An Overview
Commerce is the second most common occupation after agriculture due to Yobe’s strategic location. Yobe’s geographic position provides an opportunity for regional trade within the north of Nigeria, and cross-border trade with neighboring countries in both North and West Africa including through the Export Processing Banks and insurance companies.
Yobe State is noted for its boisterous international trade; there exists a healthy exchange of goods between the State and Niamey, Tillabari, Fada Gouma, Boi, Banki, Daso, Maradi, Zindar, Tahoua Nguelkolo, Parakon, e.t.c.
Formal trade is estimated at approximately N8bn or 5% of GSP (Gross State Product) and consists of wholesale and retail activities in household consumer goods and in cash crops/agro-commodities including grains, sesame, rice wheat groundnut gum Arabic sorghum, vegetables, and livestock (cattle, goat, sheep, camel etc.).
Commercial activities are generally carried out through hundreds of regular markets all over the state as well as specialized markets. Yobe State has the capacity to support a wide range of industries utilizing local agricultural and mineral resources although full potentials are yet to be exploited.
Private initiatives in commerce and industry, particularly by indigenes, are also on a small scale and are limited to carpentry, shoe repairs, and manufacturing, small-scale rice mills, leather and plastic industries, weaving, printing, catering, block making, food processing, etc.
Government Policies for the Promotion of Commerce
Major Markets Development:
The Major Markets development/Modernization program of the State involves the provision of modern and critical infrastructures. To enhance commercial activities, the State Government has built an ultramodern market (Monday market) of over 3500 stalls in Maiduguri. The market is of international standard and has basic facilities such as offices, restaurants, a community hall, and a fire station. Other facilities include a sewage plant, abattoir, borehole, and water storage tanks.
The objectives are:
To provide enabling environment and structures for rapid economic growth and development.
To provide easy access to the market by both domestic and foreign investors.
To engineer the private sector to be more productive and relevant by contributing their own quota toward developing commercial activities in the state via private participation.
To provide a clear mindset in the commercial sector of the economy by inducing the private sector to actively participate and contribute to providing employment to Yobe State indigenes thereby reducing the rate of unemployment in the state.
To boost the revenue generation activities by encouraging the private sector to contribute their own quota to the economy thereby reducing the dependency on the oil sector.
To modernize the market by providing infrastructure to compete with other similar modern markets in other states.
Privatization of Industries:
With privatization, the role of government in direct productive activities diminishes as the private sector takes over such responsibilities. Under such a setting, the government is only expected to provide essential infrastructure and an enabling environment for private enterprises to thrive.
The Yobe State government had in the past promoted several industries, which are now being privatized in keeping with current trends.
Opportunities exist for investors to take up shares of other companies whose profiles are given below:
NEITAL Nigeria Limited
Neital Nigeria Limited which is jointly owned by Yobe and Yobe States was incorporated in 1976 and commissioned in 1982. The company comprises two sections i.e., Shoe Section and Tannery Section. The Tannery Section has an installed capacity of processing about 750,000 hides and 1,500, 000 skins annually.
While the shoe has a capacity of producing over 2, 000,000-foot wears per annum. The company is currently in skeletal operation with some of its machinery in fairly good condition and others are either obsolete or dilapidated needing to be rehabilitated or replaced completely.
Foreign technical partners, as well as local /foreign investors, are hereby invited to embrace this opportunity in boosting the economy of the State through the provision of employment opportunities to the teeming youth, profit to both the local /foreign investors as well as generating revenue to the State.
Njimtilo Industrial Park
The Njimtilo Industrial Park was initiated between 2011 and 2015, as an industrial hub where 16 viable industries were established to exploit market opportunities created by the international borders countries neighboring the State.
Upon identification of these industrial projects, the required plants, machinery, and equipment were procured and installed with some of the plants having been test run. However, apart from the Plastic, Furniture, PVC Pipe plants, the rest are currently not in production.