There are heightening fears that petrochemical companies in Eleme, Warri and Kaduna may be forced to shut down because of the continued importation of what industry stakeholders call fake plastic raw materials in the country.
This is largely because most plastic industries which make use of the imported materials are said to have preferred the ones brought into the country from Asia, apparently because of the price difference.
The development has, therefore, led to the non-patronage of petrochemical products from the indigenous companies.
Industry watchers told Sunday Independent on Friday that big-time Nigerian businessmen partner among themselves for the importation of the fake plastic raw materials.
The petrochemical plants in Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna were established by the federal government to provide petrochemical needs of Nigeria. Such industries remain the backbone of any industrial nation.
Eleme Petrochemicals was almost dead when it was privatised in 2006. It was bought over by Indorama Group. Indorama revived and re-commissioned the company in October 2006 for production purposes again.
The plants in Warri and Kaduna are still under the management of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). They were, this year, refurbished and re-commissioned.
At the Eleme Petrochemical Company (now called Indorama Group), Sunday Independent learnt that plastic industries had shunned their products in preference for the imported ones.
A similar scenario is said to be playing out at the Warri and Kaduna plants owned by the NNPC. The two firms were only brought back to life recently.
Some casual workers at the Eleme plant expressed the fear that the company might be forced to shut down if the appropriate government agencies did not wade in and stop the importation of adulterated materials into the country.
Some of the about 2,000 permanent workers in the company�s employ also expressed the fear of job losses when Sunday Independent visited the plant on Friday.
It was observed that the company�s warehouse in Eleme, near Port Harcourt, had been flooded with unsold resins (plastic raw materials) waiting to be cleared.
One of the workers lamented that the warehouses in Lagos and Abuja were also facing similar experiences.
�If care is not taken, this thing may affect the company again and all the thousands of jobs created would be lost.
�The uncontrolled importation of all grades of low and high density polyethylene and polypropylene into the country is adversely affecting the entire petrochemical industry in Nigeria. If the industry is forced to collapse again, it would be very disastrous for our country. The government should do something to save our own local industries,� the worker who would not want his name in print, said.
The head of corporate communications of Eleme Petrochemicals Company, Jossy Nkwocha, who spoke with this newspaper on the matter, however, denied knowledge of the activities of those alleged to be importing the fake materials.
Instead, he said his company was more interested in marketing its products than in what other people were doing. He also admitted that plastic firms were not patronising the company enough but was quick to add that the experience was not peculiar to the Eleme plant.
Mar92008