From Sule Aliyu, Bauchi
The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Bauchi Furniture Company Ltd, Architect Bakoji Bello Badara, yesterday in Bauchi commended Governor Muhammad Abubakar for focusing his attention on the company through injecting funds and involving it in training programmes for youths.
Speaking with some selected journalists in his office, Badara said the Company planned to establish branches in some parts of the country to penetrate national markets.
Badara told newsmen that the company was purchased by the State Government in 2008 at N120 million and commenced operations in 2009 as limited liability company.
Badara said the company currently had 500 unalloted shares with the State Government, having 99 per cent of the shares while Alh. Muhammad Ali Kwara a Azare based hunter had one per cent of the shares.
He disclosed that the government, being the major shareholder, would retain little parts of the shares while major parts would be sold to individuals following an increase in its share capital.
Badara said that the company had grown from its initial N120 million to N540 million while it installed modern machines to improve on its production.
The company according to him, with 43 permanent and 100 casual staff, currently operates three shifts in a day but plans to extend it, to cope with current market demands.
“We initially had challenge with the patronage of the products but the state government has directed its ministries and agencies to buy our products.
Enumerating some the achievements of the company, Architect Bakoji Badara said “we have modern machines and update ourselves through staff training and Industrial Training Fund (ITF), to address the challenges of modernisation and the next step is to penetrate the national markets,” Badara said.
The managing director said that the company covered the North East Region and parts of North Western Region, especially Kano, Kaduna, Katsina, Abuja and Lokoja.
“We have modern machines and developed manpower and we will increase the number of shifts to tackle increase in demand and we have planned to penetrate the national markets and as well as open new branches,” he added.
“Gov. Muhammed Abubakar has also promised that he will liaise with neighboring state governors to patronise our products and equally Abubakar has given us job for the production of 10,000 units of twin desks for secondary schools and made 70 per cent down payment to the company.
According to him, the school furniture to be produced by the company would in the first phase cater for 20,000 students in schools across the state, saying the company had already produced about 50 percent of the 10,000 units of the school furniture.
Governor Muhammad Abubakar who visited the company recently expressed satisfaction with the quality of the twin desks it is producing, explaining that the mass production of the school desks was part of a wider effort to improve education in the state saying his administration would continue to give all the necessary support to the company so that it would produce furniture of international standard.
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