Business
By Anthony Isibor
THE symbiotic relationship that has existed between the Yorubas and the Igbos has culminated in the local construction of a self-propelled transporter barge named ‘Sir Elvis’.
The birth of ‘Sir Elvis’ became possible when Afolabi Adedamola Sunday, chairman and managing director of DammyLand got the support of Elvis Emecheta, founding chairman of the Zavis Group comprising several subsidiaries to use his property located at Lekki free of charge as a fabrication yard to build a sand dredging barge. Emecheta, who is also the founding president of the Nigerian/Chinese Chamber of Commerce, prior to allowing Adedamola use his facility had engaged him to sand fill his land in the Lekki axis of Lagos State.
Speaking to Realnews, Adedamola revealed that the feat could not have been possible without the support of Emecheta, who provided the finance and even allowed them to covert his yard to a fabricating site.
Adedamola, in appreciation of the magnanimity of Emecheta, named the vessel he built ‘Sir Elvis’ after Emecheta. He said it was done as a show of gratitude for all Emecheta’s genuine support and friendship.
He noted that although there are serious competitions from foreign competitors, Nigerians have a way of doing things and will always excel if given the opportunity.
“Apart from working with him, I have enjoyed so much from him in terms of experience and supportive roles to the extent that he even said that we could start up the fabrications from here,” he said.
Emecheta on his own part revealed that Adedamola suggested the ingenuous idea to locally construct the dredging vessel instead of leasing or importing it which will be more expensive because of high cost of things brought about by the hike in the price of fuel.
He said that the most instructive thing was that they were all there while the whole thing was being put together. It is “Not up to two months. So it’s a remarkable feat,” he said.
He explained that he got to know Adedamola while he was searching for a good dredging company when it became necessary to enhance the property which has been his for over 25 years.
“So he used the portion of land already reclaimed as a yard to fabricate the vessel. This is the second one he has done and he plans to do five more making them seven.
“Imagine what this man has done. This is what we call local content. Its enhancing the Nigerian economy. Otherwise he would have gone overseas and spent our foreign exchange or lease it. Most of the owners of barges in the country today are Chinese or Indians. But he used an indigenous technology to build this thing and I saw him doing it here.
“I saw welders and everybody working so hard for five weeks to put this thing together. That is the real story that must be told. Nigerians must understand that there are hardworking Nigerians, who are doing everything to help the economy grow.
“Right here, he has created over a hundred jobs that I have seen, from welders to mechanic, to filters, to bricklayers, you name it. And he is a Yoruba man, a Lagosian adding values to our economy. And he has done it all because I gave him the space.
“How many Nigerians are ready to stick it out to do what this man has done? How many of us are ready to do what he has done. This thing he has put up here will save this country millions of dollars in foreign exchange.
“The people working here are ordinary Nigerians, at least, they have a daily source of income, and when they bring the income home, it spreads.
“People like this should be smoked out wherever they are and be encouraged because they are the real job creators.
“So we have bonded so well coming out with this vision,” he added.
Realnews reports that apart from the engine of the vessel which was sourced from China, about 90 of other components including plates and equipment’s used in building the transporter barge was sourced locally. It cost about N30 million to build ‘Sir Elvis’ transporter barge.
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– Aug. 09, 2023 @ 12:07 GMT |
Tags: Afolabi Adedamola Sunday Elvis Emecheta Realnews Zavis Group
