Vice President Yemi Osinbajo will today receive Chinese investors led by Liu Baoju, a Deputy Minister of Communist Party of China in Shandong Province, who is also the Chairman of Shandong Broadcasting Group and Shandong Cable Interactive Service Ltd, the world’s biggest TV operators and Huang Gang, Senior Vice President of Inspur Group and President of its Overseas Headquarters. Inspur Group is China’s leading cloud computer solution supplier and cloud service provider involving all IT applications.
A statement by Mr. Cornel Osigwe, Public Relations and Media Assistant, Innoson Group, said the visit, which was seen as one of the dividends of President Muhammadu Buhari’s visit to China, is expected to attract $1billion foreign investment. The investments include:
Financial foreign investment credit facility of $300million for local production and supply of a minimum of five to eight million Set-Top Boxes to support the Federal Government’s Digital Switch Over (DSO) project being handled by the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission in order to meet the deadline switch of June 2017.
•Financial foreign investment of $100million to establish the latest technology and biggest DTH (Direct-To-Home) Digital BING Television Station across all states of Nigeria.
“Besides, more deals including $600 billion investment in which negotiations are almost fully concluded with our strategic partners to cover the following areas of Nigerian economy,” he said.
He said Innoson Group is bringing in and partnering these foreign investors.
According to him, Innoson is blazing the trail as one of the companies that will take Nigeria into the digital world. In order to keep up with its trend of opening new grounds, it has decided to diversify into Information Technology (IT) and the Multi Media Sector with the plan to launch a Satellite Digital TV operation and other services in partnership with Shandong Broadcasting Group and Shandong Cable Interactive Service Ltd China with technical support from Inspur Group Co Ltd, China.
Osigwe said this foreign investment is coming at a time when Nigeria is in dire need of foreign investors to boost the economy.
The focus point of the investment is to boost the economy with the following benefits:
•Assist the Federal Government meet its June 2017 deadline for the transition from analog to digital broadcasting services.
•Establishment of 40 lines of production and manufacturing complex for making Broadcast Digital Set-Top-Boxes, the biggest of its kind in Africa.
•Job creation for over 5000 people in the Innoson Group Set-Top-Box manufacturing complex in Nigeria within the next two years.
•Creation of about 2000 jobs by Innoson BING Digital DTH Television operation across Nigeria within the first two years.
Ports revenue grows from N54bn to N184 bn in 10 years
By Bimbola Oyesola
Ports revenue has increased by over 200 per cent in the last 10 years, from N57 billion in 2005 to N184 billion in 2015 through the automation efforts, which started in 2012.
According to the Federal Government, the revenue at the ports have actually grown by over 25 per cent from 2012 when the reform efforts commenced.
Representing the Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, at the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) / Financial Derivatives Company (FDC)’s Dialogue on Port efficiency and Maritime Sector Road map, in Lagos at the weekend, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr. Jumoke Oduwole, stressed the importance of the the reforms at the ports, which, she said , is focused on deploying a deliberate, well thought through automation strategy that achieves the tripartite objectives of blocking revenue leakages, improving process efficiency and reducing human intervention.
She noted that the diversification objectives of the present administration would be impossible without improved administration of the ports, which serves as the point of entry of the much-needed raw materials and machineries for any industrialization efforts, as well as point of exit for the exportation of manufactured goods and agricultural produce.
She added: “Maritime sector reform to improve Ease of Doing Business in Nigeria, particularly trading across borders, is of high priority in our reform efforts. The Federal Government is focusing on critical infrastructure, both hard and soft, particularly trade facilitation, quality infrastructure and Ease of Doing Business Reforms.
“In light of the well-documented challenges experienced by users of Nigerian ports today, making it easier and faster to facilitate the exit and entry of goods into Nigeria, as well as improving the business environment, are critical to the sustainable and inclusive development of the Nigerian economy.”
Oduwole added that Federal Government is not merely concerned with revenue generation at the Ports, but convinced that thousands of jobs and shared prosperity can be created from a strategic development of the Maritime Sector, hence is committed to creating an enabling ecosystem for the various stakeholders in the sector to maximize their potentials and grow their capacities.
She charged local operators to take advantage of International Monetary Fund (IMF) growth projection of 0.6 % for the country in 2017, and the present diversification opportunity in the country to invest as some foreign investors are already doing.
She maintained that organised private sectors should support the federal government’s efforts in growing non-oil exports in the light of competitive and comparative advantage created by the depreciation of the Naira, promoting exports – agriculture and agro-allied products, solid minerals, manufactured goods, services – to increase much-needed foreign exchange supply in the country.
Earlier, the President of LCCI, Dr (Mrs) Nike Akande, lamented myriads of problems members of the chambers face daily in their operations at the Ports, noting that the more reasons stakeholders were brought together to discuss the current state of the ports and proffer solutions to myriads of problems militating against the growth and development of the sector and improve ease of doing business.
She noted that LCCI Maritime Ports Research conducted in the third quarter of 2016 revealed that, “The efficiency of port operation is a major driver of trade and economic activities across countries. Unfortunately, over the years, users and operators at the Nigerian Ports have been facing lingering challenges and bottlenecks.”
The research further revealed that, “Improving ports governance for greater efficiency has major implications for the potential development of non-oil sectors at this time. The growth and promotion of trade and economic activities could only be pragmatic, when economies thrive to provide a conducive and friendly environment. Public authorities and the private sector have come to the realization that the starting points for activating the diversification objective of the present government is fixing the ease of doing business at the nation’s ports.”