The Nation Newspaper

Category: Industry

  • Why entrepreneurs can’t secure loans, by BoI boss

    Entrepreneurs do not have the information needed to secure loans, the Managing Director, Bank of Industry (BoI), Ms Evelyn Oputu, has said.

    Speaking during a programme organised by the Enterprise Development Centre (EDC) of the Pan Atlantic University, Lagos, she blamed the inability of most small medium enterprises (SMEs) to secure funding for their businesses on not presenting proposals that are rich and convincing enough for banks to fund.

    “Entrepreneurs are not adequately equipped with the necessary information needed to secure loans. Some that have approached the bank in the past are not even aware of the mandate and objectives of the bank,” she said.

    Oputu implored entrepreneurs to endeavour to pay attention to details and gather enough information about any funding agency they intend to approach for support so that they are fully armed and abreast with questions that may follow suit.

    On the bank’s part, she said it will continue to support the SME sector, which, she said, remained the engine room of growth of any economy because it has the potentials of generating massive employment.

    General Manager, BoI, Mr Mohammed Abdul-Ganiyu, said the bank, which has managed series of intervention funds aimed at repositioning the industrial sector, has, so far, saved about 8,070 jobs in the textile sector, which led to the turn-around of 38 textile firms from imminent collapse.

    He advised that entrepreneurs who are into similar line of production could form themselves into a co-operative group to access funding from the bank .

    He said by so doing, it will be easier for them to have cheap access to infrastructure through the industrial cluster initiative.

    He said as a way of increasing funding to the SME sector, the bank in 2006, through its paradigm shift initiative dedicated 85 per cent of its resources to the funding of the SME sector.

    The programme organised for business executives, entrepreneurs and start-ups was aimed at identifying areas of funding constraints and how such can be mitigated from a knowledge based perspective of experts.

  • ECOWAS partners GE on regional integration

    Economic Community of West Africa ,ECOWAS, and America’s GE Corporation are to explore areas of cooperation, in energy projects and infrastructure development to boost regional trade integration.

    A statement from ECOWAS said this was a key outcome of a meeting between officials of the ECOWAS Commission and a GE delegation, which paid a courtesy call on the Commission’s Vice President, Dr. Toga Gayewea McIntosh in Abuja last week.

    Receiving the four-member delegation, led by Mr Karan Bhatia, GE’s Vice, President and Senior Counsel, Global Government Affairs and Policy, Dr. McIntosh, on behalf of the President of the Commission, said the new management at the Commission was calibrating its priorities for effective balance between peace and security and economic development, to deliver on its mandate.

    He explained that the inability of individual countries to harness the region’s vast resources makes integration inevitable especially through public private partnerships.

    The statement stressed that the Vice President named energy, transportation, oil and gas, health care and capacity building, as the potential areas of collaboration and partnership between ECOWAS and GE.

  • Nigeria’s bilateral trade with Turkey hits $1.3b

    THE volume of trade between Nigeria and Turkey has risen to $1.3billion annually, the Deputy National President, Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA), Dahiru Mohammed, has said. at the second edition of the Nigeria-Turkey Business Summit, in Bauchi.

    He said Nigeria was one of Turkey’s biggest business partners in Africa and second among sub-Saharan countries, adding that Nigeria was also the 47th largest supplier of imported goods to Turkey going by the 2012 records.

    Mohammed urged the Turkish businessmen to take advantage of Nigeria’s population and invest heavily in the country.

    “Nigeria, with a population of over 160 million people and a large market in Africa, possesses enough potential for profitability of foreign investment. Enormous investment opportunities exist in virtually all sectors of the Nigerian economy.”

    He listed agriculture, manufacturing, solid minerals, construction, oil and gas, tourism, power and telecommunication, as well as information and communication technology as some of the sectors that could be explored by the Turkish businessmen.

    Also speaking at the summit, the Speaker of the Bauchi State House of Assembly, Alhaji Yahaya Miya, on behalf of the business delegation from Bauchi, urged Turkish businessmen to take advantage of the tourism potential in the state to invest there.

    He also urged Turkish businessmen to invest in the Yankari Game Reserve, which he described as the largest eco-tourism park in West Africa. He added that the state was also ready to host the next edition of the summit if permitted to do so.

  • Ministry seeks ‘right tools’ to actualise reform agenda

    The Federal Ministry of Trade and Investment has asked for what it calls the “right tools” to enable it discharge its job.

