Recently, the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) AGOA Trade Resource Centre, Lagos unveiled the AGOA Textile Visa Stamp. The Textile Visa Stamp according to the NEPC would enable garment manufacturers in Nigeria to have tariff concession on textile and garments manufactured in the country for export to the USA under AGOA.

In this interview, CEO of the NEPC, Mr. Olusegun Awolowo in this interview with FRIDAY EKEOBA, explained the Textile Visa Stamp; its importance and benefit for Nigerian garment manufacturers. Awolowo who was represented at the Asian-African Chambers of Commerce and Industry’s inauguration in Lagos recently is of the opinion that the NEPC and the Nigerian Customs Service would synergise to ensure the Textile Visa Stamp is well utilised for the benefit of garment manufacturers to bring more revenue to the Federal Government of Nigeria. Excerpts:

NEPC – AGOA Trade Resource Center recently organised a workshop on utilisation of the AGOA Textile Visa Stamp, can you enlighten the public on this Textile Visa Stamp?
The AGOA Textile Visa Stamp is an instrument established by the US government for use by the AGOA eligible countries for textiles and apparels export into USA. The instrument is to be administered by the Nigerian authorised Customs Officers on the Commercial Invoice of garment manufacturers exporting to the US under AGOA. It is a major requirement for the export of textiles and garment under the scheme and has to be strictly adhered to by Nigerian garment exporters in order to benefit from the tariff concession provided by the Act.

What was the role of the Nigerian Customs at the Workshop?
The esteemed uniformed officers of the Customs were invited to the Workshop because they are the sole administrator of the Visa Stamp. The Stamp is in their custody and they need to be informed on its application and as well as interface with the Nigerian garment manufactures. More importantly, the interface facilitated expression of challenges by garment manufactures in accessing the Visa Stamp from the Customs.

Are the Nigerian Customs officials well trained on this AGOA Textile Visa Stamp’s administration since they are the officials Nigerian exporters would be interacting with at the export desks?
They are now well informed on the Visa Stamp administration so also on AGOA. The Custom Officers were always invited to training programmes on AGOA organised by the NEPC AGOA Trade Resource Center. The garment manufactures now know the locations of Customs officers to access the Visa Stamp.

What would the Nigerian Garment manufacturers benefit from the Visa Stamp?
Nigerian Garment manufacturers have a lot of gains by utilizing the Visa Stamp. Their products – textiles and apparel will enjoy duty-free access to the US market under AGOA. The tariff concession will give made in Nigeria products more competitive advantage over non-AGOA countries that must pay normal tariff rates to enter the United States. They will also be able to retain market share regarding certain apparel products. More jobs related to apparel manufacturing are created through increased production. Trade relationship with US investors and other sub-Saharan AGOA eligible countries counterparts will be built. Through technical assistance provided for garment manufacturers they will be able to comply with US standards as well as international market standards in the garment world.

Nigerians still depend largely on imported garments, especially from Asia. Do you think Nigerian manufacturers can ever meet the garment needs at home?
Indeed, the Nigerian garment markets are saturated with products from Asia but Nigerian garment manufactures through trainings are now informed and have embraced the value chain production systems. They only need to be encouraged and be well funded because, value chain system of mass production is capital intensive and many of the manufacturers are still at the workshop level struggling to meet delivery. If they are well funded for expansion into large factories, backed up with firm-level technical training and government policy support for solely made in Nigeria garments; the Nigerian manufacturers can meet the needs at home because it will be more profitable. Take the case of the use of General System of Mobile (GSM) telephone, it started late in Nigeria, but within a limited period, market women of course now use mobile phones such that Nigeria is now the largest user of mobile telephones in Africa. When there is a will, there will be ways.

What is NEPC’s role in addressing this?
The Council established the Human Capital Development Center (HCDC) in 2006, with modern industrial machines and engaged both local and international garment experts to train and manage the Center for mass production of garments for export under AGOA into the US. In 2016 to be precise, the NEPC engaged five garment experts from The Philippines and four local resource persons to train at the garment factory on how to make garments of international standards within limited time and the value chain system of mass production. Each batch of training at the center was usually for a minimum period of three months on pattern drafting and garment production except for special requested cases. NEPC has consistently offered this service at Zero cost to the trainees and even offered free lunch for students.

The good news is that after graduation, some of the students were retained at the NEPC Factory to perfect their skills and then employed to produce for other fashion designers, a few were gainfully employed by some Nigerian garment factories thus reducing unemployment, others form synergy and established enterprises to mass produce T-shirts for sale and for other industries. Kudos to Vlisco Academy Nigeria, which at one time collaborated with NEPC for training at the HCDC in Lagos. So far from inception, over 850 people have been trained and graduated from the HCDC.

In addition to the above, the NEPC is currently providing technical support for export ready garment companies by bringing into Nigeria and paying for the services of international garment experts from Sri Lanka and Ghana. The technical support started with the Calabar Garment Factory in Cross Rivers State where firm-level training was conducted for over 600 factory hands in December 2018. The garment experts are now at Wessy Creations garment factory in Abeokuta, Ogun State. This is to assist in bringing the companies to the level of mass production in line with international standard practice and for export to the US under AGOA.

With individual efforts, government supports (policy wise and financially) for the existing garment factories, navigation of the numerous garment workshops to factories and establishment of more garment factories, the garment manufacturers can meet the garment needs of Nigerians because we have cheap labour readily available.

The Nigerian Investment and Promotion Commission (NIPC), has stressed the need to constantly improve the business environment at the sub-national level to attract more investment into the country.

The Chief Executive Officer of NIPC, Ms Yewande Sadiku, while addressing participants at the Renaissance Capital 10th yearly Pan –Africa Investors Conference, in Lagos, Wednesday, said apart from the improvement recorded at the national level, it is also important to ensure that the business climate in the states become more attractive for investment.

