The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Economic diversification

  • RMRDC pledges support to economic diversification

    Raw Material Research & Development Council (RMRDC), Director-General Dr. Hussaini Ibrahim Dikko has pledged the Council’s readiness to contribute its quota to the growth and development of the economy.

    He made the promise at the opening of the Fourth Annual Nigeria Raw Materials and Equipment Manufacturing (NIRAM) expo in Lagos. It was themed: “Optimising value chain towards growth and competitiveness in the manufacturing sector”.

    At the event, which was in collaboration with the RMRDC, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) and Clarion Event Managers, Dikko said the Council had on display raw materials that, if tapped by manufacturers, would aid in diversifying the economy and reversing the nation’s over-dependence on oil.

    He said RMRDC was set to add higher capacity to the manufacturing sector, especially in the cement sector with added value to limestone and gypsum used in cement manufacturing.

    Power, Works & Housing Minister Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN) said the Federal Government was poised to provide transportation infrastructure to encourage wider markets for manufactured goods.

    Fashola, who was represented by Highways Director in the Ministry, Mr. Terna Ibe, said the manufacturing sector has the potential of reinvigorating the economy by avoiding over reliance on oil.

    The government, he said, was committed to improving the main artillery road networks across the nation and opening up new roads for men and materials required to build the economy, noting that his ministry has also constructed 3,000 housing units across the country, using local building materials.

    Minister of State for Mines & Steel Abubakar Bawa Bwari said the nation’s climate encourages agriculture and pledged his ministry’s preparedness to add value to the materials before exportation.

    He said his ministry has the mandate to exploit raw minerals and add value to them to enable manufacturers apply them in their manufacturing processes.

    According to Bwari, the ministry has expended N30 million in mineral explorations, and geo-sciences data have been made available to investors to enable them make investment decisions.

    He praised the World Bank for the $150million grant, which he said has helped the ministry to showcase the abundant mineral deposits in the country for the manufacturing sector.

    Earlier, MAN President, Mansur Ahmed, explained that the expo was aimed at creating a platform where stakeholders in the raw materials value chain will come together to synergise, display and trade in available resources and raw materials with users of the products.

    He said the organisers intended to close the information gap and encourage local sourcing of available raw materials by manufacturing industries, in line with the Federal Government’s Backward Integration Programme (BIP).

    Ahmed recalled that the third edition of the expo impacted greatly on the economy. He confirmed that this year’s edition was a continuation of the success story recorded last year.

    He said MAN has been given a leading role in the establishment of the African Manufacturer’s Association (AMA), stating that this was a fallout of the recent Intra-African Trade Fair (IATF).

    According to MAN chief, AMA would provide the platform for African manufacturers to address the challenges confronting sustainable industrialisation  of Africa and trade among them.

    He commended the  administration’s commitment to engage the organised private sector through the Industrial Policy and Competitiveness Council and the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan.

    Clarion Event Managers representative, Mr. Runsel Hills, said they were at the fair to provide and encourage technology solutions and value added raw materials to manufacturers.

    He said with their experience of holding 200 conferences and expos yearly with 2,500 employees, they were strategically placed to deliver services to exhibitors, manufacturers and visitors to the fair.

    He added that this year’s expo hosted 300 exhibitors and more than 600 equipment vendors.

  • Lagos restates commitment to economic diversification

    The Lagos State government has restated its commitment to economic diversification through effective policies and implementation to boost the Agricultural sector.

    Governor Akinwunmi Ambode, who was represented by the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Mr. Tunji Bello, spoke yesterday at this year’s World Food Day with the theme: Our Actions Are Our Future: A Zero Hunger World by 2030 is Possible.

    He said: “I wish to emphasise that the Lagos State government, through the Ministry of Agriculture, has developed agricultural initiatives aimed at addressing the need of diversifying the economy. The recent breakthrough in rice-agribusiness, considering the collaboration between Lagos and Kebbi states on large production, processing and distribution of the LAKE Rice product, has created a land mark in economic diversification.”

    The governor said the state has acquired a 32-metric tonnes per hour rice milling plant, which will become operational next year, to ensure that Lagos meets up with the demand of its LAKE rice consumers.

    He added that Lagos is also collaborating with Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Ekiti and Ondo states in rice production to ensure that the rice mill gets sufficient staple.

