DAILY TRUST
Wednesday, August 24, 20 11
Business
FG wants US to invest in manufacturing B, Sunday Williim1
government.
11iE Minister of Tnde and Inv~t menl, OlustgUn Aganga has urged the United Stales o f Am t riGl to shU! the conccnt ntti on ofilllinvestmcnts in Nigeria from 011and gas 10 the manufaCiuringKCtor. Speaking ~Slerday In Abuja when
the Amb;!$SadororuSA 10 Nigeria. Mr. Taen,,! P. McCulley visi ted his office. the minister said that Nigeria uptclS Ameria 10 Im'eslln automobiles and
refineries. He said: • rOut interest and our rdationships have be-m in !he un of oU and gas (ar milch mon~ in the pasl I s« we boch have th e oppor1unity to move Ihis more to the real seclor of
tht «onomy where many jobs will be crated; where we will diversify Ihe ttonomy. that Is a major p i for this
'So I am looking li t an3S like car mlll1ufltCturing and refineries that we an explore together. Let ~ say that Ive lea~ it at a loose and open end and talk about just divcmficatiuo from oil and gas to the real sector of the economy:" The min ister said tJat46 pcrct'nt or Nlgman products Irc marketed in the United States of America. Idtllng that Nigeria ntc'ds more than that percentage from the econo mic relationship with th e USA. .\ganga said that then Is also the nted for ttw: two counlries 10 fKi litale Ihe negotiation and concl usion of the bilateral and Inve:Stmenlueuy. - , assure you that you will always have our support. we wan t to wo rk closely with the US and that means we: want to h::.ve more investments Into Nigeria from US and we lVam to
approach trade from I 5trategic angle bearing in mind ou r needs III I developing nation. -As a nalion that hili most of th e nw materials you nted including steel, we want to start producing. we want to become I n industrialiud natioo and we havc a plan to achKve that. We believe you can be part of that:' the minister said. Earlier, the USA Ambuudor, Mr. Terence P. McCullcysaid that there arc more opportuniti es for in\-estment in Nlguia beyond the oil and gas sector_ - , beli~ that there arc oJlPOftunlIks for US to invest In Nigeria outside Ihe oil and g;tsSCCIor. ln Ihemanufactu ring. agro-buslness. telecommunications. ele. We bcllevt' th at there arc such opportun ities. I hope weean work together 10 look at how we might be more benefidary'-
'BPE's account with commercial bank not illegal' By Shehu Abuh'tu TH E Burnu ror Publk Enlerprises (UPE) where pay-
ment of proc~ of priwliution arc made beJore they arc 1r2l1l!'ferrcd 10 the Cen tral Dank of Nigeria (C BN) is val id and not illegal, former Sp«lal Assi5lant to Malam Nasir eI-Rufal , when he was the Dilector-Generul c f the BPE, Haji)"1 Hadiza Bala Usman has solid. She said the acco unl was a necessity mean t to ease the work of the bu rnu and to avoid paymen15 of avoidable int~rests to bidders lh a.n alleged fr2ud and illeg<11 pr.lclice. Hajiya Hadiu. lold Dally Trust In an udusive interview that th~ BPE account with a commercial bank in AbuJ:! I'IlU opened aller rec~ivl ng approval from the National Council on Privatization (NCP) which regulat es the activities oflhe bureau. She said al the early stage ofprlvatizalion of co mpanies by th e bureau when states were Ulocaled shares. some stales paid for mort' than the sima ii.IIocated 10 th~m , She said II took the bureau over nine mo nths to process refunds of acCS$ payments to the payers from the C8~ through the ACCO\lOtant Ge neral of the Ftd~l'iItioll _ She said: Kit took us ove r nhl e months to refund monty to the first batch of peallie and we had to pay them back \\'Jth lnterest. So. the BIlE called on the NCP (National Council 00 PrivatiuUon) 10 have a: priYati lation procccd5 account where all the Ploceedsaredeposlted until aU the priVOllll'.llion pl'OClSS is completed hefon' the actual monty Is paid into the C BN aecOllnl _
HAJIA HaeUa Bala US"","
"So. based on the approval from lile NCP. the BPE opened an accounl with thc.o com mercial bank and deposited all monies in there until the tr.msacUon is completed and Ihen money due 10 governmen t Is paid into I.h e CBN accoun l; she said.
