The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Chamber

  • Chamber seeks OPS involvement in disbursing N250b MSME fund

    Chamber seeks OPS involvement in disbursing N250b MSME fund

    The Abuja Chambers of Commerce has appealed to the Federal Government to include the organised private sector (OPS) in setting criteria for assessing the N250billion  Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Council Scheme launched by President Goodluck Jonathan.

    Its Vice President, Public Relations, Jude Igwe made the appeal at the inaugural ceremony of the 9th President,  Exco and council members of Abuja Chamber of Commerce and the presentation of its 2014 award to recipients in Abuja.

    He said: “The Chamber commends the N250billion Micro, SMEs council scheme launched by President Goodluck Jonathan as a policy in the right direction, but advised that the organised private sector should be engaged in setting eligibility criteria for assessing the loans.

    “We are also concerned about the stiffling negative effect of multiple taxation and revenue collection on the SMEs in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), but was relieved to note that the Minister of FCT, Senator Bala Mohommed has directed that urgent steps be taken to check this menace.

    “As members, we are challenging the chamber as the voice of the OPS to take up the challenge of creating clusters of business owners as a means of strengthening the capacity of her members to meet the eligibility conditionalities for support loans.”

    Igwe said Ministries,  Departments and Agencies MDAs can develop a reliable feedback mechanism with the collaboration of Abuja Chamber of Commerce and Industry to make for constant review of the impact of policies.

  • LCCI urges CBN to review discriminatory loan policy

    LCCI urges CBN to review discriminatory loan policy

    The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), has urged the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to rethink its policy that barred certain businesses and their promoters from obtaining fresh loans from the banks.

    Its President, Alhaji  Remi  Bello, who spoke when he led executives of LCCI on a visit to Origin Group Limited in Lagos over the weekend, said it was inappropriate for the banking sector regulator to criminalise those who approached banks for loans, or credit simply because their businesses had challenges and could not pay on the agreed terms.

    He said: “ There’s need to revisit some of the policies of the Federal Government, especially the CBN’s regarding outright ban of people who were given loans and could not meet up with the repayment, not because of failure on their part, but because of the challenges the nation is facing, inclusive of the  insurgency in the  north, and very recently, the Ebola issue. There is need for a review of some of these policies by the CBN Governor.

    “Some of these policies especially with the CBN with regard to some bad loans  and facilities which were as a result of the challenges the nation is facing, most especially the insurgency in the north,  the new CBN Governor will need to go back and look at some of these policies  as they affect businesses that are under one intervention fund or the other, that are not able to operate now, they should be given some special consideration.”

    He argued that an outright ban on people because they were involved in running  business and could not meet up with their facilities, which was not because of failure on their part, but because of the failure in the environment, needs to be addressed seriously.

    “Don’t criminalise people that are taking loans. It you are not taking loans and  you are not taking facility, you are not in business,” he said.

    The LCCI team, including its Director-General, Muda Yusuf, Otunba Dele Ajayi-Smith,  was received by the Group Managing Director of Origin Group, Prince S. J. Samuel, who said his vision for the Group is to transform it into an entity that would ensure food security for the country.

    He said the tractor hiring arm of the conglomerate is in the process of partnering with state governments to avail farmers the opportunities in the unit and help expand their yield per hectre, adding that some of their products, including  vegefresh, have already made appreciable inroad  into local and international markets.

    Alhaji Bello expressed satisfaction at what he saw during the visit.  “We have seen that this business is creating about 500 jobs as of now with the  potential  to grow job creation  to about 3,000 in the future. We believe that with the necessary  support and the right policies in place, it would be a lot better.”

    He said LCCI would invite the Origin Group to join chamber as a member.

    Also speaking,  its Director General, Muda Yusuf, while acknowledging the vibrancy of the West African sub-regional market, regretted that the outbreak of  the Ebola virus is a disincentive.

    He said: “With the Ebola issue now, you know it’s a sub-regional problem, so when you talk of sub-regional trade at the moment, especially going as far as Liberia, Guinnea and Sierra Leone, it’s not an area you want to encourage any trade for now,  But when you talk of normal circumstances, the prospects are good, there’re some progress with regards to the protocols on economic integration.