    According to him, the rice mill will provide over 200,000 jobs in the rice value chain in the state.

    Ambode said the state had established an Agricultural Estate Initiative, promotion of vegetable production with the use of greenhouse technology, cage and pen culture in fisheries production.

    The governor said the state was also strengthening farm settlement initiative, empowerment of farmers and other initiatives to improve agricultural development and sustainable food security in Lagos.

    He added that the Ministry of Agriculture had established community-based processing centres in three coconut-producing communities at Ajido in Badagry, Magbon-Alade in Lekki and Irewe in Ojo.

    Ambode said: “The processing centres have been equipped with modern facilities to reduce human dredgers. The rehabilitation of the coconut belt is ongoing. This activity will protect the coastal shoreline to attract more tourists to the state as well as provide improved and high-yielding coconut seedlings to farmers.”

     

  • Job creation: experts seek economic diversification

    Experts have said until indices that drive the economy and expand employment are prioritised, the rate of unemployment in the country will continue to rise.

    They argued that what drives employment is consumer demand, sayingn that if the consumer demand is high, investors, producers and manufacturers will expand their capacities which will in turn create  jobs.

    The Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS) recently in its report, projected that Nigeria is likely going to experience an increased unemployment rate in 2018.

    NBS said Nigeria’s unemployment rate has worsened from 16.2 per cent in the second quarter of 2017 to 18.8 per cent in the third quarter of the same year also. According to data released by the NBS, the rise was occasioned by the economic recession that saw the nation’s growth decelerate, until September 2017 when Nigeria finally exited recession.

    They submitted that the combined forces of double-digit inflation, high unemployment rate and a fragile Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth, which is still below the rate of population growth, may conspire to prevent any significant economic improvement.

    To curtail the rising crime wave across the country, the experts called on the government to fast-track its diversification strategy as encapsulated in the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) by supporting growth in income enhancing and job creating sectors, such as Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), mining and agriculture.

    A retired Federal Permanent Secretary, Mr Philip Asiodu, who at a forum recently spoke on, ‘Unemployment, youth restiveness and development challenges’, lamented the rate of youth unemployment  in the country.

    He observed that about three quarter of the crimes committed are done by young men who are jobless and become readily disposed to social vices. He described the involvement of thousands who perish at the Mediterranean Sea and the traumatised youths returning from Libya as disgraceful and a national embarrassment.

    Corroborating Asiodu, the Chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Lagos State Council, Idowu Adelakan, also attributed the high rate of crime in the country to the high level of unemployment, especially among youths.

    He said the rate of crime, which has snowballed in recent times, was the result of unemployed graduates roaming the streets and causing insecurity.

    An economist, Henry Boyo, said that so long as inflation is in double digit, it will be inappropriate to say there will be increase in the rate of employment possibilities in 2018 or in any year, because where inflation is in one or two per cent, it conserves and protects consumers’ demand.

    He cited an instance when there is a high demand for bread, stating that if there is no consumer demand for bread, there would be no baker but as a result of rising inflation, if the whole of Nigeria could buy  100 loaves of bread before but has made it possible that the whole of Nigeria can only buy a loaf of bread, it means that half of the bakeries in Nigeria would have to close up.

    In essence, it means there must be a demand for an item to be produced in the first place before producers and manufacturers can employ.

    According to Boyo, people don’t employ workers just to pay them, rather they employ them so that they can work and produce something.

    He said: “If you have adequate and increasing consumer demand, forget about rise in employment. What determines consumer demand is purchasing power. If you have a situation where you are losing up to 20 per cent of your income every year as a result of inflation, it means you are going to be buying less bread, which translates that you will have less and less people being employed. This is basic.’’

