The Nation Newspaper

Category: Industry

  • BoI to build synergy with local meter manufacturer

    BoI to build synergy with local meter manufacturer

    A meter manufacturing company in Ogun State, MOMAS Electric Meters Manufacturing Company Ltd (MEMMCOL) has said it can manufacture all the metres needed by the electricity  distribution companies (DISCO’s) in the country.

    Its Chairman, Mr. Kola Balogun, spoke while conducting the Managing Director of Bank of Industry (BoI), Mr. Rasheed Olaoluwa and his team round his factory on the Lagos/Ibadan Expressway, Ogun State.

    Balogun, an engineer, also told The Nation that he set up the firm to manufacture digital prepaid electricity meters.

    He said the company has developed some world-class standard products to provide electricity metering solutions, using the latest technologies in design and production.

    Balogun, who noted that the company believes in the local content policy of the Federal Government, said Nigeria can no longer depend on other countries for its technological requirement, adding that it should develop and create value with appropriate policies to encourage indigenous firms.

    He said his firm has almost 100 per cent local content  in human  resources and materials, adding that he employs young Nigerians and equips them with requisite training locally and internationally. “We have invested a lot of resources in our people through training and retraining. Some of our engineers have been trained in India and in the United States (US) to ensure that they compete favourably with their counterparts anywhere in the world,” Balogun said.

    He said with tenacity of purpose and appropriate technology, including smart technology and ruggedness, the company has  produced integrated circuit and silicon conductors, noting that it was a bold step in the sector for an indigenous company because of its high technology value.

    Responding, BoI’s chief praised the company for its technology, noting that they are comparable to others around the globe. He urged that the nation’s industrial policy be skewed towards  companies such as MEMMCOL to turn the economy around.

    He said the company can meet local demand in the metering system for the energy and the telecoms sector.

    According to him, for a country with over 130 million telephone subscribers, the company and the public will be best for it. He said: “The technology solves two particular problems such as cash flow for the subscriber and for the telecommunication companies to have proper billing for their customers.”

    Olaoluwa advised the firm to explore opportunities in the sector and exploit its core competence. On the cost advantage of the metering system, he implored telecommunication companies to stop importing metres as the locally produced ones are more efficient and cheaper. He said the bank is looking in the area of off-grid solar energy solutions for the sector hence, a Nigerian entity at the forefront of technology transfer should be supported.

    The MEMMCOL chief executive said: “Other countries support their experts. Having a stable naira will give us advantage because we also source some of our materials abroad. Within the pricing index of the regulator we can compete with imported products. We have interactive meter that works with a phone such that with your phone you can calculate your load profile from your office or home. However, this, we acknowledge, requires a lot of campaign to educate the public because of the knowledge gap. The  phone interactive metre technology is smart and indigenous to us. Our client profile is growing by the day”

    He called on the government to  build a national payment gateway to encourage the DISCO’s key into the new technology  to discourage people  from  queuing to pay for electricity bills  and buying recharge cards from hawkers. The technology, he said, affords people the opportunity to do their businesses from the comfort of their homes.

    On support from the government, he said the company received five-year tax holiday from and financial support from BoI

    The BoI boss said as a development bank, the bank wants to key in into the government’s campaign of Light- up- Nigeria. This was the reason for supporting energy solutions in six locations of the country, he added.

    According to Olaoluwa, the support for MEMMCOL is to encourage it to grow to a level like its counterpart in the US, Solar  Energy,  which has grown into a multi-billion dollar company.

    He pledged that the bank would provide a portal to profile its quality customers with good output to interact with and patronise one another.

    He said if supported, the company could employ about 500 workers instead of the 100 has at the moment.

  • Govt signs $1b MoU on mortgage refinancing

    Govt signs $1b MoU on mortgage refinancing

    Nigeria’s mortgage refinancing initiative got a boost when the Federal Government signed a $1 billion Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Cantor Fitzgerald, an American Mortgage Company, to support the initiative.

    At the signing in Abuja, Minister of Finance/Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, said the deal was welcomed.

    “This is yet another good development at a time when our economy is going through some difficulties. At a time we are suffering from the impact of drop in the oil price, an investment company of this repute has come to say they want to be part of this economy.