    “But the key issues to be addressed are actually  not tariff barrier, but the multiple check points that people face, infrastructure which has to do with transportation and the difficulty of moving goods around.”

    Yusuf said if one looks at the trade volume and the trade statistics and the number of imports that are being recorded against Benin Republic, it will be clear that those imports are far beyond the capacity of that country. “Those things are meat for Nigeria. This is one of the things  creating problems for this country and that is why businesses are closing down,” he said.

  • OGUNCCIMA partners New York Chamber of Commerce

    OGUNCCIMA partners New York Chamber of Commerce

    TO boost entrepreneurship, the New York Chamber of Commerce has agreed to hold an exchange programme for entrepreneurs under the auspices of Ogun State Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (OGUNCCIMA).

    The initiative draws from the  wave of industrialisation blowing across Ogun State.

    A chieftain of OGUNCCIMA, Mrs. Cynthnia Saka, explained that the state government’s support for the growth of small and medium enterprises was a major factor in the deal, as the world is  becoming more conversant with the business opportunities in the

    “Gateway” state, which has attracted over 45 industries, with a minimum investment of $100 million each in the last two years. This development, it is believed, would boost income revenue for the state and investors, thereby making the state become a nest for investment.

    Saka told The Nation that the   Governor Ibikunle Amosun administration has launched the state on the path of industrial base, adding that the state is rich in natural resources to make her competitive nationally, but needed the government’s  efforts to develop into an industrial giant.

    She said to achieve the developmental strides, the government was providing incentives, building up business skills and encouraging firms to look beyond the borders. In addition, she said the government is boosting its services to meet the needs of small and medium-sized export firms.

    One strategy which she maintained would help the government achieve its goal is the partnership with the chamber of commerce as evidenced in the results are being seen in terms of increased business activities.

    According to her, investors believe in state, and that is why the state has the largest concentration of industries.

    Besides, Mrs Saka said the state’s investment not only in infrastructure, but also designing and implementing projects, would secure lives and properties and protect future legacies.

    Mrs Saka, the Chief Executive Officer, T. Cynthia Nigeria Limited, a Lagos-based company that deals on plastic waste, said she has a vision to transform “waste into wealth,” adding that plastic waste has a huge market as it is may be used for packaging materials for beverages, food products, pharmaceuticals, and other industrial products.

  • Chamber warns on return of congestion at ports

    The nation’s premier seaport in Lagos is said to be heading towards a return to the horrible old days when the entire port was overtaken by ships laden with containers begging to be off-loaded.

    This development, according to the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), is a fall-out of the government’s decision of replacing Cotecna (the Destination Inspection agent), with an apparently less capable inspection agent. Expressing deep concern over the worsening situation at the Lagos port, the LCCI said the replacement of the service provider was already creating serious capacity gaps in the cargo clearing process.

    According to a report by Hellenicshippingnews, the LCCI has equally expressed the fear that the regime change at the port would lead to what it described as “aggravation of corruption and extortion at the port as importers struggle to clear their cargo through the bottlenecks and risk of exacerbation of inflation, as goods are not quickly cleared from the port to meet relevant needs in the economy thus undermining the supply side of the economy.” Thus, agitated by the possible negative impacts of the change of guards at the port, the LCCI said that the Federal Ministry of Finance owed the nation and stakeholders an explanation for the decision. It noted that already, importers now grapple with the nightmare and inefficiency arising from long delays in scanning of containers, cargo clearing and related activities.

    A critical question stakeholders in the marine business ask is the underlying factors responsible for the decision to replace Cotecna with a new inspection agent. Yet anyone previously used to doing business at the Lagos port, considered to be the potential hub of marine trade in the west coast of Africa, will readily testify to the headache, if not heartache, hitherto experienced by importers at the port.

    Clearing a container used to take anything between two weeks and one month or even more. The presence of all manner of government agencies including the customs, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), the Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON) and tax officials created great disincentive for business with their multiplicity of charges and fees thereby making Nigerian ports less competitive with their peers in the West and Central African sub-regions.