    Minister of Trade and Investment Olusegun Aganga told the Head of Civil Service, Alhaji Baker Aji, who visited him, that the ministry was ready to actualise the government’s reform agenda.

    He said: “For now give us the right tools to do our jobs, that is all we are asking you to prioritise and help us to transform and assist us to work for Nigerians. If you are looking for investment, you compete with everyone from other countries to attract investment to your country. If you are talking about trade it is not just about regional or domestic trade, it is about international trade. You have to understand the language, communicate effectively and negotiate appropriately with your colleagues internationally. You need exposure and training to do the work”.

    Aganga said on assumption of office, he had to grapple with the structure and staff.

    He asked for capacity building for directors in the ministry. He said they need to be trained and exposed to enable them work like their counterparts in other part of the world.

    The minister said there was an opportunity for everyone to transform the economy to address the issues of wealth creation and poverty alleviation, adding that Nigerians are natural entrepreneurs who can run and start their businesses easily. He said the tools to move people from line of poverty to high wages and increase in per capita income is SMEs development.

    He pointed out that that no country has ever historically moved from being a poor to a rich nation without having a strong industrial and related services sector.

    The Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Alhaji Goni Aji announced the agency’s support for the reform programme of the Ministry.

    Goni said the ministry is very critical to the nation’s economic development and assured the Minister that his office will do everything possible to assist in whatever area the Ministry will require to drive the Reform Programme.

    His words: “Whatever assistance is required to reposition the Ministry to attract foreign partners and investors and improve our national economic development, the office of the Head of Service of the Federation is ready, and we can actually start now”

    He advised the Ministry to start the implementation of the Reform Programme with two or three core departments as pilot departments before implementing same in other departments, adding that the exercise was in line with the earlier directive from the President that any Ministry that was critical to the repositioning of the national economy must, therefore, be professionalised.

    The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment ,Mr. Dauda Kigbu in his presentation of the proposed professionalization of the Ministry had said that in order to enhance the effective pursuit of the Ministry’s mandate, and considering the pivotal role it is expected to play in the realization of the Transformation Agenda, the professionalization of the Ministry became expedient.

    He said prior to the engagement of a consortium led by RockHaven, the Federal Public Administration Reform (FEPAR) under the auspices of DFID had undertaken an institutional and functional review of the Ministry.

    The Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment is among the first pilot Ministries where the office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (OHCSF) have approved reforms that the Federal Public Administrative Reform Programme of Nigeria (FEPAR) is supporting its implementation.

  • Govt to review Trade Fair Complex concession

    The concessioning of the Lagos International Trade Fair Complex (LITFC) to Aulic Nigeria Limited, will be reviewed, Minister of State for Industry, Trade and Invstment, Mr Samuel Ortom has said.

    In a statement in Abuja at a meeting with a committee raised to resolve the dispute among operators at the complex,Ortom said the review was recommended by the National Council on Privatisation (NCP) at its meeting in January.

    Ortom is the Chairman of the committee set up by the NCP to implement its recommendations on the LITFC concession.

    Among the NCP’s 15-point recommendations was renegotiation of the contract between the Ministry of Trade and LITFC Management Board by the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE).

    According to him, the NCP recommendations are based on a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed by parties to the dispute.

    He said the MoU was brokered by the Senate Ad-hoc Committee on activities of the BPE from 1999 to date.

    The NCP also recommended that the area of the complex occupied by the traders associations should be removed from the total area of the concession to the concessionaire.

    Ortom assured representatives of the aggrieved traders associations that they would be taken away from the concession contract.

    “We are also going to undertake a facility and financial audit and verification of your own portion of the complex to ascertain who the operators are and their status.

    “At the end, we will eventually find a Special Purpose Vehicle or concessionaire that will manage its own area of the complex.’’

    The minister pledged the commitment of the committee toward amicable resolution of the dispute to pave way for the development of the complex to international standard.

    Ortom urged the stakeholders to quickly correct the committee where they thought it was going wrong, saying that he had no personal interest in the dispute.

    It was reported recently that the concession won by Aulic Nigeria Ltd. in 2008, had been halted by protracted dispute between LITFC Forum of Stakeholders and BPE.

    The stakeholders had petitioned the National Assembly describing the concessioning as a breach of subsisting lease agreements between them and the management of the complex.