    “We are very trilled they are about the biggest in the mortgage business in the U.S. and they have come to us to talk to us in Nigeria. They are very excited with what we are doing in Nigeria and as a result, they want to sign a MoU with us to work with the Nigeria Mortgage Refinancing Company (NMRC) to be able to work with us at the value chain in financing,” she said.

    The Minister said what this means is that it would make the dream of opening the housing and mortgage financing market a reality.

    According to her, the signing of the MoU marked the future milestone in initiating the NMRC as a liquidity company to service the primary and secondary mortgage market.

    She said under the 10,000 mortgage refinancing project of the Federal Government, of 66,000 applications, 25,000  had been processed and pre-qualified. She noted that 9,000 had received offer letters and 33 people got mortgages in Abuja.

    “This is progress from where we are and we now know that it takes much more time than what we thought it was when we started,” Mrs Okonjo-Iweala said, adding that government was working on a number of initiatives that would enable Nigerians access mortgages at affordable price.

    She said the government was working with the National Pension Commission to see how workers could access their pension to get mortgages. This, she said, would help to eliminate the challenge of getting bulk money to pay off the equity on mortgage.

    “We are also looking at other ways to collaborate with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and other agencies to see how we can make the homes as affordable as possible. We are looking at the cost of construction because that’s another way to bring the cost of the houses lower,’’ she added.

    She said the Cantor Fitzgerald would also build houses and beneficiaries would receive the mortgages at a reasonable interest rate.

    Prof. Charles Inyan-Etteh of NMRC said the occasion marked a new beginning for the NMRC, which just started full operations. “This marks a new chapter for the Federal Government in the commitment to the provision of affordable houses to Nigerians,’’ he said.

    He said the aim of establishing NMRC was to provide affordable mortgages to Nigerians through funding of the primary lenders of the mortgages. He said NMRC had received its licence to operate. He assured of the commitment of the company in investing in the housing sector and to the transformation of mortgage system in the country.

    Mr Jack Hefternan, Managing Director, Debt Capital Markets, Cantor Fitzgerald, said the company was established in 1945, adding that it has branches in almost all countries. He said the company would invest $1 billion to help synchronise what the NMRC was doing in Nigeria.

    He said the company would work with local firms, to follow up on every step of the value chain to help deliver affordable housing to Nigerians.

    He said the houses the company would provide would cost between eight and N15 million.

    Mr. Charles William of the same company said the organisation had received an approval to provide about 10,000 homes.

    According to him, the houses will be spread across four locations: Abuja, Kaduna, Lagos and Enugu and would take between six months and one year to complete them.

    “The states involved have provided us with lands and we will take off from first April,’’ he disclosed.

  • ‘Forces against steel production’

    Nigeria appears to be making steady progress in the production of liquid steel at the Ajaokuta Steel Company Limited (ASCL) in Kogi State, but this has been a disturbing news to certain forces bent on frustrating the effort, the management of the facility has said.

    Presenting the achievements and challenges of the steel plant before members of the House of Representatives Committee on Steel Development in Abuja, the company’s Sole Administrator, Mr. Joseph Onobere Isah, an Engineer,said: “There are certain agents in our midst that have not been comfortable with the modest achievements we have recorded in Ajaokuta so far and the course of action we are charting towards making liquid steel production a reality in our country. They all know that the day Nigeria begins liquid steel production there would be no going back for the country technologically.”

    He said such forces might have been responsible for the allegation of staff idleness levelled against the company. He said contrary to the allegation, the company’s staff work tirelessly daily to ensure that the plant was well-maintained and running. The staff, according to him, were not being paid N3.4 billion monthly as the Chairman of Assets Management Company of Nigeria (AMCON) Alhaji Aliyu Kola Belgore,  reportedly said last year at an event in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital.

    Isah, who said Belgore wrote to explain that he was misquoted, reminded the House Committee members that it was because of Belgore’s statement that he was summoned, following a motion by a  member of the House of Representatives, Hon. Abbas Tajudeen, that the claim be investigated.

    He explained that Belgore, in a letter to the management dated September 8, last year, denied the newspaper stories, stating in part: “I did not and will never disparage the company as I do not work there, it is out of place for me to know and mention anything about the total monthly wage bill, the number of machines installed and the number of staff of the company.”

    However, he said: “The recent motion by Hon. Abbas Tajudeen, coming after over four months of the publication and echoing the AMCON Chairman’s statement and newspaper publications, deserves to be investigated to stop the vicious circle of misinformation.”

