Prince Egwuekwe, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Prince Interior Furniture and Furnishing, says Nigeria’s wood industry holds enormous untapped potential that can rival the country’s oil sector’s revenue.
Egwuekwe, who is also the President of Furniture Makers Association of Nigeria, made this known at a news conference to mark the firm’s 25th anniversary said the wood industry has the potential to contribute significantly to Nigeria’s gross domestic product, create jobs, address the “japa” syndrome, and reduce the country’s reliance on oil exports.
He said that the country’s wood resources were not just abundant but also of exceptional quality, adding that Nigeria had some of the most valuable and diverse woods in the world.
“My father is a timber dealer. He has a saw mill, so I understand what wood is. The wood sector can give Nigeria in terms of our revenue income far more than what the oil sector is giving us. “The wood sector is an untapped goldmine. We have brachystegia eurycoma in Nigeria, we have ceiba wood, we have Pignatus excenlencia, we have walnut, we have cedar. These woods in the Western world, a cubic is $900; and we have them in trillions of cubic.
“The truth is, if the government will begin to ask those of us who know what wood is, and how to achieve this, we will open up to them,” he said.
Egwuekwe said that foreigners were benefitting from most of Nigeria’s untapped resources by developing and selling them back to Nigerians.
He stressed that there was an urgent need for the re-evaluation of the country’s wood industry.
“That is why I say we should stop importation of furniture because we are importing rubbish. It is the sawdust from the wood they took they are using to make them.
“The processed wood they took, they will build AK47 heads with the walnut, build their ship, glass and so many things.