  • Infrastructural development key to economic diversification, says expert

    An economist and entrepreneur Mr Alfred Kanayo has said infrastructural development in key sectors of the economy is imperative for the country to attain economic diversification.
    Kanayo, who spoke to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja, said economic diversification of any country begins with the building of strong infrastructure.
    According to him, this will aid growth of small businesses which formed the backbone of the economy.
    The expert said no business could succeed without reliable power, roads, or modern means of transportation, adding that the lack of modern infrastructure had made economic diversification impossible.
    Kanayo said to diversify, government should as a matter of urgency shift its focus away from oil and direct its energy to establishing strong structures.
    “The main challenge we had as a nation was the over concentration on oil because over 90 per cent of our foreign exchange comes from oil and when there was crisis in the oil market, it affected us greatly.
    “The reality is that this is not sustainable; no country could survive that way, especially when structures were not built to reinvest the surplus that was coming in at the time.
    “So, for this government to achieve diversification, the first thing to do is to create infrastructure in key areas like manufacturing, energy, science and technology.
    “Research is the solution to many of our problems in terms of energy development, and infrastructure in science and technology must be provided to enable scientists undertake meaningful researches,’’ Kanayo said.
    The expert, therefore, called on President Muhammadu Buhari to take seriously the provision of infrastructure which according to him was the only way the country could move forward.
    The economist urged the present administration to also focus more on the non-oil sector and build enduring structures to develop and sustain agriculture, solid minerals, manufacturing, and even entertainment.

  • Outsourcing for economic diversification

    Outsourcing for economic diversification

    With the recession and the diversification programme of the Federal Government, outsourcing presents the potential to create wealth and jobs, earn foreign exchange and boost the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), reports LUCAS AJANAKU.

    Revelations about unemployment in Nigeria are frightening. Director-General, National Population Commission (NPC), Ghaji Bello, said the country’s population hit 182 million this year with more than half its people under 30 years age bracket. This puts a severe contracting strain on a nation suffering from a slowing economy and declining revenue to provide infrastructure.

    The latest estimate is based on the population of 140 million recorded in the last census a decade ago, using an annual growth rate of 3.5 per cent weighed against other variables such as rising life expectancy and a declining infant mortality rate.

    The country is witnessing a growing youth bulge, with those under 14 years accounting for more than 40 per cent of its citizens, he said. This is happening at a time when the International Monetary Fund (IMF) forecast that West African nations’ gross domestic product (GDP) will shrink 1.7 per cent this year, the first full-year contraction in more than two decades.

    He said: “The implication is that they’re assets, they’re the future of our country, but they are also liabilities; we need to know how to plan for their transition from youths to the next category. It has implications for education, health and security, particularly in our environment where you have a lot of unemployment.”

    Nigeria’s population, currently the world’s seventh largest, is the fastest-growing among the 10 most-populous countries and is projected to exceed that of the United States (U.S.) to become the third-largest with more than 300 million people by 2050, according to the United Nations (UN).

    For an economy that is in dire strait, one area to explore to create jobs for the youth is Business Process Outsourcing (BPO).

    An operator in the sector, iSON BPO, said Nigeria earns $300million yearly through BPO, adding that the firm has 3,000 workers of which over 99 per cent are Nigerians.

    Group CEO for iSON Group Pravin Kumar said: “Through our centres, we are creating large scale employment directly in Nigeria and engendering indirect local employment opportunities as well. We believe so much in promoting local expertise that we do not outsource work outside of Africa.”

    Generally, BPO is contracting non-core function of an organisation to a third party that is best suited to perform the function. In specific terms, BPO also known as Information Technology Enabled Services refers to outsourcing.

    Thus, such functions as call centre operations, accounting, data entry services, software design and other services can be contracted to a third party who perform the services, irrespective of location, and delivers to the client through the use of technology, essentially telecommunications and the Internet.

    When outsourcing happens within the borders of a country, it is known as domestic outsourcing but when it happens across borders, it is offshoring. Through outsourcing, business entities and government organisations have been known to save cost while focusing on their core mandates.

    Why BPO has become popular in recent years is technology. With the use of technology, business entities have been known to move some services to jurisdictions where the cost of labour is cheaper or superior competence exists so that they could deliver high values to their shareholders.

    Convinced about the potential of outsourcing in Nigeria, the World Bank had conducted a study that led to the publication of the report titled:Transforming Nigeria into Africa Outsourcing Hub.

    It estimated the value of the country’s ICT/BPO/ITES to be $5 billion across the public and private sectors and is expected to grow to $10 billion over a five-year period.  With effective policy and management, the sector can create employment for a minimum of one million persons directly and three million indirect jobs.

    According to the report, the strategies that will create these sustainable and demand- driven jobs include the need for the Presidency to be directly involved in the promotion of the sector.

