Business Briefs
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THE federal government has said that the rice sector has attracted N256 billion worth of investments in the last three years. Akinwumi Adesina, minister of agriculture and rural development, disclosed this during the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding, MoU, with the Bank of Industry, BOI, to build rice and cassava mills across the country.
“Within a three-year period, we have been able to attract $1.6 billion of investment into the rice sector. …I have no doubt that within three years, Nigeria will be exporting rice just like Thailand and India, and that is exactly the way it should be. However, we notice that as we have been producing a lot of rice, we don’t have enough mills to process the rice,” he said.
Adesina said the country lacked integrated rice mills to process the locally produced rice to global standards. He said it was important for Nigeria to close the milling gap, and to achieve this, the country had to build integrated rice mills. He said that the MoU was to facilitate the building of 10 rice mills and six cassava processing mills. “The 10 integrated rice mills will each have the capacity of 36,000 metric tonnes, which means they all will be a total of 360,000 metric tonnes. So, this is a huge investment. The rice mills are going to be located in Kebbi, Zamara, Kaduna, Kano, Benue, Kogi, Bayelsa, Bauchi, Ogun and Anambra states. Government has no part in this venture. The role of the government is to facilitate access to finance for private sector investors to invest in these mills and run them as private sector-driven operation.”
Rasheed Olaoluwa, managing director/chief executive, BOI, said the bank was now at the critical stage where there is a need for effective processing of the agricultural produce. He said the MOU will address the modalities to ensure that these 16 companies materialise in the next few months. “It is hoped that by the time the companies are operational, the amount of rice being imported will be significantly reduced if not completely eliminated,” he said.
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FG Abolishes VAT at Stock Market
THE federal government has approved the abolition of five percent Value Added Tax, VAT, paid by investors on shares traded at the Nigerian capital market. This approval followed the gazetting of the issue by the government.
The Nigerian Stock Exchange, NSE, on Monday, October 27, confirmed the gazetting of the abolition of VAT on all commissions application to capital market transactions. These commissions include those: earned on traded values of shares; payable to the Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC, the NSE and the Central Securities Clearing System, CSCS. According to the gazette, the exemption is effective for a period of five years.
Oscar Onyema, chief executive officer, NSE, hailed the government for gazetting the VAT removal, stating that it was a demonstration that the capital market is a key component of the federal government’s transformation agenda. According to him, investments should not be categorised as consumer goods purchases, but as a platform to promote a long term savings culture that could be channelled towards economic growth and development. “The elimination of VAT on stock market transaction fees will ultimately reduce the cost of transactions for investors, and will encourage investments in the Nigerian capital market,” he said.
Onyema, however noted that the stamp duty waiver, which was also announced in 2012 by the minister, is yet to be implemented. He expressed the hope that the federal government will expedite the implementation process in the interest of investors in the Nigerian capital market, which is an important engine of growth for the Nigerian economy.
— Nov. 10, 2014 @ 01:00 GMT
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