  • Firm upgrade operation

    Red Star Express Plc, a one-stop logistics company has embraced the use of bio-degradable polythene envelopes as its official flyers.

    With the increasing global warming campaign, Red Star Express is seeking ways to reduce the carbon footprint by using bio-degradable materials.

    Speaking on this new development, Red Star Express Marketing Manager, Ngozi Ochokwu, said: “Our company has chosen to use bio-degradable polythene envelopes to parcel goods, in keeping with environmental-friendly global best practices. We believe that our transition to the use of bio-degradable flyers would have a great impact on the health of the country and the world as a whole.”

    “The overall impact of plastics and other non-bio-degradable on the people is hazardous and a major pollutant contributor to the environment. The polythene envelopes are manufactured to the highest quality. The envelopes are strong, less expensive, lightweight and reduce postage costs”.

    According to her, the innovative biodegradable packaging material is easy to write on and it accepts stamps, franking and labels thus making it perfect for parceling purpose.

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • BoI wants AGOA amended

    The Bank of Industry (BoI) has called on the United States to review the American Growth Opportunity Act (AGOA ). The BoI said the review is imperative because Nigerian products have not benefited from the Act .

    BoI Managing Director, Ms Evelyn Oputa made this call during the visit of the delegates from the United States House of Representatives, Committee on Foreign Affairs to the bank. who was represented by the General Manager, Operations BoI, Mr. Joseph Babatunde said the nation still faced with challenges hindering its products from entering the US market.

    He called for a possible extension of the AGOA, which is scheduled to terminate by 2015.

    She said the objective of the visit is to interact with officials from the United States to review the AGOA act which is scheduled to terminate by 2015.

    According to her, the Nigerian businesses is faced with myriad of challenges in terms of packaging, high cost of doing business and the likes but stressed that the AGOA resource centre would address some of these challenges.

    “We expect that with the reforms in the power sector, before the end of next year, the power situation would have improved helping the huge Nigerian market witness significant improvements. We believe that if we put all this in the card and with a little extension of the act, we should be ready to benefit fully from the act,” she said.

    The Head of the delegation and Senior Advisor, Global Economic Competitiveness, Mrs Gunaratine Rubin said the visit is to learn about the impact of AGOA in Nigeria.

    She stated that Nigeria is the largest exporter to the United States under the AGOA act .She expressed satisfaction about the return on the act and also called for the need to build the relationship that exist between both countries.

    She pointed out that there are lot of resources available in Nigeria to boost its export potentials maintaining that the nation has improved its competitiveness in its local market and the global market place.

    “We want to commend BoI for the AGOA resource centre where it has embarked on different training programmes training people that are interested in exporting to the United States, we are very hopeful and we see opportunities in this regard,” she said.

    She said the act is a Statutory Trade Preference Program that allows duty-free entry of certain goods from Sub-Saharan Africa countries and noted that it is a comprehensive program of Trade preferences unilaterally applied by the United States.

    “It was signed into law May 18, 2000 as part of the Commerce & Development Act of 2000. “AGOA III” extends legislation beyond its current expiration date of 2008 to 2015,” she said.

    AGOA presents duty and quota free incentives to over 6,400 products. A total of 4,600 of these products qualify for elimination of tariffs under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) of the U.S.A and an additional 2000 products now included under AGOA that are import sensitive under the GSP.

    Nigeria and thirty-eight of the 48 Sub-Saharan African countries are eligible for AGOA. Nigeria secured its AGOA eligibility in October 2, 2000.

     

  • Lekki Port to generate $361b

    The Lekki Deep Sea Port at the Lagos Free Trade Zone (LFTZ) will generate $361billion during its concession, Managing Director of Lekki Port LFTZ Enterprise, Mr. Haresh Aswani, has said.

    The Port is under construction and is expected to be completed in 2016.

    Speaking during a tour of the project, Aswani said it would be sponsored by a Singapore-based conglomerate, Tolaram Group, in collaboration with the Federal and Lagos State governments.

    The company will hold 60 per cent shareholding equity and the Federal and Lagos State government, 20 per each.

    He said N128 billion ($800 million) had so far been spent on the project.

    “The $1.53 billion Lekki Port project will have an aggregate impact of $361billion on the Nigerian economy over the period of the concession,” he said.

