traffic challenge. We have set all machineries in motion to ensure that this year's fair is a success. We have the emergency services on ground at the fair ground. We are also looking at operating 'Park and Ride' services, which would allow visitors to park their cars at designated car parks and take a shuttle to the fair ground. This measure is expected to reduce to the flow of vehicles around the fair arena. Apart from this, there are schools around where we could also use for as car parks. The Marina Car Park could also serve us well. There is also a car park at Muson Centre and we are talking to a lot of other managers of car parks around. Ultimately, We are also collaborating with Lagos Traffic Radio to assist us in educating people on how they can move around the fair.Apart from the change of venue for the trade fair, what are the new things exhibitors and visitors would be expecting'In fact, the plans by the chamber to change the venue of the fair has prompted many foreign exhibitors to show interest in participating in this year's fair. Many foreign exhibitors had complained about the Lagos- Badagry Express Way, though it is a purpose built road, the traffic that will be on that road during the fair would be unimaginable. Countries like the United States of America and Germany, had earlier said that they were not participating, but the change of venue has really assisted us to get more commitments from some of these foreign countries. Even some government agencies are happy with our decision to change the venue to TBS. We are looking at replacing the access to the fair ground through the traditional ticketing to a more modern automated means to gaining access into the fair ground. This is just to reduce the challenges that may arise through the normal ticketing option.This year's fair will also provide opportunities for various trade groups and professionals to present new products and new ideas at seminars that are normally organised during the fair. Also, our foreign visitors have the privilege of visiting places of interest in the country through our hospitality and tourism programme.Nigeria is presently experiencing the challenge of insecurity. What measures has the chamber put in place to ensure that there is security of lives and property throughout the duration of the fair'Last year, we had the Nigerian Police, the Army, State Security personal. There was the anti-bomb squad. We are still going have all of them on ground to ensure that people and goods are safe. Above all, we shall be praying to God for divine protection. The issue of insecurity in the country is a serious problem, which we are taking very seriously. We have security men around to observe everything going on at the fair. The state of insecurity should not deter people from taking part in the fair because it is being staged with the support and co-operation of the Federal and the State governments, as the forum covers all aspects of business and economic activities in Nigeria.Specifically, this year's fair would offer a unique exposition for manufacturers, suppliers, buyers and users of a wide range of goods and services as well as opportunities for investment and trade promotion. In fact, good business people like taking risks that is why you still see people going to do business in Afganistan and other troubled countries. Serious businessmen believe that the higher the risk, the higher the profit. Nigeria is a big market hard to be ignored by other countries. After all Nigeria is not the worst country. We are not at war, even during the time of kidnappings, we still had our fair successfully.It is obvious that the Boko Haram is after places of worship. It is clear that they are against the mode of worship and the kind of governance that we have in this country.The challenge of insecurity is looking like an insurmountable mountain. How do you think this menace can be tackled'It is unfortunate that religion, which is suppose to be thing of good for humanity has become a problem to the people. The problem of Boko Haram should not be seen as the problem of Islam. So, telling Imam or Emir to talk to their people is not right. By telling these people to talk to Boko Haram shows that we have assumed that it is the problem of Islam. We should see the insecurity situation in the country as the problem of humanity. It is also unfortunate that people are capitalising on mass poverty and low education to exploit people in the name of religion. This shows that we need to pay more attention to educating our people. The truth is that when you are educated, you tend to question some things before taking any action. People that are not well educated are always vulnerable to manipulation and exploitation. Government should also try its best to tackle the issue of poverty, which is why many of the youths take to violence. We have taken this religion to a high level and the substance is being lost. That is why we have many religious people and we have very few honest people. It is not only because of lack of quality education, the problem is mostly a religious one. That is why some people can be able to convince their followers to go and commit suicide and they will go ahead and do so. We should make religion to be a thing between you and your God. If people are really practicing this religion the way they should, we will have a better society.In the past, LCCI has hosted many countries from Asian, Europe and America. How many countries are we expecting at the fair this year'We are expecting as many countries that have been attending the fair in the past years. The fair has attracted both local and foreign exhibitors over the years. Since the organisation of the fair was taken over by LCCI, the participation of local and foreign exhibitors has been growing. Exhibitors have been attracted from countries like Ghana, Ivory Coast and Cameroon and from as far as Austria, Germany, Romania, Poland, Russia, Italy, Japan, Argentina, Iran, Egypt, China, Netherlands, Czech