“I encourage governors to compete with each other for proactive investment attention, because Nigeria is competing with the rest of the world. I will rather recommend that the competition for investment attention be between states in Nigeria than between Nigeria and a third party country.”

She reiterated federal government’s commitment to progressively improve overall business environment, noting that since the long-term growth potential remains compelling, the country must remain the investment hub for existing and prospective investors.

She said the NIPC was created to enhance Nigeria’s business climate while soliciting the support of professionals in advocating policy changes that align with investor expectations.

Sadiku said the Commission will support states government in profiling investment opportunities that would attract foreign investors to the state.

She said NIPC is also creating a platform for capacity building, and profiling investment opportunities; starting with a tool that would help in profiling small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs).

Sadiku highlighted foreign investors concerns to include policy stability, power, foreign exchange stability, and insecurity, saying: “… when it concerns going beyond certain parts of Nigeria, many investors draw a line; and there are areas that they are not as present as they should be.”

She added: “There are some concerns in their minds in terms of estimating what their returns are. The bulk of the investors that we deal with are not short-term investors. They take a really long-term view, and what we tell them is that there might be short flips, but in the context of the long-term basics Nigeria’s fundamentals remain strong.”

The Board Chairman, Renaissance Capital, Christophe Charlier, said the key take-away from the conference is that investors focus too strongly on the risks, often missing the chance to turn some of the country’s key challenges into viable prospects.

“Opportunities abound, and Renaissance Capital remains committed to Nigeria and West Africa, which is evidenced by the firm’s growing share of market and deal pipeline.”

Law enforcement personnel remove evidence from the Freund home on Dole Avenue in Crystal Lake, Ill. as the investigation into the case of missing 5-year-old Andrew “AJ” Freund continues on Wednesday, April 24, 2019.

In Bolga, women weave baskets to supplement their income.© CNNIn Bolga, women weave baskets to supplement their income.
Under the scorching afternoon sun of Bolgatanga, a rural community north of Ghana, Patience Apambila is splitting strands of dry grass in preparation for weaving them into baskets.

Apambila is one of 60,000 women in Bolgatanga, Bolga for short, who create handwoven Veta Vera grass baskets, famously known as Bolga Baskets.

One of Ghana’s biggest Bolga basket exporters, Dominic Abakuri says the practice of weaving baskets is a traditional skill as old as the community and has been passed on from generations.

“Once you are born here, you grow up with the skill from childhood, and then, you do it as a kind of extra activity,” he told CNN.

Bolga’s soil is not fertile enough for commercial agricultural activities alone. As a result, handwork like pottery and basket weaving are undertaken by women too.

But weaving Bolga baskets is beyond continuing an age long tradition, it is also about creating jobs.

Exporters and local retailers organize these women all year round and pay them to weave the Bolga baskets based on demand.

A lot of women from the community are poor, so, making and selling baskets serve as an additional source of income for them.

Apambila, for example, can take care of some family needs from the money she makes weaving these baskets. “It helps us to set up our children’s school bills and do a lot of things,” she said.

Boosting the economy

Ghana’s non-traditional export sector, which basket weaving falls under, contributes about 20% to the country’s export trade, says Afua Asabea Asare, CEO of Ghana Export Promotion Authority.

Through Bolga basket exports to key markets such as the UK, US, Australia, and New Zealand, the sector is increasing its sales potential.

Asare added that in 2017, Ghana exported roughly $800,000 worth of baskets to the international market,

“A lot of countries are interested in our baskets. Denmark, and even the Ghanaian markets,” she said.

Abakuri, a Bolga basket exporter, says HomeGoods and HomeSense, both subsidiaries of TJX Companies are some of the big names his company exports to.

Canadian – Ghanaian luxury retailer, Viola Labi, says she grosses $4,000 every month by exporting the baskets to Canada and Zambia.

By 2023, the Ghanaian market hopes to double its exports and international markets for the baskets.

Creating a decent space

The Bolga baskets are undoubtedly booming in and out of Ghana, but weaving them is not without problems.

According to Bolga basket weaver, Apambila, there is no decent place to sit while working. Primary infrastructure like sheds for the weavers to sit in and weave is unavailable. A lot of them stay at home or in different rooms to create the baskets at their leisure time, and this reduces productivity and the ability to meet demand.

“We need a room to sit in whilst weaving. We need a decent meeting place,” Apambila said.

If the women get conducive working spaces, they’ll be much faster at making the baskets and by extension increase in the volume of baskets produced.

Also, given that the raw material used by these women to make the baskets is not grown in Bolgo, transportation is another challenge.

Straws used in weaving are derived from the tropical Veta Vera grass grown in the southern part of Ghana.

Transporting them to the north for weaving, and storing during the harvest season requires investment and money that a lot of exporters and weavers cannot afford.

To combat these issues and further boost the market for Bolgo baskets, Ghanaian authorities are working towards planting the Veta Vera grass in the northern region of the country.

The idea is to help the weavers cut transport costs by bringing their raw material closer to them.

“There’s going to be a pilot run to see how the grass will do. Hopefully, if this does well in the Northern regions, it means we will have the grass readily available to weavers,” Asare told CNN.

Alongside planting grass, the Ghana Export Promotion Authority wants to create spaces and warehouses for weavers.

Electricity, shade, baby nurseries and pretty much anything that will motivate the women to work harder is in consideration, according to Asare.

Upscaling the Bolga basket business is one of the key priorities for Ghana’s non-traditional export market to meet its proposed target of doubling the product exports by 2023.

And the women in Ghana’s north are working towards this goal, one basket at a time.

By Aisha Salaudeen, Rachel Wood and Sandy Thin, CNN

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