    The ASCL Sole Administrator urged the Committee to authenticate Hon. Tajudeen’s allegations.  He recalled that the House of Representatives Committee on Steel recommended N3,821,718,510 to the Appropriation Committee as the 2014 Personnel Cost for ASCL.

    The Appropriation Committee of the National Assembly, he said, approved the same amount as the 2014 Personnel Cost for ASCL and that it was the same amount that was in the 2014 Appropriation Bill for the 2014 Personnel Cost (salaries) of the company.

    Isah said: “From the foregoing, the onus of providing evidence to back the AMCON Chairman’s figure of N3.4 billion as ASCL monthly wage bill, which has been severally quoted, naturally falls on Alhaji Belgore. The House of Representatives Committee on Steel would do well to demand such evidence from Alhaji Belgore. Should there be any proof of a hike in the figure known to Alhaji Belgore, then he could avail the Committee of it.”

    The Accountant-General of the Federation and the Director- General (Budget), he said, could be asked to tender the releases made through IPP1S (Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System) in respect of Ajaokuta Steel Company’s Personnel Costs last year.

    “To the best of our knowledge, it is what was appropriated that was paid to staff by the Accountant-General of the Federation via 1PPIS,” he said,  adding that since July 2012, preceded by a diligent and thorough data capturing exercise, the salaries of ASCL workers are paid directly to respective staff members from the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation via the IPPIS.

    Isah said these facts were known to all, explaining that after the takeover of the company from the Indians (GHIL/GINL concessionaires) in 2008, ASCL has been on zero capital allocation and an overhead of less than N45million. “All such information is in the public domain and on the website of respective ministries,” he said, adding: “It is common knowledge that any piece of commissioned equipment left idle will sooner than later be lost to rot due to corrosion. Thus, while the plant awaits the putting in place of the relevant external infrastructure and eventual completion and integrated commissioning, it is important that the pieces of wide ranging equipment that make up the plant be kept intact, secure and preserved in good health.”

    Maintenance task, he said, was indicated for all plants, whether or not they were under operation, adding: “Staff of ASCI, who are engaged to do this all-important job and to secure the plant from pilferers, are paid a paltry 0.4 per cent of the investment on ground annually.”

    Isah said the point must be made clear to all that the fact that the plant is not under productive operation does not mean that the skeletal staff strength it maintains now are idle or redundant.

    He said Dr. Emmanuel Eboga, who served as Special Adviser to the President on Petroleum, visited Ajaokuta Steel Plant in 2010 and liked what he saw. Isah quoted Eboga to have said: “The workers of this steel plant deserve national honours because of the way and manner they have been able to preserve this steel plant.” Those, he said, were the words of one who knows what it takes to keep an engineering facility in good shape.

    Owing to sustained maintenance of equipment and facilities undertaken by the staff since the Russian and Ukrainian vacated site in 1994,  the Plant, he said, has continued to enjoy a clean bill of health as attested to by Technical Audit reports conducted by various competent international experts.

    He said an abridged conclusion of the latest audit report by an Ukrainian-backed company states adding: “The situation of the steel plant’s equipment and facilities are satisfactory. Mechanically the steel plant’s equipment and facilities are generally in good condition.”

    The Salvage Value of the steel firm, according to him, is over $3 billion, adding: “For a plant abandoned since 1994 (21years ago), you will agree that the staff of ASCI deserve commendation and not condemnation.”

  • Nigeria largest market in Africa, says AfDB

    Nigeria largest market in Africa, says AfDB

    Nigeria is West African’s largest market with great potential to be the main driver of regional integration considering its population, the African Development Bank (AfDB) has said.

    The bank, in its ‘West African Mid-Term Review and Regional Portfolio Performance Review Paper 2011 – 2015’, said with the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) rebasing, Nigeria now has the largest economy in Africa and a great potential for its services and manufacturing sectors.

    The review said Nigeria attracted half of the Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) coming into the region with about 45 per cent in 2012. “Nevertheless its intra-regional trade has been steadily decreasing, now constituting less than one per cent of the country’s total imports and three per cent of its export,” the bank said.

    It, however, noted that the informal trade networks are significantly larger, most notably for agricultural goods, petroleum products, and re-export trade. “On the investment side, the role of Nigeria is certainly more prominent, with various Nigerian companies having significant impact in the regional market, particularly banking services,” it said.

