Challenges of industrial development in Kebbi State
A number of factors have threatened the position of Kebbi State as a preferred industrial investment destination in Nigeria.
The disadvantages of the State as an investment destination as revealed by nearly half of the respondents pertain to safety and security, the poor condition of infrastructure with particular reference to the degraded condition of road network in some parts of the State and epileptic energy supply, difficulty and rising costs of doing business, skills shortages, mu ltipl e t a x a ti on, and sho rt age of warehousing and industrial infrastructure.
Other challenges relate to considerations issues around bureaucracy and corruption. Findings from the business and trade chambers show that Kebbi State is considered as ‘difficult’ to deal with in terms of industrial development as compared to States like Kano and Kaduna. Of critical importance is the lack of regular and meaningful interaction and communication between business chambers and State officials. The importance of information as an incentive and opportunity for developing a synergistic partnership between the State and the investment community is the most compelling finding of the Chamber’s interviews. As a consequence of this, potential investors and trade chamber are uncertain of which department or individual in the State to contact in order to address particular investment-related issues.
Industrialists have emphasized the critical absence of any forum for regular interaction and for dissemination of information on what is being done by the State to address key short comings in the local bussines s environment.
The feedback from the business and trade chambers further reveals the need to improve government’s ‘management’ of information regarding the bus ines s environment. For example, it was pointed out that whilst the image of the State as a peaceful and safe State is always supported by crime data arguably, the State needs to do better in terms of image management in addition to its role of improving the local business environment by leveraging on State land assets and utility cost cuts. Thus, Government will leverage its resources to attract industrial investment by supporting rather than substituting with a suite of essential interventions that are engineered to address negative factors in the local business environment.
