The
presidency in this statement signed by Senior Special Assistant to President
Buhari on Media and Publicity, Shehu Garba, listed six gains for Nigeria from
President Buhari's recent trip to Kenya where he attended the Tokyo
International Conference on African Development ( TICAD VI). Read the statement
below
TOKYO
International Conference on African Development, "TICAD 6" just ended
in Nairobi, Kenya and in attendance were several African Presidents and Prime
Ministers including our own Muhammadu Buhari and the co-convener of the
conference, Shinzo Abe, the head of the Japanese government.The TICAD seeks a
win-win partnership between Japan and Africa. A key objective of the conference
is to build up African ownership of its own vision of growth and development.
In
furtherance of this, Japan seeks to differ with the other players on the
continent by placing emphasis on high quality infrastructure that do more than
job creation by transferring technology through the training of youth and
women.
The
conference held every five years from the time it started in 1993 until the
last one in 2003 when it was decided that it should be convened every three years
instead. The one that just finished is significant in the sense that this was
the first time it took place in Africa. They met in Japan all the time in the
past.
Another
significant departure is the recognition of the role of the private sector in
the economic take-off of the continent. In this respect, more than 100 Chief
Executive Officers, CEOs from leading Japanese companies accompanied Prime
Minister Abe. This is a clear indication that more and more Japanese companies
are eying the African continent. A modest number of Nigerian business and
state-owned enterprises were equally present.
From its
start, Prime Minister Abe made known the intention of Japan to spend 10 Billion
Dollars in the next twelve months and overall USD 30 Billion over a three-year
period on areas key to African economies, targeting infrastructural projects
such as roads, energy, ports, hospitals and training institutions. The money
will partly be disbursed through the African Development Bank, ADB.
At the end
of the conference, a statement tagged "Nairobi Declaration" was
issued. Among its highlights is the launching of "Initiative for Food and
Nutrition Security for Africa, IFNA." This aims to bring African
governments together to swiftly implement food and nutrition security policies
and programs. There were important resolutions taken on economic
diversification and industrialization; promotion of "resilient health
system for quality of life" and measures for the promotion social
stability and shared prosperity.
For Nigeria
in particular, "TICAD 6" milestones include the important meeting
between President Buhari and Prime Minister Abe, at which event problems
militating against the inflow of Japanese investment into Nigeria were
discussed and agreed upon.
Japanese
companies had done a lot by way of investment in the past in Nigeria but there
has noticeably been a drop in the last decade or two. Chiefly to blame is the
problem of security, disguised in official discussions as "business
environment."
President
Buhari used this meeting effectively in giving assurances that the problem is
being addressed. Boko Haram terrorism is nearly gone and sabotage in the Niger
Delta will soon be ended preferably through dialogue and if not, by force of
arms.
Coming into
close personal contact for the second time, the two leaders discussed the
issues of trade and investment, health, peace and development of the continent.
In addition, they discussed issues in diplomacy and international relations.
President
Buhari's statement at the Head of States' round table meeting with business
leaders underscored the serious efforts government is making to improve
Nigeria's notoriously bad business environment.
At this
meeting, he announced the coming into place of a soon-to-be inaugurated
"Presidential Enabling Business Council, PEBEC."
He described
it as an inter-ministerial council to oversee the efforts of government to
remove various bottlenecks that stifle business and economic activity to give
way to the right enabling environment and investment climate in Nigeria. It
will be powered by the government but will be private-sector driven.
According to
its vision, the PEBEC will make Nigeria one of the most attractive business
destinations in the world. It will start with the modest effort of moving the
country up 20 points in the World Bank ranking in the ease of doing business in
the first year, taking it into the top 100 at the end of the four-year mandate
of the current administration.
A third
takeaway is on the sidelines of the TICAD where the Nigerian government
delegation met a good number of big Japanese enterprises. Collectively and
individually, these businesses expressed their intention of either coming in
newly or expanding their participation in Nigeria's private sector. The
companies with varied interests in power, agriculture, automobile, motor
cycles, textiles, financing and the service sector included the Honda
Manufacturing (Nigeria) Limited, representing Honda Motor Co. Ltd; Japan
Tobacco Inc., Marubeni Corporation and Mitsubishi Corporation.
Others
included Toyota Tsusho Corporation, Toyota Tsusho (Nigeria) Ltd., an affiliate
of Toyota Tsusho Corporation, West African Seasoning Co. Ltd., affiliate of
Ajinomoto Co. Inc., and Japan External Trade Organization, JETRO.
At these
meetings, they explored the scope for the incentive packages the Nigerian
government will give them so as to deepen and expand their investments. These
included export rebates, access to Foreign Exchange, land, interest rates,
transparency in business regulation and favourable regulatory structure.
The fourth
important takeaway is the formation of a new group KENSA made up of industry
leaders on the continent, Kenya representing East Africa, Egypt for North
Africa, South Africa for the South and Nigeria, from West Africa.
The four
countries agreed to consolidate their quadrilateral grouping initiated at the
19th July UNCTAD (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development) meeting
and decided to expand business and trade between the four of them, inject
impetus into the CFTA, the African Union-inspired free trade agreement among
African countries and to coordinate their positions on trade and investment
inside and outside Africa.
Fifth,
Nigeria and Kenya seized the opportunity of the meeting of their leaders to not
only strengthen bilateral relations but to follow up on the achievements of the
State Visit to Nairobi by President Buhari earlier this year.
From the
time of the visit, both countries have seen a growing impetus for trade and
investment between them. Kenya which discovered oil lately is picking lessons
from Nigeria's vast experience in oil and gas. Nigeria is learning from Kenyan
experience in managing animal grazing. There are efforts on both sides to share
experience and promote private sector participation in trade, cooperatives,
micro finance, cotton farming and palm oil processing.
Sixth, under
the auspices of the Bank of Industry and the Nigerian Investment Promotion
Council NIPC, several memoranda of understanding, MOUs were signed between
Nigerian parties and their foreign counterparts. From many of these,
investments and jobs will follow.
On the
President's delegation were the Ministers of Agriculture, Health, Budget and
National Planning, and Industry, Trade and Investment.
There were
also the National Security Adviser, NSA and the Director-General, National
Intelligence Agency, NIA.
Members of
the delegation expressed satisfaction with the outcome of the conference and
the side engagements
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