    The report stated that goods, such as cement, cassava flour and other goods from companies served the needs of their clients across West Africa. It said closer integration with the region would require Nigeria to open its markets to regional exports, adding that there was the need for a change of perspective on the neighbouring countries.

    According to the report, it is more crucial for the country to treat its regional neighbours more as partners rather than merely clients. “Regional value chains have a real potential, particularly given the developments in regional transport and connectivity infrastructure.  Increasing trade volumes will require improvements in regional corridors, reducing frictions related to non tariff barriers, as well as accountability and transparency in regulations, both on the national and on the regional level,” the report said.

    The report identified poor cross-border trade and infrastructure, as well as the weaknesses of human capacity and national and regional institutions as some of the challenges of regional integration. It added that fragmentation of the region’s market, multiplicity of integration architecture and insufficient involvement of private sector and civil society in integration efforts were also part of the challenges.

    According to the report, illegal checkpoints, long and non-harmonised customs procedures, smuggling and corruption are important obstacles to the free movement of goods and peopl

    “Improving trade facilitation in Economic of West African States (ECOWAS) is vital to boosting the region’s trade performance, both with regards to intra-regional trade as well as exports globally,” AFDB said.

    The report added that new waves of Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) and the emergence of a middle class in the region are leading to the emergence of a vibrant private sector operators across countries. This, the report noted, can continue to serve as a natural catalyst for closer collaboration and integration towards the development of regional and global value chains.

    According to the report, building regional value chains in West Africa, in areas such as agro processing would help support the efforts in better linking regional markets. “While the region is the world’s largest producer of cocoa beans, 90 per cent of the crop is exported raw or roasted, packaged and sent to the United States or Europe.

  • Real sector’s thorny road to Forex market

    Real sector’s thorny road to Forex market

    The Central Bank of Nigeria’s closure of the Retail Dutch Auction System (RDAS) window as part of measures to rescue the naira and preserve foreign reserves may hurt manufacturers, particularly those with high foreign exchange (forex) exposure. Chikodi Okereocha and Okwy Iroegbu-Chikezie report.

    It was an intervention to halt the sliding value of the naira and preserve foreign reserves. But, there are indications that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) policy, which scrapped the Retail Dutch Auction System (RDAS), leaving the interbank foreign exchange (IFEX) market as the only official foreign exchange (forex) market, would leave the real sector operators in the cold.

    The intervention became necessary because of the huge gap between the rates at the CBN official exchange market and the interbank market, a development said to be fuelling the current speculative activities in the forex market. However, manufacturers, who depend heavily on imported raw materials for production, are worried over the policy’s unintended consequences. Some of them with high FOREX exposure are worried that the policy would impact their businesses negatively.

    For members of Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), the policy, for instance, is a mixed bag. “This policy measure has its merits and downsides,” LCCI President Alhaji Remi Bello said. He noted that following the revision of the guidelines and the exclusion of some transactions, the forex window was targeted at providing support for the real sector of the economy because of its strategic importance to development, job creation and inclusive growth.

    Bello lamented that real sector operators are therefore, the first victims of the closure, particularly the few that had access to this window.

    He said the policy has some immediate implications for the real sector. According to him, it would, among others, result in the escalation of production cost for firms that had access to this FOREX window.

    “Such firms will experience cost increases of up to 20 per cent.  This would impact on sales performance, profit margins and ultimately capacity utilisation of their firms,” he said, adding that import duty and other port charges, which are computed as a percentage of import costs, will increase correspondingly.

    The LCCI chief argued that the policy implied additional pressure on operating costs for erstwhile beneficiaries of the CBN RDAS FOREX window. He said firms’ funding requirements (in naira) will increase to reflect the new exchange rate, which has implications for cost of funds. He also noted that because of the policy, many firms, especially manufacturers with high foreign exchange exposure, would incur loss consequence upon the depreciation of the naira over the last couple of months and the eventual closure of the RDAS window.

    “This is a major challenge currently being faced by many real sector operators, especially the medium and large firms. Exchange rate induced loses could trigger a new wave of non-performing loans in the banking system and this has implications for financial system stability,” Bello pointed out.

