The National Directorate of Employment (NDE) has assured Nigerians that the country will begin exportation of quality toothpicks in commercial quantities soonest as the directorate commissioned what it called the first toothpick and pencil manufacturing factory in Africa on Thursday.
The factory, which was commissioned in Akure, the capital of Ondo State, according to the NDE Acting Director-General, Kunle Obayan, will also generate between 180 and 300 jobs in the first six months, 30 immediate direct factory jobs and another 150 indirect jobs.
Presently, Nigeria spends about $18 million yearly on toothpick importation, forcing the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to declare recently that it will no longer provide foreign exchange for the importation of toothpicks.
At the commissioning of the factory in Akure on Friday, Obayan said the NDE has provided the enabling environment for establishment of the cottage industry by providing the start-up capital.
He, however, explained that the start-up capital was a loan which was expected to be repaid over a period of time. The NDE boss said the factory “will lay the foundation for the gradual substitution of the importation of toothpicks while aiming at export of the same product.”
He pointed out that with the commencement of the factory, “We no longer need to import toothpicks from China or any other country for that matter. Let us begin to patronize our own from today henceforth.”
He advised that every step must be taken to protect, nurture and ensure the survival of the business and indeed all other small scale businesses that are providing unique services, products and also create jobs.
Obayan said, “Today, we are here to contribute to the process of recon structuring, repositioning and galvanizing the economy into full bloom. Earlier this year, a group of young graduates from this state approached the NDE with the proposal to set up cottage industries to produce toothpicks and pencils. We may recall that all the toothpicks and pencils used in this country are imported. This is probably the first indigenous toothpick making factory in Nigeria and indeed Africa.”
One of the beneficiaries who pioneered the vision, Mr. Samuel Babatunde, a young graduate of the University of Ibadan, commended the NDE for accepting their idea when he approached the Directorate.
He said, “We came to the NDE with the idea of starting a toothpick manufacturing factory. Another set of colleagues also came up with the idea of starting a waste paper pencils manufacturing factory. The NDE did not shun us, but rather, they encouraged us. They provided the funds and moral support and today, we are witnessing history being written here in Akure, Ondo Dtate. For today, the first toothpick manufacturing factory in Africa is being commissioned.”
He explained that the NDE provided the fund to import the huge machines required for the business from China and called on the Federal Government restrict the importation of toothpicks by imposing heavy taxes and tariff on imported toothpicks.
Babatunde said if the workforce is put together, comprising the men working on the machines, men and women working in packaging the products, administrative staff, people in the surrounding villages supplying bamboos which is the core material for the products and several truck drivers who bring the material to the factory, it is already providing jobs for about 250 persons.
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