LADOL has all it takes to facilitate any car manufacturing plant— Amy Jadesimi
The Managing Director of the Lagos Deep Offshore Logistics (LADOL), Dr. Amy Jadesimi, has opened up on the quality and standard of facility already in place at the company facilities on the Free Zone.
Giving insights on the preparedness of the company in providing logistics for mega companies to operate seamlessly, she said all basic things a company needs to operate in a free zone are on ground at LADOL.
According to her, “The first is 24/7 cheap power. The other is suitable infrastructure. They need easy access in and out, a trained workforce on the ground and a secure area where people can be comfortable”.
“These are all solutions that LADOL provides, which are all built into our business model. This is why we call the free zone an industrial village. The value proposition is that if you are manufacturing at a low price for a market that is immediately adjacent to you, that market will also need after-sales care. So, it is not just manufacturing, you also need to maintain the cars.
Continuing, she said “If BMW, for instance, can be manufacturing cars in South Africa, why is it not manufacturing cars in Nigeria? Our market is bigger.
“So, these are some of the industrial projects that we want to tackle and the way we are addressing the issue is by building an ecosystem where these companies can set up their own manufacturing plants right here in Nigeria.
Giving more details on the preparedness of LADOL in logistics services, she disclosed further that “Our business model is unique. We have a fully integrated business model. We don’t say to you, ‘come, here is an empty piece of land’ or ‘here is an empty warehouse’. We provide you with solution, so we do inventory management. We provide you with facility if that is what you need. And that lowers the barrier of entry for Nigerians who want to get into this business because they need that huge capex (capital expectation) and it makes it more transparent and a lot cheaper for international oil companies to work with us.
“And even their service providers don’t have to worry about capex. So, I would say in terms of infrastructure and equipment and personnel, we have come a long way. But in terms of the contribution to the way of doing business in the oil and gas sector, I would say that we have really disrupted a model that was in existence. This is because it was expensive and we have introduced a new way of doing business that is transparent, value-added and dynamic and that will drive Nigeria towards being the hub for West Africa.
On how LADOL is positioning self ahead of ongoing diversification of Nigerian economy, Dr. Amy Jadesimi said “We see ourselves as an investor in strategic infrastructure, meaning the infrastructure we build will result in job creation”.
“For example, the shipyard is on course to create 50,000 direct and indirect jobs over the next decade provided other private investors come and build other facilities. One out of 10 of those jobs will be in LADOL and the other jobs will be outside LADOL. So, we need other people to invest and build facilities all over the place.
“But their ability to build those facilities has now been significantly eased by the fact that we have this integration facility in LADOL. It means that if you are fabricating something in Port Harcourt, you just put it on a barge, you send it to LADOL and we integrate it into the vessel or the rail or whatever needs to be built, instead of sending it to the other side of the world,” managing director of LADOL averred.
