That the Udom Emmanuel led administration is pursuing with remarkable vigour, the industrialisation of Akwa Ibom State is no longer a news item.
What is news are the waves most of these industries which have continued to spring up in the state since the governor came onboard in 2015 are beginning to make, the grounds being broken and the records being set.
Coming into power with a five-point agenda of Wealth Creation, Economic and Political Inclusion, Poverty Alleviation, Infrastructural Consolidation and Expansion, Job Creation, Governor Udom Emmanuel has neither looked back nor taken his foot off the pedal in his abiding quest not only to deliver on his five-agenda but create jobs for the teeming populace through the establishment of industries.
At the last count, Akwa Ibom State is now blessed with about15 (fifteen) of such industries that are all functioning in full throttle. But for the purpose of this article, we will beam our searchlight on the Jubilee Syringe Manufacturing Company located in Onna Local Government Area of the state.
In his remarks while inaugurating the project on 23rd September, 2017, Vice President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo, lauded the foresight of Governor Emmanuel in considering such an investment at a time the nation was grappling with economic recession. He maintained that the coming on stream of the company, with a minimum daily syringe production capacity of 1 million, would help Nigeria overcome the capital flight that saw the country’s health sector depend solely on imports.
Made from locally obtained raw materials, the syringes are produced with technologically advanced machines, where the plastic injection machines are gotten from Austria, South Korea, while other components of the company are procured from Turkey and Italy. The product, which is of the highest quality, presents a clear as glass outlook that addresses error of parallax.
The facility which sits on an 8000 square meter of land is owned by a Turkey-born business man, investor and widely travelled, Mr. Onur Kumral, who has investments in over 17 countries of the world, and having believed that Akwa Ibom has good development policies and adequate security, plus the overwhelming support provided by Governor Emmanuel’s administration, he was spurred to confidently take the risk of bringing such huge investment into the country.
Apart from the profit for which every business strives to make, the Syringe Manufacturing Company is not only here to cushion the rising cases of unemployment, but the company, as it grows, is also poised to help stabilise Nigeria’s economy and add value to Akwa Ibomites and Nigerians at large through training and retraining.
It could be recalled that in keeping faith with this promise, the Company had some time ago sent about 12 Nigerians to Istanbul, Turkey, for advance training on key areas of Injection Machines. These 12 Nigerians were trained on the operation of Injection Moulding Machines, Maintenance of Moulds and Quality Control.
With a staff strength of 126, 90 percent of which are direct staff while the remaining 10 percent is made up of indirect staff, with brighter prospects of employing more in the future, there is no doubting the fact that the Syringe Manufacturing Company has created employment for this group of Nigerians who hitherto were not employed or were under employed as the case may be.
The staffers, 90 percent of which are indigenous persons of Akwa Ibom State, are well paid and taken care of with the least staff taking home at the least N50,000 per month.
It is also worth noting that the demand for Syringes manufactured here in the State are in high demand. The products are faring well in the market if investigation carried out by the Crystal Express editorial team is anything to go by. In fact, this position was corroborated by Obije Godwin Kelechi, the Sales Manager of the Company who noted that there is no part of the country that the Jubilee Syringe is not being used.
According to him, this is done majorly through third party (secondary sales) through their distributors and not only direct export. Other countries, he said, have access to the Jubilee Syringe by buying them in Lagos, Kaduna and Sokoto States respectively.
COMPETITORS
The competitors, said Mr. Kelechi, are both direct and indirect. He said Jubilee Syringe faces direct competition from other states that also manufacture Syringes, pointing out that there are two in Ilorin and about 52 or more that come in from China which he said were the leading brand before Jubilee Syringe hit the market space.
Mr. Godwin Kelechi said Jubilee Syringe Manufacturing Company has since taken over as the leading brand in the market from current indices. This, he added, is due to the quantity of Syringe being churned out monthly here as compared to others who are only direct importers hence lack the tentacles that Jubilee Syringe boasts of.
His words: “they don’t have the spread that we have. They just buy and sell directly to their customers, while we get our spread through our distributors, so that speaks volumes of the products,” he said.
On the challenges faced on the marketing front, Mr. Kelechi noted that challenges abound in the area of the sales ward owing to what he attributed to the prices occasioned by the fact that while they are manufacturing the syringes, some other people are importing same hence “they always want to cut their prices to undermine our sales,” adding that they (Jubilee Syringe) have what it takes to withstand whatever challenges competitors are bringing up.
Prior to September 2017, Mr. Kelechi said that there was no control over the demands or how much of Syringes are imported into the country, noting however that by September 2017, there is a government policy that came onboard, adding, “we are still waiting for the practicability of the policy that increased their tariff from 5 percent to 70 percent. So, that restricted importation, but before now, it was an all-comers affair. But this period, there is restriction, so the product is not yet here and there, but once they exhaust the ones they have already imported, we can say categorically that what Nigeria consumes daily and yearly in terms of Syringes.”
Speaking on the quantity of production per annum, the Quantity Controller, said though they currently churn out 15 million Syringes per month, Jubilee Syringe Manufacturing Company has the capacity to produce 20 million Syringes per month. This, he said, will become a reality in the nearest future.
He maintained that the demand for Jubilee Syringes are high in the market, pointing out that as soon as the issue of power supply which remains a challenge in the country is resolved, they’ll start producing at the normal capacity of the facility.
On the difference between Jubilee Syringe and imported ones, the Quality Controller said Syringes produced here are equal to those in Europe. He explained that the procedure for manufacturing Syringes all over the world is the same, stating that here, all international procedures and standards are followed to the letter hence they compare favourably to European Syringes.
The Jubilee Syringe is said to be of very high quality having been taken outside the country, precisely Germany and was so rated. “In terms of standards, Jubilee Syringe is quite unique, and we adhere to standards and specifications,” said Mary Mendie, the Quality Control Manager.
Explaining the steps leading to the making of a Syringe, Mrs. Mendie said that at the Micro Lab, necessary corrections which she termed as Physical Tests are carried out by the Operator, adding that after this stage, “samples are still brought back for confirmation after which we can certify that the process should go on. This is done at every production stage up until the final stage.”
According to her, the Clean Room where the production is done required that those working there take adequate shower before entering the Clean Room. The reason, she said, is to control the flow of contamination into the Clean Room. She said there are rules and regulations to be adhered to by those working in the Clean Room both when they are going in and coming out.
“During lunchtime, if they have any course to go out, they repeat the same procedure before going in. That is what happens in the Clean Room.
The printing stage, she explained, precedes the assembly stage where the Plunger and the Barrel are assembled, adding that “at this stage, you could call it a Syringe. In the assembly section, there are 7 machines, each being manned by one person and, perhaps, another person to serve as an assistant, while there is a standby Engineer to monitor proceedings. The Printing session has about 6 (six) workers.
According to her, one person can operate two machines in the Printing stage, while two persons can operate one machine in the assembly stage.
At any rate, the Jubilee Syringe Manufacturing Company has come to stay. Its potentials for growth are as bright as daylight.
The contribution of this investment to the economic growth of the state is unarguably massive, and again, lends credence to the fact that Akwa Ibom has earned her pride of place as one of the leading enclaves in Foreign Direct Investment.
The future, no doubt, is bright not just for Akwa Ibom State in the medical sector, but it will go a long way in curtailing the incessant medical tourism where we think that the best of everything can only be found outside the shores of Africa.
Akwa Ibom, certainly, is setting the pace in the health sector. This, of course, can only be made possible with a visionary, futuristic and dynamic leader like Mr. Udom Emmanuel as governor inspired by no one else but Only God!
