By DADA AYOKHAI
The immediate past Edo state commissioner for Business Trade and Co-operatives Hon. Afie Braimoh has identified commodity brokers and unions as limiting to the ease of doing business in Edo State.
She made the assertion in Benin, the Edo State capital while delivering the keynote speech at the Inspire 2023 lecture organized by the Edo Development Organization, the theme of which the keynote speech was, “Doing Business in Edo: The challenges and how to overcome them”.
She posited that unless the government can regulate the operations of these two bodies in the distribution value chain, the much-talked-about ease of doing business would continue to pose challenges.
Hon. Braimoh said these two powerful bodies while potentially helpful to the development of an effective distribution value chain, may impede and add a significant cost layer to the commodity price structure if government does not engage them and secure a buy-in to its export agenda.
The former commissioner who in partnership with Ancestral House Global Inc. USA recently signed a vendor agreement to place Made-in-Nigeria products on shelves of some of North America’s largest shopping outlets, fears that if the government does not engage and contain the excesses of this critical group, Edo State businesses will struggle to compete in the global market.
The former commissioner during her short but impactful stay in the Obaseki cabinet,endeared herself to the Edo business class who nicknamed her the “Peoples Commissioner” because of her unwavering commitment to the lot of Edo’s MSMEs as well as the robust manner by which she promoted the “Proudly Made in Edo” policy.
Such was her commitment, that a buyer-seller meeting between the Edo export group and a Miami USA buyer, saw the first ever container shipment of Proudly Edo products to the United States. Unfortunately, the export cost structure from the Edo Export Train proved three times more expensive than similar exports originating from Lagos State and therefore truncated the expected export agreement.
Since she departed office, the bustling and affable ex-commissioner has been hyperactive on the trade circuit, touring countries to attend trade exhibitions, signing bilateral trade agreements, delivering lectures, holding trade round tables all in a manner telling of her infectious aura.
Drawing inference from her understanding of the commodity market, Hon. Braimoh noted during her speech that the final consumer, majority currently underserved, remain the ultimate losers of the intricate export game if distortions in the export value chain are not addressed.
Relaying first hand information from commodity brokers, the majority of whom are non-farmers, powerful unions have overtime evolved, who today dictate commodity prices to the real farmers, scaring off foreign investors from doing business due to the failures or complicity of governments in curbing their excesses. Edo state she said, should learn from the experience of others and protect the farmers and grassroot operators.
Earlier, the President of the Edo Development Organization, Mrs Joyce Daniels said the major objective of her group is to encourage Edo people to invest in the state.
According to her , we should take our state as our home, as the state government alone cannot do it all.
The event also featured round-table business discussions by a group of seasoned panelists on topical issues affecting trade and businesses in Edo State.