    It said this could be achieved through executive or presidential buy-in, support, championing and direct supervision of the industry.

    It could also be through the setting up of a presidential task force to ensure the effective implementation and monitoring of the job creation strategies/policy across sectors of the economy as well as government digitisation/automation of processes policy directive.

    It said the automation of manual processes, digitisation and electronic archiving of government data and records across Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) would cut government’s annual expenditure of N20 billion on paper.

    The report noted that savings by this reduction in costs could be used to employ youths to scan and digitalise the government’s data and records, with a minimum of 800,000 jobs being created in 18 months.

    The National Association of Information Technology Enabled Outsourcing Companies (NAITEOC) agrees that both outsourcing provides great potential and veritable tools for diversifying the nation’s economy.

    According to NAITEOC  chair and Managing Director, Interra Networks Limited, Mr. David Onu, the conditions that recommend Nigeria as a great offshoring destination are enormous. They include large English speaking population; flexible labour market regulations; competitive wages (lower labour costs); stronger contract enforcement regime; time zone advantage, rapidly improving business environment; and highly skilled educational workforce.

    Others are rapidly improving internet/ broadband penetration in both urban and rural communities; fast improving infrastructural development in power, telecoms and transportation sectors; development of export processing zones and IT/ science parks such as the proposed Abuja Technology Village; presence of regulatory laws (intellectual property laws, e-transaction regulatory framework), and communication regulations.

    Onu said because of the strategic importance of outsourcing to the country, the association had been partnering with stakeholders to harness the industry.

    He said an enduring strategy is for the nation to grow the domestic outsourcing market so that it would be in a strong footing to reach out for the market abroad, insisting that like India, Nigeria can also earn huge foreign exchange through offshoring.

    He said: “The organisation seeks to promote and position Nigeria as an alternative BPO and Knowledge Process Outsourcing (KPO) destination of choice to companies the world over seeking to outsource such back-end operations as contact centre operations, software development, data management services etc. to competitive alternative destinations around the world.

    “In line with the Federal Government push to diversify the Nigerian economy, the BPO/KPO industry presents a unique opportunity to create a new economy, with the establishment of new businesses and the creation of demand-driven sustainable jobs.

    “We estimate that this industry within three years can employ well over two million people in Nigeria directly and indirectly. The new wealth and jobs to be created will further enable the socio-economic revitalisation of our great country, Nigeria.

    “The BPO /BPM/KPO/ITES industry is a global $1.2 trillion industry and presently accounts for about 8.92 per cent of India’s GDP with revenues in excess of $100 billion. The Nigerian domestic market is estimated at present to be over $1billion based on domestic expenditure and is projected to grow to over $5billion in five years as the domestic market expands and the export of BPO/KPO services from Nigeria increases.

    “As Nigeria seeks diversification of the economy and alternative sources of revenue, the BPO/KPO sector presents a unique opportunity to achieve this. But to achieve this, considerable work has to be done in terms of policy, infrastructure and legislation to effectively position Nigeria in the global outsourcing world.  Presently, countries like Ghana and Egypt have made significant infrastructure as well as policy investments that have greatly boosted the growth of this sector in their respective countries.

    “Most recently, ACS Services a U.S-based managed services set up a 3,000 seat BPO facility in Ghana to provide data entry services to the U.S insurance market. The Egyptian BPO sector is estimated to be a $1billion market while the South African BPO sector is currently valued at an annual $1.6billion.

    “There is need for higher levels of quality of service (QoS) and also affordability to ensure that Nigeria can be competitive in the international BPO/KPO market. To achieve this there is a great need to have a harmonised and structured approach in determining what needs to be done to promote this industry and achieve the clear socio-economic opportunities it represents,” he added.

    To move this agenda forward, Onu said NAITEOC in partnership with the Office of the Vice President, Ministry of Communications, the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), the World Bank, Galaxy Backbone, and other key stakeholders would organise an International Outsourcing Conference between December 5 and 7.

    According to him, the conference seeks to showcase the potential of the Nigerian BPO/KPO industry to an international as well as domestic audience and further enable the socio-economic rejuvenation of Nigeria through the creation of new businesses and demand-driven sustainable jobs for the teeming unemployed in the country.

