New Telegraph

Don to FG: Ban importation of ceramic products

A don at the Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA), Prof. Tolulope Akinbogun has advised the Federal Government against importation of ceramic products in order to generate employment, and discourage the huge amount of recourses spent on the importation of the products into the country.

 

According to him, the country spends several billions of Dollars on important of ceramic products into the country.

 

Akinbogun, a lecturer at the Department of Industrial Design, gave the advice in his inaugural lecture, which was the 122nd inaugural lecture in the series in the university, also called on the Federal Government to fashion out economic policies that would enhance local ceramic production and ban importation of such products.

 

He stated that the government should adopt favourable policies from the world’s leading ceramic producing countries to operate ceramic industries in the country, noting that the government should focus more on profitable policies that would encourage ceramic manufacturing and discourage investment that focuses on rent-seeking opportunities.

 

Akinbogun, a former Deputy Vice-Chancellor of the university, however, hinted that government at all levels should collaborate with investors and stakeholders in the ceramic sector with a view to working out the modalities on how all moribund ceramic industries could be resuscitated.

 

He said: “We spent billions of dollars annually. I may not be able to give an exact figure presently, but we lost billions of dollars annually.

 

When we talk of ceramics industry, we have different types, which include sanitary, arts and the traditional industry. Right now, what is happening is that we cannot employ, we cannot produce and we are only consuming.

 

So, not only on the financial side of it, we are losing on all facets.”

 

While challenging the governments on the need to create enabling environment for investors to operate, the Professor of Ceramics noted that the fixing power supply challenges must be given a serious attention in the country “as ceramic mass production is largely energydependent.”

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