    Managing Director, Spectra Foods Limited, Mr. Duro Kuteyi, is also worried. To him, the new policy regime will affect manufacturers, who are exposed to the importation of raw materials and machinery. The industrialist said local manufacturers are faced with a lot of challenges even before now and adding these to the hostile environment where they operate amount to overkill. He expressed fears that if the situation is not properly managed it may force some companies to down-size or close shop.

    In scrapping the RDAS, the CBN, in a statement by its Director, Corporate Communications Department, Ibrahim Mu’azu, said: “The Bank has observed a widening margin between the rates in the interbank and the RDAS window, thus engendering undesirable practices including round-tripping, speculative demand, rent-seeking, spurious demand, and inefficient use of scarce foreign exchange resources by economic agents. This has continued to put pressure on the nation’s foreign exchange reserves with no visible economic benefits to the productive sector of the economy and the general public.”

    The CBN, therefore, said the closure of the official window was to avert the emergence of a multiple exchange rate regime and preserve the country’s foreign exchange reserves. The apex bank said henceforth, all demands for foreign exchange should be channeled to the interbank foreign exchange market, while it would continue to intervene in the IFEX market to meet genuine and legitimate demands.

    Managing Director of Financial Derivatives Company Limited, Mr. Bismarck Rewane, said with the policy, the CBN has converged the market and rates into interbank and parallel markets, which leads to pure competition reduced arbitrage opportunity. According to him, the RDAS structure meant buyers get FOREX in official market at N215 to the dollar, leaving a profit margin of N47 on every dollar for doing nothing. He said one of the advantages of the new regime is that it discontinues the practice of the banks mobilising their naira and queuing up to purchase dollars.

    Members of LCCI agree with him, noting that the policy was desirable to some extent. Bello, for instance, said given the record disparity between the CBN RDAS FOREX window; the interbank and the parallel market rates, it was clear that the RDAS FOREX window was not sustainable. “The CBN could obviously not meet the huge demand for FOREX under the RDAS window.  In spite of repeated assurances, many genuine requests for FOREX for industrial raw materials and other vital inputs were denied by the CBN.  Foreign financial obligations could also not be met by many firms as remittances were affected.  This resulted in serious confidence issues among foreign creditors of Nigerian companies with some credit lines to Nigeria companies being put on hold,” the operators said.

    Bello further pointed out that the huge premium of over 20 per cent was a major incentive for round tripping, corrupt practices in FOREX management, speculative activities in the foreign exchange market and many other abuses.  It was also a major source of uncertainty and volatility in the market. “There were concerns about the lack of level playing field in the management of the RDAS window.  In the light of all these, it is difficult to fault the decision of the CBN to close the RDAS window,” he said.

    Bello, however, said a combination of monetary and fiscal measures will need to be deployed to mitigate the pressure the policy would have on the affected firms and save them from going under. The Chamber, he said, proposed a number of measures to cushion the effects of the policy on investors with high foreign exchange exposure. One of the measures is that the CBN should urgently provide a refinancing facility as lifeline for investors in the economy, which have high foreign exchange exposure. “The sustainability of this class of businesses is currently at risk. We recommend a minimum refinancing facility of N200 billion to be provided at single digit interest rate and a 15-year tenure,” LCCI said.

    The Chamber also proposed that all critical raw materials and other imported inputs of manufacturing firms should henceforth, attract zero import duty. They include all machineries and equipment, while port charges should be waived for raw materials importation and machineries. According to LCCI, all these are necessary to minimize dislocations in the economy and ensure the continued survival of the real sector.

    These mitigating measures, LCCI said, have become necessary, considering the fact that many real sector investors are faced with numerous investment climate challenges including high cost of fund, competition from unbridled smuggling and dumping of finished goods, counterfeiting and faking. Besides, investors are saddled with high energy cost including electricity tariffs, high cost of regulatory compliance and high transaction costs at the ports.

    The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Common External Tariff (CET), the Chamber said, would soon come into force and create new competition challenges for domestic firms.  The CET, when implemented, will allow goods from any other parts of West Africa into Nigeria without tax imposition, import duty or levy. The fear is that this would throw the nation’s borders open to influx of goods from within the West African region thus, exposing local industries and products to unequal competition.

