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If'''1!lJl,.lard. THUm:DA Y, OCTOBER 27,2011
BU SINESS/INDUSTRY
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~' m not satisfed with level of foreign investmentsBy fRANKLiN Alll
Innoson Group lauded for j obs creation DYTOMMYANAD UAKA ~ IE (nnO ion Grou p 1. has been lauded for ils industrial' 151011, employment cree' ion in the industrial sctof Jf Ule economy. The ~up ccmllrises Innoson Vehidr.' Manufacturing, InnQs ?n Plastic Company, General ''\'res and Thbes II n1 ltinoson Motorcydes oc ated in !"Inewi The t liruster of State for 1hlde ~d InvestIne nt, Dr: S a muel Ortorn, made th ~ c omme ndation wh en It'!! mite:! the comIlani!!S during his official wOlking visit to Enugu li nd I\nambn St ~te ~. 'The GIOUp ( IHunn'Jn of lnnoson, Ch iE f I nnocent Otukw'.!I'la hll : made Ihe country prou(l, wit h his enormous WIS 10m, manpowe r d evelopmen t and huge etnplaym"ntsj he has practicIIUy conlinned thllt ~omething gCO' I can come out of genuine effort. TIUs is cornmendtlb1e and worthy of emulatio" by any patriotic Nigetldf ," said Or· 10m. He said lhl l Innoson Motor Man Iftlcturing alone wiU everlually gen· erate mini i ndus tries a round who," products and services would be needed for O\'e~ SU0ce55 of the factory. He maintAiT1(,d that what is cummUy goi 19 on a t Innosoo is a d na r s ign of what Nigerians will do if properly suppnted, add· ing that more ~ood things would still eme-ge from the loal inveslols in future. "Everybod y in Nigeria knaws that we have e nor· mous dlGlleng ;!li 'in eslahlillhing i ndUs try in this country, Bul here is 'a youog energeHc man full of natural inteU igence, crnating wealth for people even in the midst of obvi· ow;: hostility. I want oUler
Thanking the minister and his tean!, O uefOlllkwuma, expressed satistiu:tion for Ule ir visiJ, sayUlg th tl ! h e leels greatly ho· noured to have hosted them . "I believe in Presi· dent Goodluck Jonathan. f also belie ve in my Slate Govemot Mr. Peter Obi of Anambra State. We as pe0ple have to understand that there are d lallenges facing leaders in authorities alld the best thing 10 do is to give them time to stamIize. I have my awn challenges wh.ch a re common with other induslriMists in Ni· geria."
businessmen to emulate him so that this cu1ture of developing Nigerian economy would be relllised." li e also assured C hief C hukwuma of G overnmon t's protection and support towards ensUlmg that hL~ il'ldustriel vision impact positively on the people. "The Pres ident ,Dr. GoodJ uck Jonathan is willing and quite detennined to support genulhe effort," he n?ted. Ollef Omkwum... has perfectly filled into the lumdse l o( Mr. Pr!:!!lidttnl. and "'1!I)' soon he will receIve enonnous IlSsistanco from him."
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BY FRl\NKUN ALU & FAVOUR AG Bl AHEAD of it; forth coming National ConIerence on Tr.msfonning Ni· geria, the Nigerian Ass0ciation of C hambers of Comperce, Indus try, Mines and Agriculture (NACClMA), said it wants the Organised Private Sector lO PS) to speak with one voice on national issues. "Journalists and oUler st~ebolders bave continued to seek opinion and comments frOID NACCI· MI\ as ",-eli as other- members of the O PS. In a situation where opinion varies on the very mllny issues where until all facts, figUles and rirrumstances are cleared. it will be unfair to criticise or disagree with government propos4is and NACCIMA woul d nol wish to be cut in Ule Imp of double speak whenever opinion differs on issues," said NACCIMA President, Or. Ademola Ajayt. According to him, NACCIMA has decided lbal we would mUler consult and
discuss with vruious AssoOo!ltions Md stakeholders and have aU the racts U1<ll we can get before express· ingOpillioll on ongoing bul unresolved issues. "It is for this reason that a conference is being or· ganised 10 provide auswers toanumberofbum· ing issues 011 the economy wiUI a view to coming up with a communiqu~ Ula t would assis t Ule government in achieving its on· going onerouslask of b-ansfOlTIla tion for the overall benefit or Ule Nigerian $0ciely." H e disclosed. thai tops a mong th e number of burning issues for discusliion are secu rity and the economy. "rbe country's security h ilS been severely challenged by recent developtnentswhere Ule state of insecurity is embarrass-. ing 4Jld frightening, 'The rampanl occune nc· eo; of kidnapping for ran· som, armed robbery and more recently Ule indis· criminate acts of bombing and murde r of Nigerians, even law enforcemen t
and make Nigeria Investment des igl18tion in tenns of improving our investme n l dimllte," he said , The Minister infolTIled the visiting tea m tha i a lot of investors from Asia, Middle Eas t and o th e r cou n tries h ave b een coming to discu ss Uleit investme nt plans in the country, adding that gov. e rnment was read}' to remove any barriers -to make the country an investment d esignation . In his c ontribu tion , the Nigerian Ambassador to United States, His Excellency Prof. Ade Adeluye, urged United States investors to show interest in Nige ria'S Pow· er and olher sectors privatisation process in order not to lose out from the higher rate of retum on investme nt.