    For the President of the Nigeria Computer Society, Prof. Sola Aderounmu, key to growing the Nigerian outsourcing industry is for the government to stop outsourcing technology jobs to offshore destinations.

    According to him, as the government is promoting Made-in-Nigeria goods, it should patronise every sphere of the local information technology industry including hardware and software. He said this would boost the capacity of local firms to get offshore jobs.

  • Atiku: Economic diversification vital

    Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar  said while economic diversification is essential to development, Africa should not ignore modernisation of its economic activities.

    Speaking at the African Veterinary Association and Nigeria Veterinary Medical Association joint Congress in Enugu yesterday, Atiku, who was the chairman of the occasion, said if African leaders diversify economic activities without modernising them, they would not achieve the desired objectives.

    He insisted that diversification without modernisation ‘won’t go far’. “If we diversify sources of government revenues but continue to concentrate too much power and resources in central governments, we won’t go far in achieving freedom and development in advancing our societies.

    “If we diversify our economies but still let the state dominate economic activities as a major investor and competitor against the private sector, we will be unable to unleash our people’s productive and entrepreneurial energies,” he said.

    The former vice president, explained that African countries should not only advocate a return to agriculture, but also seek to promote agricultural practices that aligned with modern times.

     

     

    He said: “I think we need some clarity in our definitions and prescriptions on this issue. When we say that we need a return to agriculture, do we mean the ancient agriculture that we have practised for so long, or the modern science and technology driven agriculture with its enormous productivity?”

    He also challenged African countries to address the question of diversification, saying: “We must decide if the diversification that we talk about means making agriculture attractive to educated people or leaving it at the domain of the illiterate or less educated.”

    Atiku said African veterinary doctors have critical roles to play in improving agriculture, especially veterinary health, quantity and quality control.

    He urged the veterinary practitioners to advise African governments on the need to improve animal protein, as well improve the prospect of exporting meat, dairy products and bolstering foreign exchange earnings.

     

  • Economic diversification: ICT, failed promises and the new horizon

    For so long, successive Nigerian governments have made tons upon tons of promises of how they would turn around the fortunes of the nation by exploiting the opportunities that lie untapped in the non-oil sectors of the economy. But after many attempts (if any at all), they often ended in mere huffs and puffs and a litany of excuses of how “they tried” but did not succeed because it was too big a task to be accomplished during their tenure.

    This was the status quo when President Muhammadu Buhari emerged as the commander-in-chief of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. It was a period of palpable doubt about the capability of any Nigerian government to truly diversify the nation’s economy. But here was a man that consistently offered hope that his administration would be committed to achieving this seemingly impossible feat – he had the trust of many, but needed to sustain it with an outstanding performance. So, we held onto the last straw of life – hope: that, finally, this new man we gave our hearts and mandate at the polls would not fail us like the others. But more than a year into his administration, we are still hoping for the fulfilment of his promises.

    Certainly, this administration got more than it bargained for. (Governance is different from merely being the voice of the opposition). So, it hasn’t been a jolly ride so far, especially with the crash in prices of oil, from which successive governments at the centre fed for so long. But surely, the times have thrown up more challenges, and government must arise and look elsewhere if indeed it desires to take the nation out of the woods. Already, one is glad that government seems to be putting mechanisms in place to ensure it achieves this. However, there arises questions about whether we are prioritising aright.

    At the inception of this government, two officials of this current federal government grabbed the attention of the media for their attempts at diversifying the economy. These two are the Ministers of Solid Minerals Development, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, and of Agriculture, Audu Ogbeh. Fayemi had early in 2016 raised the hopes of many Nigerians when he announced that his ministry was making concerted efforts to harness Nigeria’s natural resources; only for him to return days later to shock us all with the news that his ministry may be unable to come out with any substantial results for at least a year because they would be spending a year researching on how best to revitalise Nigeria’s potential in solid mineral exploration. Certainly, research is important, but Nigerians are expecting swifter actions. Worse yet, after putting in “so much work”, it would be unfortunate if nothing worthy of note comes out of the “research.”

    Audu Ogbeh’s ministry also has been active – at least going by what we hear and read. Ogbeh has continued to court the media and has remained in the news for one reason or the other. Today, he is talking about establishing grazing reserves all around the country; tomorrow, he is talking about how Nigerians eat poison; day after tomorrow, he is with the President launching a project. But Nigerians still await concrete results from all the ministry’s activities. Or are we just too much of an impatient lot?

