Sambo Woos Marubeni to Invest in Nigeria

Fri, Jan 24, 2014
By publisher
5 MIN READ

BREAKING NEWS, Business Briefs

THE federal government has asked Japan’s Marubeni Corporation to invest in the country as there are many opportunities and incentives from the administration to encourage investors. Speaking with the management of the Japanese company in Abuja, on January 21, Namadi Sambo, vice-president, urged the Marubeni Corporation to take advantage of the opportunities that abound in the country, especially in the oil and gas sector and invest in the country.

He told the management of the company to also explore opportunities in the solid minerals sector, noting that the sector has been neglected and the administration is working hard to develop it. He urged Marubeni to take advantage of the huge deposit of coal in the country as government is encouraging the private sector to engage in the coal-power project.

Sambo said there are opportunities for investment to improve water supply as various cities in the country need water, adding that the federal government is building new dams and rehabilitating old ones to enhance water supply, agriculture and electricity. He assured that government was taking the necessary steps to deal with the issue of shortage of gas, which has been a problem for the newly built thermal power plants. He urged the company to invest in this sector as the price of labour in the country is cheaper than anywhere in the world and that it assures good returns on investment.

The vice-president also said the multi-year tariff order, MYTO, has increased and the National Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC, is there to bring a balance in the sector, stressing that gas lines are linked to the railways and inland ways to ensure availability of the product where it has been difficult to link it hitherto. He said government would convene a meeting with the ministers of finance, power, the Bureau of Public Enterprises, BPE, and the Marubeni Corporation, to discuss how to access the $77 billion Yen Credit Loan the government of Japan is offering Africa.

Sambo commended the company for helping in the building of hydro dams, especially the Mambilla dam and other dams, saying Marubeni as a world class company in Japan, should also invest in this area as government is building more than two hundred dams to achieve ten thousand mega watts of electricity at the end of the year.

SEC’s New Rule for Company’s audited Accounts

Arunma Oteh, DG, SEC
Arunma Oteh, DG, SEC

IN ITS bid to forestall malpractices among operators in the Nigerian capital market, the Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC, has warned all operators to ensure that their audited accounts are signed by the person who audited the account rather than the auditing firm.

The SEC in its website drew the attention of all operators in the Nigerian capital market to the ruling of the Court of Appeal, Lagos, delivered on December 9, 2013, in Suit No. CA/L/178/2011 – KPMG Professional Services and Guinness Nigeria Plc Vs Mazi O. Unegbu which was an appeal against the decision of the Federal High Court, Lagos, delivered on November 19, 2010. According to the commission “The ruling is to the effect that any document required to be prepared by any audit firm, shall be signed by a named auditor/partner who must affix his own personal signature and not the name of a firm as signature.”

Consequently, the SEC stated: “We direct all capital market operators and consultants to comply with the ruling by ensuring that any document prepared on their behalf by any audit firm for filing with the commission is signed by a named auditor/partner who must affix his/her own personal signature and not the name of the firm as signature.”

Telecom Operators Wants a Better Image

Adebayo
Adebayo

THE Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators of Nigeria, ALTON, has urged the Nigerian Communications Commissions and the media to help build a better image management for telecoms industry. Gbenga Adebayo, ALTON, president, said it has become imperative to ensure better perception of the industry with regards to the frequent criticisms often received by the operators from all sides due to issues of quality of service.

“As we are aware, quality of service in the telecoms sector is an ongoing process and consistent and continuous efforts have to be made to achieve and sustain it. All the goof of the industry is being assesses from quality of service standpoint. This has seen the rating of all players going sore. No one is talking about the impact of employment creation again; no one is talking about the foreign direct investment of over $25 billion brought into the country by the sector again.

“Also, no one is talking about the development of our national economy, for an industry that is contributing over eight percent to our Gross Domestic Product, GDP,” he said, adding that the banking sector is contributing only four percent GDP to the economy but they have been able to manage public perception better than the telecoms industry,” he said.

Compiled by Anayo Ezugwu 

— Feb. 3, 2014 @ 01:00 GMT

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