Agriculture critical to Nigeria’s future –Oyebamiji

Oyebamiji

The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Osun State Investment Company Limited, Mr. Bola Oyebamiji, in this interview with DAYO OKETOLA, says government at all levels will only get better returns from their investments through professionally-managed companies free from political interference

As an investment expert, what in your view can be done to diversify the Nigerian economy from over-dependence on oil and gas?

If you remember when President Barack Obama of the United States came to Ghana, he said the US actually had more than enough oil in storage and with shale gas already being produced; they are just buying oil from Nigeria so that there won’t be any economic problem in the country. What he said impliedly means that immediately the US stops buying Nigerian oil, there will be a major problem. But there is already a path to the solution to this threat, and the part is that we must go back to agriculture. There is nothing we import into this country that we cannot produce. So, the best thing for us is to go back to agriculture and the moment we do this as a country, some of our problems will be solved, and we will have a substantial balance of trade. If we strengthen our exchange rate and the reserves, the country will have more credibility.

 With privatisation all over the place, do you share the view that the government can’t run businesses successfully and efficiently?

Government doesn’t have any business in business. That is why we have an investment outfit that is a limited liability company. If it is an agency or a parastatal, it won’t do well. I am not responsible to anybody than the shareholders of this company, which are the state and the local governments and I have my board. That is why we have been doing well. The company would have done otherwise if the governor has been interfering in its running.

 What is the focus of the Osun State Investment Company Limited?

We are the major investment arm of the government of the State of Osun. We deal with the commercial end of all government projects. We are actually a limited liability company and we have a lot of subsidiaries. One of them is the Living Spring Bulk Purchase Limited, a major distributor to Nestle Nigeria Plc, Cadbury and Wamco. When the state governor, Mr. Rauf Aregbesola, appointed me as the MD almost a year ago, the company was moribund and the bulk purchase subsidiary was closed down. The governor gave me one month to re-engineer both the material and human assets of the company and within the first three months, I met with the management of Nestle and Cadbury and we resuscitated the bulk purchase business. After the first three months, we were awarded the most structured distributor in Nigeria. We also have a subsidiary producing Essence table water. The water factory also had a management problem when I became the CEO and we resolved it. With the latest technology in water treatment and bottling, Essence water has become a household name in the market.

 How did you resuscitate a moribund company in three months?

Honestly, the governor gave us all the support and for once, he has never interfered in the running of this company. This means that key private sector players can work with the government and perform if the government allows them and this has been demonstrated with OSICOL. It was very difficult for me when I first came here considering the fact that I have stopped working on files 15 years ago. So, it was very difficult for me to start working on files when I came here. Most of the things I did as a banker were on the e-platform, so it was very difficult for me to start working on files now. I went back to the governor to make known my challenges and frustration and he said, ‘That was why I brought you here. I want you to reengineer that place and whichever way you deem fit, go ahead and do it.’  We also re-orientated our people, teaching them that this was not going to be a ministry’s job. We thought them the importance of hard work and made them to realise that we won’t go to the government for salaries and that our business must be a target-driven one.

All of this has brought results. So far, we are on N1.1bn turnover every month in our bulk purchase business and we are going to N2.4bn turnover. I am so confident we can achieve this because I have always been a sales person since my 28 years in the banking industry. If I could sell services in the banking industry, I know it won’t be difficult for me to achieve N2.4bn turnover now that I am selling products.

 What are your plans for the company?

We have partnered with an Information Technology Company, RLG Communications in Ghana to train 5,000 youths. We sent them for internship in Ghana and we committed the company to build a plant in Nigeria. As such, we are going to commission a plant in Ilesha established by RLG and the Osun State Investment Company Limited to assemble IT apparatus and mobile phones. According to our business plan, the plant is going to generate a net profit of about N950m. That is our target and we are going to empower all those youths that went through our ICT training both in Nigeria and Ghana. We call them OYES Tech graduates and they are the people we will employ to work in the plant. Employment at the plant will be open to all Nigerians, but we will first consider the OYes Tech graduates that we have trained. We will also empower some others, who will service and repair those mobile phones and IT apparatus produced in the plant.

Where is the target market of the plant?

The target market is the entire country. As I speak with you, we have a contract from another state government to produce laptops for their teachers. The volume is about 60,000 units to be delivered in 2015/2016. We are also talking to another state government. We actually imported the ‘Opon Imo’ from China but with the new plant, we will be able to produce the tablets locally and we will not go to China again.

What about your investment in agriculture?

We have 574 hectares of cocoa farm under my purview and it is doing very well. Before I became the Managing Director of Osun State Investment Company Limited, the farm was not doing very well. From my own background as someone who grew up in the village, as a plantation farmer, and a manager, I knew there was no reason for the farm not to do well. So, when I came in, I spoke with all our tenants about what was expected of them considering the fact that I have managed my own farm to success, and things turned around in the farm. Honestly, I think everything is about leadership. If you are a good leader and you are focussed, it won’t be difficult for you to propel a business. Before, the cocoa farm generated N300,000 every year, but we are making N3.7m now, and my target is N8m by the end of 2014.

Can your model work for the Federal Government and other states?

It will work and my advice is that we need a visionary leader. We need somebody that can see beyond today and the federal and state governments must get people that are qualified to run businesses. The Federal Ministry of Trade and Investment recently organised a conference for all the state investment companies and other parastatals related to the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Nigerian Deposit Insurance Corporation. They came together to look at what can be done to propel the economy of the country via investment. We presented a paper and the paper was accepted as a model.

Having been used to the ICT-driven environment, how soon are you planning to deploy same in your current role?

We have already done that. When I was appointed, I informed my son of my appointment as the managing director of OSICOL and having checked the Internet and found out that the company had no website, he asked me why I was going to work in a company that had no online presence. I also didn’t know at that time that the company had no website. So, the first thing I did when I came in was to set up a website and we went further to computerise all our departments. Our entire operations are now done on the e-platform and I can now sign documents and do all sort of things on my mobile phone, even if I am not in the office.

So, can you compare the banking industry where you came from with this government-owned business?

As a banker, yes, it was a very a good experience working with a private enterprise, but this is a public servant job and you need to largely explore relationships with various people. It is a very volatile environment because what you will naturally see in a private enterprise as not being a deal, they see it as a deal here. Therefore, one needs to be very careful.

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