    It is time we did things differently. A major reason we have failed, time and time again, to achieve all our goals of diversifying our economy is because we have not acknowledged, let alone putting in a place of primacy, our human capital and their capabilities over resources hidden in the ground. Instead of first “tilling” our human resources, we have tilled our natural resource till they become almost useless to us – ala, oil. While other nations of the world, being aware of the global knowledge economy, are flourishing by optimising Information and Communications Technology (ICT); Nigeria has remained stuck in the agrarian economy which lost its relevance decades ago. Indeed, it is time we did things differently.

    It was therefore consoling to recently read in the news that the current administration is finally committing to promote indigenous technology by showcasing Nigeria’s leading technology solution providers and start-ups at the annual information technology exhibition, GITEX, holding in Dubai in October 2016. GITEX is the 3rd largest technology event on the planet. This is undeniably a step in the right direction! Nigerians have always expected more from National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) – the agency whose recently replaced Director General, Dr. Vincent Olatunji, made the statement on behalf of the federal government. We are however glad that the agency seems to finally be waking up to its responsibility.

    “If we get our ICT right, it would be more difficult for people to be corrupt, and where they are corrupt, it becomes a lot easier to track them down,” said John Obaro, Managing Director of SystemSpecs, developers of Remita, one of the IT solutions NITDA would be showcasing at GiTeX 2016. “The only reason the wealthiest people in the world are ICT professionals is because of the potentials inherent in the sector,” Obaro added.

    Nonetheless, showcasing Made-in-Nigeria technological solutions on the international scene should only be the beginning. It is important for government to prioritise the ICT sector, by equipping professionals in the industry. The talents who are already doing exploits without government support are there; all that is left is substantial backing from government. There is only as far individuals can go. These Nigerians, many of them youths, are daily inventing technological solutions capable of placing Nigeria on the global map and transforming us from the scorn of the world to the world’s envy, but lack the needed support.

    Studies have shown that the top economies in the world have successful ICT sectors upon which other sectors ride to attain greater heights. These economies are successful not only because individuals are gifted but because there is substantial government backing, especially through investments and incentives. For instance, a country like the United States that understands the relevance of ICT tripled investments in accelerators and incubator programmes in 2015 while the United Kingdom made direct investment of 1.1 Billion Pounds in Cyber Security. These are only two examples. Hong Kong, Singapore and Luxembourg are others. These nations did not become technological giants overnight, they started by taking little steps. It is time Nigeria took her little steps, capable of transforming our nation.

    Government, through such agencies as NITDA, should partner with stakeholders in Nigeria’s ICT sector, including the Nigeria Computer Society (NCS) and Institute of Software Practitioners of Nigeria (ISPON), to reengage the National Assembly, to facilitate the refinement of our laws towards encouraging increased participation and patronage of indigenous technological solutions. The technology industry anticipates the fast-tracking of the National ICT Policy which would help to position the industry among the best in the world. Already, local players have demonstrated impeccable competence and should be patronised by government agencies and local Nigeria businesses. For us to command a pride of place on the international scene, Nigerians must first patronise and grow what is ours.

    Prioritising ICT in Nigeria means we need to discourage practices where foreign trade delegations are composed without the complement of Nigerian technological products to be promoted. Similarly, Nigeria should also no longer receive foreign technological solutions for challenges which our local competencies can resolve. Also, tech start-ups should cease to be burdened with high take-off costs and killer interest rates that they currently suffer from. Nigeria’s ICT sector should benefit from government incentives like the kind extended to the telecoms sectors where the first entrants got pioneer status which led to an unprecedented boom in the sector. If this is done, the impact would surely be felt, especially in the areas of mass employment and wealth creation across all sectors.

    For this government to succeed in its aim for economic diversification – and not fail like previous administrations, it must place emphasis on ICT by designating the sector as a catalyst for national economic prosperity. And this has to be about action, and not mere words. President Buhari’s government must entrust key national responsibilities to Nigerian technological firms and also champion the course of deploying indigenous ICT for national development. This way, Nigeria would again regain its pride of place on the globe. The ICT path is open before us today, and the best time to take the leap is now!