Aganga Also, the United Stales Ambassador to N ig eritl, Mr. Te rence P. McCulley, poinled oul th llt Uniled States has robust coUaboration wi th Nigeria to c reate conducive atmosphere rorbusin ess to s t rive through capacity training with security age nc ies ac ross board a d d ing that US investors have s hown inte rest in inv'.:!sting in 50, 000 hectares o f rice produclion in Sokoto S ta te. Ea rlIer, the President. US NEX IM Bank, Mr. F red Hochbe rg had pointed out that Nigeria was one of the top nine markets out of 109 coun· tries the Bank was focllsing on and that they are willing to cooperate with President Jonathan to improve standard 01 Liv· ing of Nigerians
Food Agro and Allied Industries boosts indigenous sorghum production By PETER EGWUATIJ ORG H UM produ c lion in Nigeria receive d II boost wilh the successfuJ commissioning of Food Agro and AlLied lndustries limited 's 30,000 Ion per annum malting plant in Otta, Ogu o State. The operation a nd further eltpansian pLan of the state of the art plant is expected to encourage more !"Iige-riaru; tp tak~ up comm~r-
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NACCIMA wants QI?S to
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THE Minister of Thade and Investment, Ol usegun Ag"mga, said, Thesday, he was not satisfied with the level of foreign invest ments c orning into the country des pite steps ta ken so far by the Federal government to improve the investment climate in the countrY. This WIlS his reaction to the visit of the Man agement team of tb !'! U.S . Export· Lmport Bank led by its President Mr: Fred Hochberg to his office in Ahuja. "lnvestmeut is coming in. I want more. I am nol satisfied wbere we are. We can do far more with the opportunities h ere . We will do what· e ve r we need to make s ure we have the best
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agents, is simply tenorism, which is yet to be fully con· tained," he said . On economy, he said in spite oC ongoing laudable refonns, the economy has not progressed as expected; and Ute business cornmunity continues to grappIe with theusualage-Jong chaUenging operating environment, policy somersaulls, inIrastructure constraints, particuJa rly the almost over Dogged issue of power and energy, 'The recent and indeed My furtherincreasein acebicily tarifI under the CUIrent inefficient situation of electricitywiU be u nacceptable to the majority of Nigerians and needs be reviewed as it will further increase thealreadyh;gh cost of living." "It is also a known fM:t ilia t Nigeria is rich in crude oil and gllS where it has earned billions of petro-dollars; hOweYe!; Ule country seems to be batting Ule dllillenge of translating the huge oil wealth into prosperity for all Nigerians in this new dispensation."
cial l)roduction of sor· ghum. 'n,e comple ted malting plant with a capacity of 60,000 tonnes p er an · n um. 150,000 m e tri c tonnes s tor<lge silos a nd 15,000 !onnes Ile r annum maI t extract pla nt, is til huge step of the compa n y's plan tawards devel· oping c redib le tec hnoiogy to p rocess hOlne g rO\VIl s orgh um to s ullstitute imported barley derivatives . Mr. Alaiye Gbenga. Dir ~c t o r Admin is t rllti o n , Food Agro and Allied In· dustries Limited, dl!· closed this saying: "Our compa ny is acqui ring a 5,000 hectare larm land soon to establish model larms to showcase lis technology a nd-produce quality seeds of improved varieties of s orghum. The farms will also provide technical support to out· growers to ensure viable production th a t meets quality a nd qu a ntity requirements . " Food Ag ro a nd Allied lnduslries Ud is an activlll partner with USAl D lind NGOs in deve lopment of s o rghum production in
res p ect of (Jua lity yield pe r hectare a nd providing Inll rke! for the growers , "Our belief in the potentials of lhe !"Iigeria agricul tural sector infoJ111ed the huge invest ment in modem malling technologies, rec ruitm e n t "Illl training of q ualifie d man· power, lind adeqllate infrastructures to support p roduction li nd p laceSSi ng 01 raw materials to meet the needs of the Nigerian food and bever"ge industry. w~ b'.:!li'!"ve that our e (folu will help boost th e s upply c ha in in the a gricul tu ral s ecto r. We call on re le vant authorities to encourage indiga-nous sorgh um production by revisiting the iss ue of low import duties on imported S orghum lind b"rJey maIts." Witb the expected COInmissioni ng of Malt Extract Pla nt in 2012, th e compa n y will enter into another phase. also pursuing its expansion plan of incleas ing production fro m 30,000 tonnes per an num to <48.000 torme!; per a nnum in 20 12 and 60,000 tonnes per annum by 20 14 .
Odll!llOdu on ports witham SON "TliE DirKtor General, .I. Standards Organisation of Nigeria, Dr. Joe Odumodu, hlls II Ua ye d stakeholders' fearofUl e nafum'li ports wiUlout its en· forcement agenu . ~ Whe n SON WAS a t the ports, 60 per cent of con· tainers leave without SON signaturl!, naw Ulat SON is pulling oul, what will happe n1," .laid s taJeeholden. Howe ver, Od umodu
calmed Uutirconcems, saying "The issue of ports is government directives, lind the c hanges are for good. We h<'IVe s el up II; system that will enable us intercepts u lbsta ndanl products as our Taskforce will visit fa ctories every week to take sllmple of products for testing in our labor1!lories, and any rompany that i... fmlnd vioilltiIIg NIS will be dealt with_"