Business Briefs
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THE federal government has said it will increase its investment in Transcorp Hilton Hotel Plc as a result of the company’s profitability. Benjamin Dikki, director-general, Bureau of Public Enterprises, BPE, said out of all the government enterprises that were privatised by the bureau, only two of them had not been problematic. The two firms, according to him, are Transcop and Eleme Petrochemical Limited.
Dikki dropped the hint while speaking at the public presentation of the company’s Initial Public Offer in Abuja on Monday, September 29. He said, for instance, within the last five years, Transcop Hilton Hotels had been paying dividends consistently to its shareholders. This, he added, was commendable owing to the fact that the company was not yet listed on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange.
“This is a good dividend of democracy that the transformation of President Goodluck Jonathan is bringing to the people. Transcop has been paying very high dividends over the years,” he said.
On his part, Valentine Ozigbo, managing director, Transcorp Hilton Hotel Plc, said the hotel was Nigeria’s best example of Public-Private Partnership. He said in the next five years, the company would take a phased approach in developing high-end hotels in Ikoyi, Port Harcourt, Ikeja and Warri, as well as a convention centre and apartment complex in Abuja. These investments, he added, would enable the company to further increase its dividend payment. The company is targeting to rise up to N8 billion through the IPO of 800,000,000 ordinary shares of 50 kobo each at N10 per share to get capital for the development of new projects.
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SEC Director General Re-elected as Chairperson by AMERC
ARUNMA Oteh, director general, Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC, has been unanimously returned un-opposed as chairperson of the African/Middle East Regional Committee, AMERC. She was re-elected at the 39th annual conference of the International Organisation of Securities Commissions, IOSCO, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
SEC said in a statement that Oteh was re-elected to head AMERC for the next two years based on the experience that she brings as well as quality leadership Nigeria has provided over the years. By this election, Oteh is to serve on the executive committee, the highest decision making organ of IOSCO for the next two years. Also re-elected was Saudi Arabia while Egypt was newly elected.
In her acceptance speech, Oteh said her election as AMERC chair was a demonstration of the confidence the organisation had on her, SEC and Nigeria as a whole. She pledged to be a loud voice representing the region’s interest and her commitment to ensuring that the region would do its best to uphold the goals and ideals of the global body.
“We believe that our work is very important to IOSCO and that it is very important to the market. One of the things we have achieved in the last two years has been greater inclusion and cohesion. This has not come from the work of the executive alone, but by the work of all of us. I am excited about the opportunity given us to lead the committee again for the next two years and we will continue to ensure that our committee is the best in IOSCO,” she said.
According to Oteh, there is an increasing focus on the capital market away from banking and finance as banks are still dealing with the challenges of the global financial crisis. She added that the challenge for the regulators is to raise an enabling environment that would not increase risk for the investors and operators. “Capital markets are very critical to the economy of every nation. The capital market is really the answer as it does not only provide financing but creates the environment where the right products are available. We come together to support each other in enforcement, share information because we believe the world is global. IOSCO succeeds because of co-operation between countries. In AMERC, we can focus on the things that are most important to us and it is heart-warming that we are making progress in our respective countries.”
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Ogun Tops Other States in Improving Business Environment
THE World Bank Group has said that most states in Nigeria have continued to implement regulatory business reforms, with Cross River, Ekiti, Niger, Ogun, and Rivers states making the biggest stride. According to the World Bank report on business climate, challenges and hurdles to local entrepreneurs have persisted in the country’s business climate.
The report tagged ‘Doing Business in Nigeria 2014’ found that there was room to learn from each other, with good practices being implemented in some parts of the country that can benefit other states if applied. According to the report, the 36 Nigerian states in addition to Abuja, FCT were benchmarked in the entire study.
The report covers four indicators including: starting a business, dealing with construction permits, registering property, and enforcing contracts. The report finds that 22 states have improved in at least one of the areas measured since the last benchmarking exercise in January 2010. The findings showed big strides achieved in the past few years by some states. Ogun, one of the lowest ranked overall performers in both 2008 and 2010, is one of the top reforming states in 2014. A concerted effort across federal and state authorities, and in collaboration with the private sector, helped improve Ogun on three of the four indicators benchmarked.
The report also finds that most of the reforms documented focused on streamlining the complexity and cost of regulatory processes. One-stop centres have improved the time to issue a building permit in Rivers, Delta, and Oyo, in some cases dropping by 50 percent or more since 2010. Findings show that the case management provisions introduced by Ekiti’s new civil procedure rules in 2011 helped reduce average trial time by nine months. Data shows that states continued to digitize land records and introduce geographical information systems making property registration more secure and efficient.
Despite these improvements, challenges persist, with no single state ranking at the top on all indicators. For instance, Abuja, FCT and Lagos are among the top performing states on the ease of starting a business, but rank in the bottom two positions on the ease of dealing with construction permits. Similarly, Sokoto and Osun rank two and three in dealing with construction permits, but 30 and 33 in starting a business, respectively.
Additionally, the study revealed that Nigerian entrepreneurs face different regulatory hurdles, depending on where they establish their businesses. Varied state regulations and practices along with uneven implementation of federal legislation drive these differences and impact local entrepreneurs differently.
— Oct. 13, 2014 @ 01:00 GMT
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