     

    Ekejiuba is an ICT analyst

  • Plateau kick-starts economic diversification

    Plateau State government has gone far in its effort to diversify the economy of the state and make it richer through the development of abandoned economic potential of the state.

    The economic diversification programme of the Gov Simon Lalong-led administration has led to the reviving of old industries that were hitherto not considered viable by past administrations.

    The Chairman, Technical Board of the Plateau Investment and Property Company (PIPC), Nde Ezekiel Gomos, disclosed this while briefing newsmen in his office at Murtala House Jos.

    According to Mr Gomos, “The economic diversification of government has seen to the revival of four state-owned industries; Highland Bottling Company, Fertiliser Blending Plant in Bokos and the Jos Ultra-Modern Market, which was razed down in 2002 and abandoned by past administrations.”

    He said, “Forty years after its establishment, dying Plateau Investment and Property Company (PIPC) has been resuscitated and engaged by Governor Simon Lalong, to assist his government in revenue drive and compensate for the dwindling economic fortune of the nation.

    “The Gov Lalong administration engaged the technical board to first revive PIPC itself, which was literally killed by the Jonah Jang administration in the name of restructuring; where all staff of the company were sacked while the new staff that took over knew nothing about the company. “That was what informed our coming in as a technical board, to inject some experience into reviving the company.

    “We recalled the sacked staff and realised that even before their so-called sack, they had not been paid for one year. So we began by clearing all their salary arrears. The company was also recording serious financial losses during the so-called restructuring, which reached about N29 million. In about nine months, we’ve been able to clear that also; and the company is now profitable. We also inherited an overdraft balance of N19 million, taken from a commercial bank, which we have also paid.”

    Outlining some of the activities of the company to help the state in generating revenue, Gomos said works are on-going at reviving the Bokkos Fertilizer Company that was abandoned since 2003, and at Highland Bottling Company, Barkin Ladi, to resuscitate them and make them good sources of revenue generation for the state.

    Gomos said PIPC partnered with wife of the Governor, Mrs Regina Lalong, to train over 100 women in entrepreneurship and skill acquisition as part of the International Women Day celebration in Plateau State.

    He added that aside from reviving Business Foundation radio magazine programme, PIPC recently sponsored the first ever dinner hosted by Governor Lalong with the business community in Jos in the month of July.

    In its nine months of operation, the technical board assured that it has put a robust machinery in place towards the rebuilding of Jos Main Market through Public-Private Partnership (PPP), by driving the process that led to the signing of the contact of N232 million with a UK company for due Technical Advisory Services.

    He also stated that within the period, they have renovated six–storey corporate headquarters, Murtala House.

    Commending self for a laudable job in a space of nine months, the technical board said “Six of our houses in Gwarimpa Estate, Abuja have been renovated and rented out to tenants; and we have invested N75 million in a property in Rayfield, Jos. We have also designed and sold 90 plots from the Race-course Turf Club along Bauchi road; and we have been able to track and recover all the investments of the company valued at  about N155 million that were lost during the so-called restructuring exercise.”

    He said that the Plateau State government can now hope that with all that PIPC has put in place to generate revenue for the state in the medium and long term, the economic crunch biting hard on the nation would be cushioned.

  • ‘Lagos positions SMEs for economic diversification’

    ‘Lagos positions SMEs for economic diversification’

    The Lagos State government has put in place a framework to ginger Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to perform optimally in a conducive environment, its Commissioner for Commerce, Industry and Cooperatives, Prince Rotimi Ogunleye, has said.

    He said because of the vantage position of state as the economic hub for sub Sahara Africa, the state government through the ministry was determined to boost SMEs to contribute to industrial production in the state and create a forum for the diversification of the Nigerian economy.

    He said as part of the ministry’s efforts at getting Medium, Small, and Micro Enterprises (MSMEs) to function and survive into maturity, “We have the corporate assembly, which we are going to do in this first quarter to call the operators in the Organised Private Sector (OPS) to meet with Lagos State Governor Akinwumi Ambode so that they can have a parley to discuss various issues affecting them, which can be tackled through government.

    The programme is the fifth in the series to be hosted by the governor. The Commissioner said the ministry was also working with the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) to look at MSMEs’ capacity building and production.

