The Bonny Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (BOCCIMA) says it was time for stakeholders to coalesce efforts at upscaling businesses in Bonny Local Government Area of Rivers State through capacity building, access to credit and market exposures.

Director General of BOCCIMA, Constance Nwokejiobi said this on Thursday, October 3, 2022 during an Interactive Session with business groups in Bonny Island, Rivers State, wherein concerns raised by the various groups were aggregated for escalation with the relevant stakeholders.

The participants at the interactive session, which is one of the precursor events to the maiden Investiture of BOCCIMA President, Sir Amairigha Edward Hart and Inauguration of his Executive Council, included the Bonny Main Market Traders Association (BMMTA), Ibani Community Welders Association (ICWA), and Bonny Indigenous Contractors Association (BICA), amongst others.

Nwokejiobi noted that BOCCIMA was a product of the strategic vision of its grand patron, the Amanyanabo and Natural Ruler of Bonny Kingdom, His Majesty, King Dr Edward Asimini William Dappa Pepple III, Con, JP, Perekule XI, which aims at providing a functional and viable template for engaging the business community.

She stated that this engagement paradigm, which engendered the meeting with the business groups, focuses on how Bonny based businesses can leverage opportunities coming into Bonny for the economic growth and positive impact on the island and its residents.     

The BOCCIMA DG called on various business groups in Bonny LGA to take advantage of the multifarious opportunities inherent in the chamber to advance the interests of its members, and also partner with BOCCIMA to benefit from its advocacy drive to make their voices heard and their interests protected.

In his remarks during the session, Chairman of the Bonny Indigenous Contractors Association (BICA), Rogers Allison expressed delight at the Interactive Session, noting that it has provided an opportunity for indigenous businesses to have their voices heard, stating that for too long indigenous businesses have been marginalized, neglected and shut out of opportunities.

He appealed to BOCCIMA to galvanize stakeholders to consider availing indigenous contractors the necessary leverage to upscale their capacity to handle high value contracts that would impact the community and her people, informing that the Bonny indigenous contractors are ready to partner with BOCCIMA to achieve its set objectives.

Allison further harped on the need to move Bonny Island from a purely consumption economy to a manufacturing and production driven one, stressing that this would cushion the high cost of materials faced by indigenous contractors and enable them to compete favourably with other contractors in the supply chain business of the companies in the Island.

On his part, the Chairman of the Ibani Community Welders Association (BICA), Adawari Jumbo thanked the BOCCIMA leadership for the session, informing that BICA had done so much to improve the fortunes of welders in the LGA, stressing, however, that there was still ground to cover in the journey to making Bonny welders become topnotch and globally competitive fabricators, calling on BOCCIMA to capture them in its plans and programs.

He called on the Federal Government, Nigerian Content development and Management Board (NCDMB) and the international oil and gas companies (IOCs) to review their partnership with BOCCIMA in the area of drawing up and delivering targeted capacity trainings that will cut across the various cadres of literate and non-literate but skilled labour comprising agile young men and women in the community, asserting that this would empower them to compete favourably in the opportunities available at the work sites in the companies.

On his part, Chairman of the Bonny Main Market Traders Association (BMMTA), Igoni Pollyn, who was represented by the Secretary of the association, Matthew Okemba, said such interactive session was long overdue, stressing the need for a robust partnership with BOCCIMA, asserting that traders at the Bonny Main Market and every other market in Bonny are key stakeholders in the local business environment.   

He used the opportunity to call on the chamber to intervene in the issues affecting traders at the market, especially, those related to the relocation from the present location to the new market at the King Asimini Bypass (Berger Road), lamenting that several of their members were stranded to rent issues with their respective landlords.

The BMMTA Chairman also highlighted the concern by his fellow traders at the market that they were not yet feeling the impact of the Train 7 market demand as anticipated mainly due to the fact that the local businesses who mostly patronize their market were not yet engaged in the project, insisting that such anomaly needs to be reviewed with a view to ensuring inclusivity for the local economy.

In their remarks, Chief Executive Officer of Kristina Reports and Chairman, BOCCIMA Environmental and Sanitation Trade Group, Godswill Jumbo, and Managing Director of Bonny Engineering and Maintenance Company Nigeria Limited (BEM) and Vice Chairman, BOCCIMA Construction Trade Group, Walter Longjohn, on behalf of the President and Executive Council of BOCCIMA thanked the various groups for attending the session, expressing the hope that the meeting would represent the harbinger of greater things to come and the realization of the vision of BOCCIMA’s Grand Patron, His Majesty, King Edward Pepple III, CON, JP, Perekule XI.