     

  • Paints manufacturer bemoans insurgency, high raw materials’cost

    Paints manufacturer bemoans insurgency, high raw materials’cost

    Rising cases of insurgency in the Northeast and and import duties are responsible for the low turnover recorded in the past by paints manufacturer Chemstar Industry Nigeria Limited, its Group Managing Director (GMD), Mr. Aderemi Emmanuel Awode, has said.

    Speaking at the company’s Customers Forum in Lagos, the GMD flayed the rising insurgency in some parts of the country, saying such is not healthy for a business growth. “Because of rising insurgence in the north, our turnover has plummeted especially in the previous year from what it used to be,” he said.

    While expressing optimism for a quick end to the Boko Haram insurgence for business to thrive,the GMD said about 65 per cent of the company’s turnover is from the entire northern states, including Abuja.

    Awode further hinted that the manufacturing sector was facing difficult times due to the challenge of the slide in the naira exchange, and the sharp drop in the price of crude oil. He said most of the raw materials used in the paint industry were imported.

    “About 70 per cent of our raw materials are imported, while payment for the raw materials is done in dollars, while the import duties or tariffs are on the high side. These and other challenges are confronting the growth of paints industry,” he lamented.

    He noted that though the challenges of the paints industry and manufacturing sector in general were tough, God had been benevolent to the company in the last 20 years of its operations.

    The GMD, who put the company’s capacity utilisation at between 60 and 65 per cent, while the market share is about 20 per cent, said if considered with the over 1,000 paints industries in the country, and the competitiveness of the industry, the 20 per cent market share was good.

    Awode, who said the past 20 years had been challenging, yet rewarding, attributed the achievements of the company to the passion for paints business, commitment of the distributors, support of the customers and dedication of the workers.

    “Today, we are celebrating our 20 years of successful business growth and quality products and services. We owe this to the Almighty God, as well as our dedicated staff, loyal distributors and support from customers,” he said.

    Awode said the company, which began operations in a room in 1996 with three workers and two distributors, has over 2,000 distributors spread across the country and over 1,000 work force, as well as factories in Johannesburg in South Africa; Accra in Ghana and Turkey.

    The paints industry, which kicked off its 20th anniversary this year with the yearly Staff Week, and the fourth National Sales Conference as well as the Customers’ Forum, according to Awode, has its distribution network and distributors in all cities and towns of the country.

    Describing this year’s customers’ forum as special, as it coincided with the anniversary, the GMD said Chemstar Paints is the only paints industry that rewards its distributors and customers.

    On the criteria used to reward the distributors, the GMD listed, among others, the rate of their turnover (the volume of what they bought in that financial year); the percentage of appreciation of their business in the previous years; and distributors that have done so well in their different zones.

    Several distributors were rewarded in various categories – fast- growing distributor of the year, outstanding regional distributors, distributors with over 15 years business relationship and Shield paints outstanding distributors.

    They, however, went home with various gifts and cash prizes ranging from gas cooker, deep freezer, refrigerator, LG washing machine, LG Plasma TV, generator, standing fan, DVD player, electric kettle, home theatre and iron, among others.

  • Anambra, group sign MoU to build 20,000 shops

    The Anambra State Government and Bukham Group, a firm of real estate developers, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to develop 20,000 units of shops at the Anambra International Trade Centre, Oba, near Onitsha.

    Governor Willie Obiano and the Chairman of the group, Mr. Bukham Hassan, signed the agreement. Under the MoU, Bukham Group would build 20,000 shops, including 2, 000 warehouses and hotels. The group would also build a primary school, a cinema house, police post, health centre and a fire station in the project, which are expected to be completed in five years.

    Represented by Mr. Ifeatu Onejeme, the state Commissioner for Industry, Trade and Commerce, at the signing, Obiano said the government would build access roads to the centre from Onitsha-Owerri road and Oba. He noted that the centre would attract infrastructure, boost the economy and continue to generate employment for the community and its environs.

    “Trade and commerce development is one of the core pillars of our administration and what we have done today speaks volume of the strong desire to make the state a major commercial hub in Africa. Government has agreed to fence the market centre, connect it with electricity as well as ensure adequate security. With this agreement, the developer (Bukham Group) has assured that the market centre will be inaugurated in March with 1,700 shops placed on offer for the public,’’ Obiano said.

    The governor revealed that N3 billion had been set aside for infrastructure development at the centre.