    “We have the industrial and enterprise zones for the micro operators. We have the industrial park for the small scale operators and we have the industrial estate for the medium operators,” he said.

    Prince Ogunleye noted that the industrial parks are scattered in various parts of the state such as Ijanikin, Badagry, Matori 1 and 2, Yaba, Imota, Igberigbe, Ikorodu, Igbonla in Epe, Ibeju Lekki and others. According to him, the efforts are in the hope of moving the nation away from the current mono product system centred on oil.

     

     

    He said, for instance, that the Lekki Free Zone has been specifically packaged to address that. He added that the Lekki Free Zone Development Company is saddled with the development of the project, which covers 16, 500 hectares of land in the Lekki area of the state.

    “Right now, we are in the first phase, which covers 3, 000 hectares,” he said, adding that the agreement is 60/40 equity sharing ratio between the Lagos State Government and the Chinese consortium of China Africa Lekki Investment Limited (CALIL). While CALIL has 60 per cent shareholding, Lagos State has 40 per cent.

    He further explained that in the Lekki free zone enterprise, Lagos State Government is not directed involved, rather she has a limited liability company known as Lekki Worldwide Investment Limited that represents her interest and also seek investors all over the world to invest in the free zone.

    “You know free zone is a place where companies can operate without inhibitions that you see in the larger hostile environment. There is a lot of work going on there. A lot of companies are coming in there to invest and to produce,” the Commissioner told The Nation, adding that the State Government also has the Lekki Deep seaport in the same axis, which is an equity arrangement between Lagos State and Toran Group, a Singaporan consortium.

    “The deep seaport has been specially packaged to take care of heavy vessels that may like to bring raw materials to Lekki free zone or take finished products out of the country for exports and to avoid gridlock at Apapa and Tin can ports.

    “The deep sea port is not only a Lagos affair; it is a tripartite equity sharing between Toran, which has 61 per cent, Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) 20 per cent, and Lagos State Government, 18.15 per cent,” he explained.

    The Commissioner listed other development projects around the axis to aid the industrialisation of the state to include the Lekki International Airport and Dangote Fertilizer and Petrochemical Plants. He said massive work is already going on at the Dangote refinery, which is not in the free zone but in that corridor. The conglomerate, he said, already has a power plant that is functioning and guaranteeing steady power supply.

    The ministry under Ogunleye’s charge was formally Ministry of Commerce and Industry. Cooperative was with Agric Ministry and they were called Ministry of Agric and Cooperative. But the Commissioner said Cooperative has been added to the ministry to change the orientation of cooperative from solely depending on agriculture and agro allied businesses.

    “The ministry is like an enabling ministry to assist the MSMEs to grow the economy. So, the addition of Cooperatives can broaden their scope and get them involved in the administration’s dream for massive transformation of the state,” he said.

  • Economic diversification: Miners unfold action plan

    Following the federal government’s plan to diversify the nation’s economy from oil-dependence to mining and agriculture, the Miners Association of Nigeria (MAN) has prepared an action plan to key into the program.

    To achieve this objective, the association is working on compiling an accurate data of miners in the country.

    According to the chairman of the association, Alhaji Sani Shehu, the body has over 600 cooperative societies with limited liabilities, stressing that members must file in quarterly reports on their mines, in addition to updating their documents.

    The essence of the preparation, says Shehu, “is to get ourselves ready in anticipation of the practical mining reforms that the federal government is planning.”

    Speaking on the action-plan, he said: “Our plans are one, formalisation of the Artisanal Miners since most of them are operating informally. They are not formal operators, so we are sensitising them to formalise through formation of cooperatives.

    “Secondly, we are encouraging them to update their documents; those who are not submitting their quarterly reports from their mines, we are encouraging them to do so. Those who are not paying their annual charges, we are also encouraging them to do so. The aim is to get ourselves ready in anticipation of practical mining reforms that this government is planning.”

    Shehu expressed optimism that the expected reforms would revolutionise the sector, adding, “Two things are about to happen in the mining industry: investors are being encouraged to come by the new political leadership. However, most of them are not coming as independent investors; they have indicated interest to partner with us.

    “In addition, we are the common targets of both government and foreign investors. Therefore, we must be ready for this positive and new development.”