    According to him, when completed, the Port which occupies 90 hectres of land, will serve as a multi-purpose facility that will handle major types of cargo such as containers and liquid bulk among others.

    The port, he said, would bridge the projected demand capacity gap for Apapa Port.

    He said $800 million about N128 billion had been provided by the banks , while Lagos has also made its financial commitment.

    The Federal Government is yet to provide its own $117million

    Aswani said: “The new Lekki Port has capacity to accommodate larger vessels, offers optimised storage area and ease of expansion, the state-of-the-art equipment as well to facilitate relocation of Tank Farms.

    “In addition, it is expected to contribute more than $361billion to the economy while also creating close to 170,000 new jobs . Furthermore, Lekki Port will spur the economic development around the Lekki sub-region and on a wider perspective, the Lagos State through rapid industrialisation.

    “In a bid to ensure, smooth and efficient operations, Lekki Port has engaged the services of leading global consultants such as the Louis Berger Group Inc; Delta Marine Consultant and Berger ABAM .The container terminal has been sub-concessioned to International Container Terminal Services, Inc, Philippines. The EPC construction contract has been issued on a turn key basis to China Harbour Engineering Company which mobilized their men and machinery in August 2012 and is already in the last lap of pre-construction investigations and site preparation activities.

    “Lekki Port has been conceptualized on the basis of a significant gap in projected demand and capacity, needed to be met in conveying goods to and from Nigeria”.

    The Project manager , Lekki Port, Tejaswi Vanamali said the strategic location, optimal layout and modern facilities provide Lekki Port a distinct competitive edge over any other port facility in West Africa.

    He said the Lagos State involvement and Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA) in the project demonstrates their confidence in the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model to bridge the gaps in infrastructure development.

    He said: “Our commitment to ensuring that we meet the scheduled operational date has seen us spare nothing in achieving it. As at today, we are happy to confidently say that all market engineering and impact studies have been completed over the last six years, likewise the Lekki port site has been gazetted as port area by the Federal Government. It is important to note that the Environmental Import Assessment study (EIA) has been fully completed with World Bank guidelines.

    “Container terminal sub-concession has been awarded to International Common User Terminal Operator (ICTSI) focusing on emerging markets after a tedious competitive bidding.

    “Also, Shareholders agreement has been signed between the sponsors, NPA and the Lagos State Government. We are very much on course and in no distant time, Nigerians and the entire West African region would witness a evolution never seen before”.

     

  • NACCIMA to elect new President

    The Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA) will on May 22, 2013 hold its Annual General Meeting (AGM)to elect a new President and other National Officers to run the affairs of the association for the next two years.

    The 53rd AGM of the NACCIMA, billed for Grand Central Hotel Kano, Kano State will transact the following businesses: receive the 2012 National President’s Annual Report, receive and consider the National Treasurer’s Report and the Audited Accounts for the Year ended 31st December 2012, elect Officers for the Year 2013/2014 and appoint Auditors.

    The Association Annual Conference, which comes up on May 23, will be declared open by the President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, after which the formal investiture of the new President, Alhaji Mohammed Badaru Abubakar, Mon, mni, following the completion of the outgoing President’s tenure.

    The conference, with the theme: Development Financial Institutions: “Key Partners for Economic Prosperity” will see the Managing Director of Infrastructure Bank Plc, Mr. Adekunle AbdulRazaq Oyinloye and Managing Director of Bank of Industry, Ms. Evelyn Oputu deliver papers while Alhaji Suleiman Baffa will preside over the Technical Session.

  • Nigeria’s imports from Sweden hits $825m

    The Federal Government has said that imports from Sweden to Nigeria has steadily increased over the years ,hitting $825 million in 2011/12.

    Foreign Affairs Minister Olugbenga Ashiru made this in Abuja known to a Swedish delegation led by the Minister of International Development Cooperation, Mrs. Gunilla Carlson.

    Ashiru described the relationship between the two countries as ‘’traditionally cordial and very strong’’.

    Pointing out the trade imbalance between both nations, the minister put the exports from Nigeria to Sweden in 2011/12 at $26 millions which he viewed as a huge drop from the $88 million recorded in 2010.

    He called for increased bilateral ties between the two countries for mutual benefits.

    “We assure you that we deeply appreciate our relations, and we’re looking forward to increasing our economic cooperation,” he said.