How we're fighting poverty in Benue communities -Dangote From TOfylllllitja, Makurdi CREATING jobs fo r Senue com munit ies. providing electricity and sch olarships a:rc some of the contri butions o f th e Dango le ~m ent to Ih e social and economic development of communities In Senue St ate. Dangote G rou ps Corporate Communi cations Manager for NClrth. Alhajl fibrin Abubilir told newsmen In Makurdl, the state capit'ILI. He said the Dango le C ement. popular ly Mown as Benue Cemenl Company (BCC) In Gboko Uenue State, has spent millions o f naira to enhlnce iu relatio n ship With communities through Its corpor.ate social responsibility programme. AlhaJI Abubakar. wh o \Y;\S fieldi ng ques tions from newsmen In Makurdl after the se ttl ing of a sklnnish by somt' tn.nsporlen; oulslde Ihe Dangote Ce ment. Gboko factory. said Ihe group Is concerned about loss of lives and added that th ough It did not affect the running of the company d irectl)". the chaotic scene amo ng Ihe Innsporters was unnecessary and urged Nigerians 10 be law abiding. He said with more than 40.000 direct and indirect Jobs and with an annual tax to govmllnent in bi1lions o f main, Dangote Group iJ impacting in no small measure 10 the industrial dc:vdopmtnt of Nigeria.
According 10 him, over 1.000 direct jobs and about 10.000 indirect jobs have been aeated in Gboko factorya.JoM. He said Dangote Cement in Benue gha the hosl communities aboul N I 0 million annual scholarship awards to their chUd which hasbeen runnillg for
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Alhaji Abubakar said 15 villages wue electrified at the cost of Nil S million. adding that 14 blocks of
classrooms h~ been constructed for the community around the company al the rost of N84 bUlion. l1e said 19 boreholes were constructed for the commu nities and that an earth dam I-alU~ I I NSO million was also constructed • He said aparl from Ihe monthly payment of allolVances to traditional rulers. a vigilante contract to ens ure N2 million regular income to the community was also Instituted "We have also donated NI5millfon to the communitys devdopmcnt fuundation and wt arc helping through the community empowerment scheme, while our IOO-bed hospital has been apJlfO\'ed for construction \\;thin the community,hesaid AlhaJi Abubakar said in addition to N78 mUllon cClmpensation paid during th e takeover of the com pany. an additional N60 m illion lnconvenience allowance has bt'tn paid to families, adding that DmgOle Cement Is Ihe biggest in West Africa.
'Cassava processing centres will improve production standard' s, SUndl)' WilllJms THE estab lishmenl or th e cusal''' prototype processing cen- , tres In MaSl'h , Lafia and Kuje ror production o f gam. fufu, cassava OOllr and starch by Common Flmd for Commodities (cr-c) vIm assist numerous C3$S.1va processors in Nigeria on best practice and quality assurance. the Permanent Seoctary, r.l illi5try or Trade an d In vestment has said _ Dr_Abubakar AbduUahi said this Mouda:, in AbuJa al a one-
da y stakeholdu's fOlum to mark the end o r ·c:as.s:an value chai n devdopment' project sponsored by the Common Fund (or Com modities (CFC). The cassava value chain project Is a regional projecl funded by the CFC to support CUSlva processing and value addition by small and medium entrepreneurs in Niger ia, Slerr2Leone and Benin Republle, Represented by M r. Julius Akpan isile. the permanent seatwy said tha I with the,-ompletion ort heproject, cassava processing
will be grea tJ y enhan ced in the cou ntry. He said that caMaVll offers tremendous oppo rtuniUes th at wiU further broaden th e foun dati on fo r eco no mic viability and improved co mpetiti veness particularly In non -oil re \-e nU e earnings. - Nigeria as the lugesl world prod ucer of cassava can beneOt Immensroly from th is great crop If co ncerted efforts were made at harnessing its numerous po tentials; he said addi ng. ~ Iet me call on al l key players in th e cassava
industry and prospective inves101$ to takr I cue from the cassava prototype projects with a view 10 pUII.in8 in place standard processing plants 10 utillie the volume o f cassava produced In the counlry IS a lOUrce of Income." Speaking. the project Coordinatorln Nigcrta, Omololu 8..0peewe said that the approach used In tJ}e projecl was 10 slrengthen fumen;. processors and muulers throu gh th e introduction of appropriate technologies_ Shesaid thai the project IVhich
starled In 2008 was to last for three ~afS, hence its lemllnal date! n AU~USI 2011 . - , am glad te>inform}'tlu th at th e cassava project was ve ry successful in all project si tes namdy Kuje (Shabach Food). Marar.aba (Joe Beg Farms) and Angwa village In Wa. Na.sa.rawa Stallt_ All the projecl siles we re given various Intervention measures Including building structures, cusava processing equipment. packagi ng materials etc. T he products from the sites were approved by NAFDAC.~ she said..