Industrialist canvasses govt patronage of cottage industries

TheManaging Director of A.G Industries Limited, Ibadan, Oyo State, Mr. Debo Lawal, has described government patronage as the needed boost that can aid the growth of industries and other business concerns in the country.Lawal, who stated this in Ibadan on Saturday, said that apart from the lack of infrastructure and other challenges, the survived of cottage industries in the country was being confronted by a lack of patronage from governments at all levels and the difficulty in accessing funds to expand businesses.If local manufacturers and entrepreneurs were encouraged with patronage, he said, companies managing to survive would be able to reduce the burden of mass unemployment and influx of imported goods into the Nigerian market.The industrialist listed other problems confronting cottage industries in the country to include laxed government policy on importation and poor monitoring of borders.According to him, A.G Industries has been involved in the importation of chemicals from the United Kingdom in the past nine years of its operation.The company, he said, had had problems with clearing of the raw materials used for production, as quality materials were not readily available locally. He urged the government to evolve measures that could support the growth of industries, in line with its projection towards lifting the economy into the club of the 20 best in the world by the year 2020.Lawal explained that his disinfectant manufacturing company had been facing challenges as a result of the economic lull, activities of products counterfeiters, epileptic power supply and high cost of production, among others.He said, The disinfectant manufacturing company, which currently has 25 employees on its payroll, will be able to hire up to 300 persons if all the 33 local governments in Oyo State could be patronising industries like ours. It is high time governments at all levels started to patronise local manufacturers as this will give them more working capital and the ability to employ more needed hands, thereby reducing poverty and unemployment in our society.
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