Staff Reporter
THE Chairperson of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Natural Resources, Dr Tobie Aupindi, has described the grape and date farming operations at Naute Farm in the //Kharas Region as world-class, with significant potential to contribute to the country’s development.
However, Aupindi noted that the farm’s ability to realise its full potential is being constrained by challenges at the Namibia Industrial Development Agency (NIDA), which oversees its operations.
“The project itself possesses great potential. It is producing world-class grapes and world-class dates, and it has even greater potential to contribute to broader socio-economic development and job creation. However, NIDA, as the institution under which it falls, is suffering from the same challenges as many other state-owned enterprises. The operational effectiveness of the company can be accelerated and improved within the framework of the interventions being implemented,” Aupindi said.
He made these remarks following the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Natural Resources’ oversight visit to the /Kharas Region. His comments followed revelations by NIDA Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Julius Nghikevali that the agency had only recorded a marginal profit in one year, with performance in other years remaining limited. Nghikevali attributed the lack of consistent profitability to a lack of focus and insufficient capacity during the institution’s early stages.
“There was only one year where marginal profit was made, and that comes from an aspect of not being focused, number one, and not being capacitated initially,” Nghikevali explained.
Aupindi acknowledged that the challenges facing NIDA were not necessarily only a failure on the part of its employees, but rather a consequence of shortcomings in strategic leadership. He said the Committee examined NIDA’s financial and operational plans to better understand the difficulties affecting the institution.
“We were looking at all the entire strategies that they are employing, their financial plans and operational plans, which are really to a large extent having a lot of deficiencies. And, again, it is not all their fault. There are people who are really doing their best. On one side, you have also the government which is not doing its part. For example, SOEs are operating in very volatile environments. Sometimes they operate for a long time without boards, sometimes for a long time without a CEO, like NIDA. If you don’t have your head of your strategic leadership and vision, there’s just no way the company is going to operate better. So I think these manmade deficiencies can be resolved with a commitment to see SOEs really contribute to the larger economic development of Namibia,” Aupindi said.
