THE MANTRA that asserts that “Government has no business in business” has become accepted as a verifiable fact in most parts of Nigeria. However, in the dramatically beautiful but remote reaches of the Mambilla Plateau in Taraba State members of some communities especially in Gembu Local Government Area challenge this assumption consistently. According to community leaders and many of the ordinary people, ever since the advent of the regime of Governor Darius Dickson Ishaku (popularly known as DDI), who took charge in 2015, they have witnessed how government intervention in business can revive and sustain hope among the people. The unusually strong advocacy of government policy and effectiveness in corporate affairs ex- pressed by the people of the area is justified by results recorded by an important and unique institution that provides the core of eco- nomic activity in the area. Today it is known as the Mambilla Beverages estate and factory.
Years ago, it was owned by the Northern Nigerian Development Corporation (NNDC) and called Nigerian Beverages Company Limited, but that institution was run into the ground by mismanagement and sharp practices by its operators, Although tea cultivation was introduced to these picturesque highlands as far back as 1975 when tea was imported from Kenya and the methods of cultivation were taught to the local farmers, contemporary employees at the factory in the small village of Kakara insist that these are the most buoyant times that the industry has experienced. They say that the decision taken by the State’s Governor to resuscitate the company after it had been totally liquidated was a bold example of official intervention in business.
Taraba Investment and Property Limited
The state-owned investment corporation known as Taraba Investment and Property Limited was given the mandate to resuscitate several moribund companies and the Mambilla tea company was selected as its first target, The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the investment body is a retired banker Mr. Iliya Ezekiel who approaches his task of managing government’s intervention in business as if he is conducting a crusade for the restoration of official credibility. According to him, apart from the potential for profitable growth in West Africa’s only large-scale tea growing region and the revival of its manufacturing capacity the attraction of the Mambilla tea initiative was enhanced by the fact that the communities in the area would be the main benefactors and participants in the processes of development.
Governor Ishaku also seemed to be convinced that the impact of renewal of the activities in the tea growing region would inspire the success of initiatives in other sectors of the state’s economic activity. As a result, he agreed to contribute substantial amounts of the state’s financial resources to providing new machinery. He also recalled expert staff who had left the industry with a promise to give them the opportunity to run the business with appropriate autonomy that would ensure its viable profitability, A team of dynamic local experts who have now operated the estate, and the factory, over the last five years have responded to the governor’s generosity with innovative enthusiasm.
As a result of their work the once totally moribund institution has become a remark- able corporate success story. According to statistics quoted by Ismaila Dahiru the Senior Manager of Marketing, who also happens to be a native of Kakara, the factory has produced its full capacity of over one million tons of processed tea per annum in the last two to three years. It has supplied most if not all the tea that is packaged in Nigeria by popular companies as well as distributing its own brands such as the popular Highland Tea, and its unique Green Tea.
Although Mr. Timothy Fanya, the Managing Director of the institution was absent when we visited the estate and factory the smooth running of the operation left no doubt in our minds that the renewal of the fortunes of the tea industry had achieved a new level of viability in its contemporary manifestation under his leadership.
The Mambilla plateau is widely regarded as probably Nigeria’s most environmentally picturesque geographical region. Its mountainous topography and fertile soil are world famous attributes. The territory is reached by way of one of the most remarkable public thorough- fares to be traversed anywhere in Africa. The winding and circuitous climb is an exciting and adventurous journey but it is also a dangerous one, as Federal maintenance of the route has been negligent for decades. If this extraordinary mountain road was properly surfaced and maintained it would be a tourist attraction in itself.
It would also enhance the efficiency of
evacuation of the Mambilla tea to its national market. The climate in the mountain region is almost temperate and the vistas are awe- inspiring. This is one of the most sadly neglected assets of Nigeria, as proper access and development could make it a major destination for international visitors.
For several decades there has been a plan mooted to have a major hydro-electric plant supplying electricity built on the plateau. It has been estimated that such a plant would be able to supply power to a vast proportion of Nigeria and neighbouring Cameroon.
On a much smaller scale Governor Ishaku has proven the viability of this proposal by building a small hydro-electric plant that has supplied the Mambilla Beverages Estate and factory with uninterrupted power supply for nearly five years. The Tunga Dam that was constructed to supply water for the irrigation of the vast tea plantations also supplies the water that drives the hydro turbines, thus making the prohibitive cost of buying diesel to run generators totally unnecessary.
This enhances the efficiency and cost effectiveness of the operations of the tea factory, and is one of the most satisfying and symbolic initiatives of the Ishaku Government’s intervention in this project. As a result of the upgrade of the energy index the factory has achieved increased profitability in recent times There are many elements of the Mambilla tea story that can excite general interest but one of the most important is the story of the integration of the surrounding communities in the entire process. The Mambilla as we discovered is an ethnic nationality with their own language and culture who along with the Hausa-Fulani and others occupy a wide swath of territory covering approximately twenty-seven villages that grow tea. They interact with the estate operators through a system of extension training and supervision with independent growers known as “out-growers” supplying the factory with tea in addition to that produced by the company from its own holdings of nearly 10,000 hectares.
This institution employs well over two thousand people from the surrounding communities and the rest of the state and country. Abubakar Ahmed the Estate Manager who has had a thirty-year career with the company beginning from the days before the state government took it over has experienced some of the worst times as well as the best in the institution’s existence.
He says that the last five years has seen the fulfilment of the potential that the founders of the tea industry visualized but failed to achieve in the past. According to him “The Governor’s decision to give us unprecedented support to revive the operations and keeping his promise to allow us run as an independent business has enabled us to achieve a near miraculous turnaround in our fortunes. The community leaders have stood firm in their support of what we need and this is due to government’s good faith.”
Video by KhalidTheWakaholic
