PEOPLES DAILY, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2012
PAGE 20
COMPANY NEWS
Construction
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he yearly investment inflow into the Nigeria’s construction industry in the next four years has increased from the 9.2 per cent it forecasted in the third quarter of this year to 10.5 per cent in fourth quarter. Business Monitor International (BMI), which made this disclosure in its recent quarterly report of the Nigerian construction industry, however highlighted deep-rooted corruption, violence perpetrated by militant Islamists and retaliatory forces, and a vast yet inefficient bureaucracy, as some likely risks to full implementations of the various on-going projects. According to the global watchdog, the cabinet’s approval of the long-awaited final draft of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), and the continued unbundling and privatisation of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) are expected to drive more investment into the Nigerian construction sector.
2012/13 Cocoa harvest
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eavy rainfall and poor sunshine across Nigeria’s main cocoa regions in recent months will delay harvesting the new season’s crop by at least a month, farmers and analysts said on Tuesday. The main-crop harvest in Nigeria, the world’s fourth biggest cocoa-grower, was meant to start at the end of September, but farmers worried about harvesting pods without enough sunshine to dry them are leaving them on the trees. Nigeria has been suffering its worst flooding for five decades and large swaths of farmland have been submerged. President Goodluck Jonathan made a televised address on Tuesday in which he pledged aid to the flood victims. Analysts say weather conditions may also lower output this season, just as the government is trying to raise its targets.
Nigerian Banks
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riminals’ penetration into the banking sector operations is gradually slowing down, as the sector recorded a loss of N5.8 billion last year, compared to the preceding year’s figure, according to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). The decline in the criminal activities at the nation’s money deposit banks came on the heels of report that the volume and value of cheque transactions nationwide increased by 11 per cent and 13 per cent respectively.
FG announces attractive tax credit to boost foreign investment Stories from Ayodele Samuel, Lagos h e F e d e r a l Government has announced a new scheme of tax credit aimed at encouraging an increase in the flow of foreign investment into the country. Minister of Trade and Investment, Mr. Olusegun Aganga dropped the hint at the second edition of the Nigerian International Investment Forum (NIIF) organised by the ministry in collaboration with the Commonwealth Business Council (CBC). Explaining the new incentives packaged in the form of tax credits, Aganga said going forward, companies that have invested in the development infrastructural facilities such as the construction of access roads, power plants and water plants in the course of setting up their businesses are now entitled to tax credit of up to 30 percent of the cost of generating the infrastructure. Aganga said the initiative is a temporary relief measure introduced by the federal
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government to help to cushion the debilitating effects of the challenges posed by the lack of infrastructural amenities in the country, which is a major setback to the inflow of investments into the country. Another phase of the tax incentives according to the minister, which is targeted at employment generation, provides tax reliefs for any employer that hires above 10 staff. The minister noted that for any 10 people employed by any company on a particular year, the employer gets tax credit for additional employments with more credits guaranteed if the employees are kept in the organization further than two years. “The federal ministry of works is currently working hard on the development of trade related infrastructure with a target time of completion of 2014. But before then we have introduced measures to cushion the effect of infrastructure deficiency, one of which provides that any company that has invested in infrastructure will have tax credit of up to 30 percent of the cost of
generating the infrastructure,” he said. Aganga also noted that the federal government had concluded plans towards hastening up the process of company registration in the country to less than 24 hours as has been achieved in Abuja. He said the first step is to achieve the 24 hours target in Lagos, Kano and Enugu and then ensure that it becomes the norm even when you are registering the company from any other part of the world. He noted that the target for the achievement of the milestone is 2013. The minister stressed that the question about investing in Nigeria was ‘why’, not ‘when’ and ‘how’, adding that all investors that had failed to invest in Nigeria in the past had always turned around to regret their decision. “Investors like MTN took advantage of the opening up of the telecommunications industry in Nigeria while other global players were indecisive. Today those who failed to invest in the sector blame themselves when they see what MTN is making from its Nigerian operation.”
Aganga said Nigeria is at the moment the preferred destination for investment in Africa and ranks number twenty-three globally, stressing that this was an outcome of the effort of government to improve the business environment in the country. Meanwhile, the Federal Government and the United Kingdom on Monday disclosed that the two countries had reached the final stages in their plan to double international trade between them by the year 2014. Addressing a joint press, the Minister of Trade and Investment, Mr. Olusegun Aganga; and the Secretary, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, United Kingdom, Dr. Vince Cable; disclosed that the factors militating against effective trade between the two countries had been identified and were now being addressed to ensure the actualisation of the 2014 deadline. The current value of trade between the two nations stands at £4 billion (about N960 billion). Steps are being taken to raise the figure to £8 billion (N1.9 trillion) by 2014.
LCCI worried over shortterm investors
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he Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has expressed concern over the increasing number of short-term investors bringing in “hot money”, saying it is a risk for exchange rate volatility. “Hot money” refers to funds that are controlled by investors who actively seek short-term returns. In a statement issued by the chamber, LCCI President Goodie Ibru said the risk of sudden reversal or pull-out of such funds would adversely affect price and financial market stability. Ibru said there has been a steady decline in aggregate credit to the economy and the private sector, adding that the aggregate net credit by banks to the domestic economy fell by 2.7 per cent and 0.1 per cent in the first and second quarters of the year. This, he said, was largely due to the sustained monetary tightening, significant rise in government domestic borrowing, attractive yield of government bonds and treasury bills. “The tight monetary policy stance continues to keep funds out of the reach of the private sector. With the planned issue of Treasury bills to absorb all maturing securities in the fourth quarter, liquidity is expected to remain tighter with the private sector at the receiving end,” he said.
Mr. Peter Longworth, Director General, Commonwealth Business Council,Honourable Dr. Rob Davies, MP, Minister of Trade and Industry, South Africa, Minister of Trade and Investment, Olusegun Aganga and Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, Chief Executive Officer, Access Bank during the grand opening of the 2nd Nigeria International Investment Forum held at the Oriental Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos.
SON intensify war against sub-standard products
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he Standards Organisation of Nigeria(SON) has again intensified its on-going war against substandard products in the country, as it plans to start removing all unregistered products from the market by the end of November. SON Director-General, Dr Joseph Odumodu, said from next month the agency will start removing any product that is not registered with it, adding that the new Act of the SON will be out before the end of the year.
He said in line with its plans to ensure standardisation, the body has trained more than 2,000 SMEs operators, adding that SON will soon be empowered to start prosecuting those who are dealing a substandard products. “The bill is already with the National Assembly. Apart from this, we will be publishing companies which meet standardisation. The agency will do everything to ensure standardisation in this country,
“he said. SON said it would host the first Nigeria Quality Summit at the Transcorp Hilton hotel, Abuja, next week, with the theme: ‘Less waste, better result: Standards Increase Efficiency.’ The one day event will pull together captains of industries and agencies, as well as Quality Control Directors for the purpose of learning first hand from global authorities and quality assurance leaders from emerging markets.