Nahco to invest N4b in export processing centres in Abuja, Enugu, others

• Export more beneficial to Nahco-Gupta

Nigeria’s foremost aviation ground handling company, Nigerian Aviation Handling Company Plc has concluded plans to invest N4 billion in cargo export processing centres in four major airports across the country.

The firm had already built N1 billion worth of the facility at the Lagos airport. The company plans to replicate similar centre in all the five main cities of the country like Abuja, Port-Harcourt, Kano, and Enugu.

The Group Managing Director of Nahco Aviance, Indranil Gupta however gave a condition that the project would only be embarked on the project only if the feasibility study supports it.

Speaking in Lagos at the weekend, Gupta said, “I am a businessman, so, I know how to count my pennies. Before I put money on the table, I have to know that something is coming. We have spent about N1 billion on the export processing centre. Unless I start seeing results coming out of this, I will not invest in other stations. However, having said that one of our objectives between me and BCD is to take Kano to its original glory. We have a strong focus on Kano”.

“We want to take Kano to its original glory. It deserves to be that. How many of you know that in the State of Adamawa, there is a young Nigerian who is doing dairy farming? He exports as far as the Middle East. His exporting processing capabilities are about 150000 litres per day of fresh milk. At the moment, he is using only 30 per cent of that capacity. He is making cheese out of it, he is pasteurising the milk and selling it and other milk products. He is exporting. He is making yoghourt of the brand name of Admilla. I am a Nigerian Indian. We are trying to reach out to such farmers. We are telling guys like him to come and let us do it.”

“We are working very heavily with him to see whether he can supply the rest of the country. For example, a lot of the milk that you get in Nigeria is imported whereas, between Adamawa, Taraba and other neighbouring states, you have got close to about 20 million cows. Is this not sufficient to supply the whole of Nigeria? When we talk about economics, we are not mindful of these facts. What is our internal potential?

The Nahco chief disclosed that one of the things he had done since his assumption of duties as Nahco MD was to get his board to focus clearly on export, stressing that cargo volume in Nigeria is about 95% import-dependent which means high dependence on the micro-economic capability of the country buying power of the country but noted, “When you export, you are not depending on that.”

“In export, you earn dollars, you earn foreign exchange. It is much more beneficial to us as a community, as a nation and it is important to export than to import. The big change in focus that I have been able to bring about in Nahco is one of the big changes is this is that we are completely focused on export even as I am talking and GDIBCS is working feverishly in the background to make these connections happen. When I said to make these connections happen, I am saying both intercontinental and sub-continental. So, we are focused on intercontinental as much as we want to focus on intracontinental.”

In his outlook for 2024, Gupta said he hoped that the purchasing power would improve this year; a situation he reiterated would help in their export volumes and help bring more airlines to Nigeria.

Wole Shadare