An indigenous meter manufacturer, Kola Balogun, on Wednesday decried the poor patronage of his products by government agencies and companies.
Balogun, Chief Executive Officer of MOMAS Electricity Meters Manufacturing Company in Lagos, told the News Agency of Nigeria that low patronage was stifling the growth of local industries.
“Indigenous manufacturers do not get enough patronage from government ministries and that is why our economy is not growing,” he said.
According to him, the revolution in telecommunications can be sustained in Nigeria through indigenous innovations.
He added: “The story of poor patronage is still the same in meter manufacturing where foreign firms are better patronised and recognised by government agencies.
“I can confidently say that we local manufacturers of meters can meet our supply needs.”
Balogun said that employment opportunities would triple if local manufacturers got more support from government at all levels.
He said that the local content policy of government would not succeed if home-made innovations were not adequately utilised.
He said: “I can tell you that our company has 100 per cent local content in the manufacture of meters.
“Even all our operations and the production processes are managed by Nigerians.”
He said that Nigeria’s power sector reforms would be meaningless if more considerations were not given to local manufacturers of electricity equipment.
Balogun said that access to credit would shore up indigenous manufacturers in both power and telecommunications sectors.
He said: “Nigeria has reached a stage where she is not supposed to be importing meters.
“In our company alone, we have a production capacity of 500,000 to one million meters a month.”
According to him, no nation can develop without enough supply of electricity to industries and no business can be profitable with the power supply situation in Nigeria.
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