Republic, Brazil, India, Korea, United Kingdom, Malaysia and the United States of America. It is anticipated that the fair will attract about 500,000 visitors from within and outsidethecountryincluding businessmen, investors, customers, top government officials and business representatives. We are expecting that we have more this year than what we had last year.The country's growth rate has been put at 7.5 per cent. Has this reflected on the nation's economic development profile'I must say that it is becoming more difficult for us to believe in the statistics being churned out by the government and its agencies, as they are not really reflective of the situation on the ground. If you say an economy is growing, it should reflect on the standard of living of the people. With the rate we are going, we may end up like Somalia.I don't agree that this country is poor at this time. In fact, I can say without fear of contradiction that the country is much richer than during the period when we were growing up. The oil prices were much lower and the output far less than what we have now, though the economy then was well diversified. The problem we have right now is inequitable distribution of the resources. That's why the statistics may show that the growth rate was rising but the poor are getting poorer while the rich, who control the powers for resources distribution, are getting richer.Yes, the economy is growing because we are making more money. The problem we have in this country is that the wealth is not allowed to get to the grass roots because people are taking this money out of the country. There is corruption in this country and corruption encourages survival of the fittest. Look at the Lekki Corridor for instance; look at the kind of houses they are building there. This is why the ordinary man will become very desperate.The level of desperation is now very high among the populace, that the issue of value system should now be addressed frontally to redress the negative attitudinal disposition of our rulers and even the ruled, to put the nation on the right track. No matter the amount of money that is put into this system, there are people on ground to steal it. We need to change our mindset as people and we need to go back to those values.The Ghanaian Government has been threatening the businesses of Nigerians in that country with a capital base of $300,000 now slammed on their firms as a criterium for operations. How do we address this problem'Nigeria is a very big country and it is unfortunate that our people have to move to Ghana to establish businesses when it should have been the other way round. I was in Ghana few months ago, and I did not see anything so special about Ghana that people are talking about. The Ghanaian economy is not as big as Lagos State. I was even looking out for the companies which people claimed have relocated to Ghana, I did not see any of them. It is unfortunate that the Ghanaians are taking that kind of step to protect their people. We can only appeal to them to stop and try and find out why they are doing what they are doing. The Ghanaians have some rules for setting up businesses in their country. It may be that they want to create opportunity for their own citizens at the grass roots. The lesson here is that the Nigerian Government should make going to Ghana to establish business less interesting by creating the right environment for business to thrive in this country.The truth is that many of the neigbouring countries are already seeing Nigerians as threats to their economies. Nigerians are controlling many of the countries along West African Coast. We can only appeal to them. We cannot set the rules for them. Despite the ECOWAS protocols, the countries still have their own rules, which must be adhered to. Nigerians are hard working people and like to exploit the world to do businesses and many of them are ending up in offshore prisons in the course of business pursuits. One of the problems with Nigeria is that of image. Many countries now see us as threats. At a time our economy was better than that of Ghana. At that time we were sending Ghanaians back to their countries. We need to revamp our economy to make positive progress. We have to make a Nigerian a good person, which every nation would love to have around. They are not restricting Nigerians from coming into their country, they are actually against their mode of business operations.Also, the Senate President, David Mark said recently that he particularly opposes to Nigeria seeking foreign aids. Do you think we can actually do without foreign aid in the country'If we seek for foreign aids, it shows we are not self-sufficient, which is natural as no nation can be said to be self-sufficient, not even the so called developed economies. There is nothing wrong in getting foreign aids for what we do not have. Nigeria is also in the business of giving foreign aids through sending our Army officials to go and die in war torn countries. There is nothing wrong in giving and receiving aids from other countries.You are also the Managing Director of Platinum Freight Forwarders Limited. What is your business portfolio'Platinum Freight Forwarders Limited (PFFL) is a company engaged in providing excellent freight forwarding service. With a network of associates spread over 80 countries and 150 locations worldwide, PFFL is a global freight forwarding company involved in all aspects of shipping and international transportation.PFFL specialises in inbound/outbound logistics in Nigeria. We cover all major seaports and airports in India and China. Our Team is comprised of dedicated Logistics professionals with over 100 years between them.PFFL is committed to give you hassle free service, no matter what it takes.Everything we do reflects our mission. We have absolute clarity about what we do. The clear understanding of what we are and what we do, together with our core values and dedication ensure that we deliver on our promises.
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