    The chairman of the group said the phase 1 of the project was nearing completion and would be inaugurated in March this year. “The project will gulp about N100 billion and it has been bankrolled by Bukham Group and Enterprise Bank Plc. We already have up to 1,000 youths employed and working to construct the centre in order to meet deadline for the project. When the project is completed, no fewer than 100,000 people will be directly engaged and its multiplier effect will be felt by more than a million families,’’ Hassan said.

    The President-General of Amalgamated Market Traders Association of Anambra State (AMATAS), Chief Okwudili Ezenwankwo, lauded the government for attracting the investment to the state. He, however, urged it and the developer to make the shop rents affordable for traders.

  • Govt to privatise transport sector

    Govt to privatise transport sector

    The privatisation of the  transport sector would soon begin, Director-General, Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), Mr. Benjamin Dikki, has said.

    In a statement in Abuja, the bureau’s Acting Head, Public Communications, Mr. Alex Okoh, said the process would begin as soon as the necessary legal and regulatory frameworks were put in place.

    According to the statement, once this is done, the transport sector will become a viable investment destination for investors from across the globe. It noted that the bureau was concerned with the viability of the transport sector because it was critical to the growth of the nation’s economy.

    “We don’t want to repeat the mistake we made during the port reform. Before embarking on the reform of any sector, we will ensure that the legal and regulatory frameworks are in place.

    “That is why for the transport sector, we have all the seven draft bills undergoing approval process by the Federal Executive Council (FEC), after which they will be transmitted to the National Assembly for passage. From the assurances we are getting from the various stakeholders, these bills will be passed soon,” the statement said.

  • 2,500 seafarers trained in four years

    The Federal Government trained over 2,500 youths as seafarers under the Nigerian Seafarers Development Programme (NSDP) in the last four years, the Maritime Watch Dog has said.

    The Maritime Watchdog is a pressure group that protects the interest of retired and serving maritime workers.

    The group’s Legal Adviser/General Secretary, Mac-Johnson Odey, told reporters in Lagos that the  administration’s commitment to the NSDP is unwavering. According to him, when Nigerians take over the industry, the country would save the over N3 billion lost yearly to foreign seafarers.

    Odey recalled that since the liquidation of the Nigerian National Shipping Line (NNSL), training of seafarers in Nigeria ceased, adding that it led to the dearth of indigenous seafarers. “While those trained by the NNSL were ageing, there was no replacement and apparently no government thought it wise to invest in encouraging and training young Nigerians to become seafarers until recently,” he said.

    Odey praised the the administration for building a shipyard/dockyard for repairs and maintenance of ships, barges, and creation of a satellite surveillance centre in Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) to fight piracy, oil theft, smuggling, among others.

    “The Maritime Watch Dog has keenly observed developments in the maritime sector of the economy over the years and is enthusiastic to record and proclaim that in contrast to the years of denial and decay, the Jonathan administration has recorded encouraging resuscitation in the aforementioned areas,” he said.

  • CPPL hones business owners’ skills

    Customer Passion Point Limited (CPPL) has concluded the January edition of its Monthly Training Programme for business owners to equip them with relevant skills and tools to thrive.

    “We have begun to empower businesses afresh this 2015. The January edition was a huge success. More than ever before, Nigerian businesses need to be adequately equipped to survive these very tough times. When people know how to go about doing their jobs, they excel,” says Chief Executive Officer of CPPL, Mrs Chinwe Kalu.

    Mrs Kalu noted that that although economic conditions in Nigeria may be discouraging, Customer Passion Point believes that with the right tools, businesses can still thrive. She explained that the monthly training  was all about imparting business  skills that would boost excellence and tenacity, adding that those business owners and their staff must approach the market with the confidence it requires to win.

    Participants were happy with what they got. Mr. Chinedum Amachi, Head of Business Solutions at Customer Contact Solutions,who is responsible for Sales & Marketing, said: “Members of my team will benefit from my training and I also believe my learning will contribute more to the growth of my company. I believe I have become a better marketer fully activated for better success.”

    Another participant, Abigail Moses Ikhiede, who heads Sales & Marketing at 3 Way Communications (3WC), added: “On the knowledge of the subject matter, I found the facilitators insightful, demonstrative and experienced. They are highly experienced professionals with deep and practical examples to buttress their points. I enjoyed the practical exercises too. Overall, my lasting impression is that the CPPL line of thought is extremely persuasive.”