     

     

     

     

    This cumbersome arrangement coupled with high demurrage charges, cost of servicing borrowed money by importers, disruption of production schedules for manufacturers whose imported raw materials were stuck at the port, and the attendant inability of suppliers to meet contractual deadlines took a heavy toll on the economy. Furthermore, this high cost of doing business at the ports was ultimately passed on to consumers by way of high prices. Meanwhile the ports were turned into one organised centre for corruption and chaos. It was in the face of this ugly situation that government intervened in 2006 by ordering all the sundry agencies out of the ports and brought in Cotecna as the Destination Inspection Agent. The government said at the time that it was committed to transforming the ways of doing business at the port with a view to bringing the time limit for clearing cargoes to 48 hours.

     

  • Students called to chamber

    Students called to chamber

    The Lord Denning Chamber of Justice, a students’ chamber in the Faculty of Law, University of Calabar (UNICAL), has held its Call to Chamber ceremony and award night. The event, which was well-attended by students, was held at BK House, Calabar.

    The guests and students were clad in black and white attires, the ceremonial colours of lawyers.

    Declaring the programme open, the chairman of the occasion, Magistrate Ekong Imona, extolled the virtues of Lord Denning, who he said stood for honesty and godliness and morality in his legal dispositions.

    Imona, a magistrate with Cross River State judiciary, enjoined members of the chamber to imbibe and emulate the sterling qualities of Lord Denning, stressing that with such a mindset there would be hope for the nation.

    In his speech, the Chief Principal Advocate (CPA) of the chamber, Divine Greatness, 500-Level Law, was delighted by the large turnout of members and guests to the occasion. He said the programme was predicated on the need to orientate budding lawyers on the implications of plea bargaining in our criminal jurisprudence.

    Barrister Ozimco Ozimco, while administering the oath of allegiance on inductees, challenged the new members to hold on to the tenets of the legal profession.

    No fewer than 40 Law students were called to the chamber in the ceremony. The highpoints of the occasion was awards presentation to members and guests as well as fund raising to cater for the financial needs of the chamber.

    An inductee, Usani Yemiode, said: “Being called to chamber and bar will enable me to learn the procedural aspect of the law to complement what I am being taught in the classroom.”

     

  • Investors fleeing North over insecurity, says Kaduna Chamber

    THE Kaduna Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (KADCCIMA) has said insecurity in the North is taking its toll on many businesses.

    At a briefing on the forthcoming 34th Kaduna International Trade Fair scheduled to start tomorrow, the chamber’s First Deputy President, Alhaji Awwalu Makarfi, said investors were running away, from the region because of the problem.

    “As we are all aware, Nigeria has been facing serious security challenges, particularly within the last three years. These challenges have obviously impacted negatively in our socio-economic activities and political life in the northern part of the country.

    “Consequently, security has remained the priority issue of all our tiers of government at all levels. Effort of the government and its agencies, the contributions of religious and traditional institutions as well as those of numerous organisations toward restoring peace and developmental pace in the country are highly appreciated and commended,” Makarfi said.

    He said the cooperation and support received from security agencies and the government in recent time had imbued confidence in business operators, giving them hope that the situation was about to be a thing of the past.

    On the trade fair, he said about seven countries are expected at the fair.

    He said the chamber has contacts with industries, manufacturers, marketers and distributors in and outside the country.

    His words: “Already, positive responses to our invitations have started coming in. The chamber is in close contacts with relevant ministries, departments and agencies at both federal and states levels. Nigerian missions abroad as well as the foreign missions in Nigeria are also being contacted to ensure greater participation at the Fair.

    “So far, arrangements for participation of some companies from countries, such as Egypt, Iran, Niger Republic, India, Pakistan, Turkey and People’s Republic of China are at advanced stages.

    On the security put in place he said: “As you must have noticed from the proposed dates, the 34th edition of the KITF is being planned to hold at the usual February/March period. With the improved security situation our Chamber is determined to keep to the dates with the help and mercy of the Almighty God.

    “I am pleased to inform you that the preparations for the 34th edition of the KITF has commenced in earnest.

    “We have inaugurated the re-constituted KITF Main Organising Committee and nine other sub-committees. All the Council members of the Chamber are members of the Main Organising Committee. Other members are drawn from state government, security agencies and representations from essential services agencies,” Awwalu said.