Kaduna’s business climate after 3 investment summits
Governor of Kaduna State, Malam Nasir El-Rufai said the state conceived KADInvest as a platform to demonstrate its commitment to attract investment aimed at accelerating development in the state. Last year, the then Executive Secretary of the Kaduna State Investment Promotion Agency (KADIPA), Alhaji Gambo Hamza, who for a second time in a row had been at the forefront of organizing the Kaduna Investment Summit had told our correspondents that the summits have been of enormous benefit to the people and government of Kaduna State.
He said this is because the meets have accorded the state government the opportunity to learn firsthand the experience and challenges of big and small investors in doing business in a state like Kaduna.
Our correspondent observed since the maiden edition of the summit which held on 6th-7th April, 2016 with the theme ‘Let’s Move Kaduna into the Global Economy’ the state government has been relentless in not just sustaining the programme but making it even bigger.
In 2017, the state government organised the second edition KADINVEST which held between Wednesdays, 5th -Thursday 6th April 2017 with the theme “Making Kaduna the Investment Destination of Choice.”
This year, it lived up to its promise of sustaining the drive towards investment by holding the 3rd edition of the summit which held on Wednesday and Thursday, last week.
This is despite the fact that the issue of security has been a challenge since the first meet.
Other stakeholders also complain about the lack of sufficient power supply whch would have been boosted with the completion of the Kudenda and Shiroro power plants.
Notwithstanding, many say the economic climate in the state has improved in the last three years.
Governor El-Rufai says KADInvest has enabled the state government to “connect with investors and development partners, showcasing the human and natural resources that abound in the state, and the policy environment we have created to anchor our business-friendly ethos.”
KADIPA, the state government agency responsible for investment promotion say the Kaduna economy grew five times more than the national economy in 2017, saying it witnessed a GDP growth of over 11 per cent while the national level was barely 2 per cent.
The agency also points at a number of projects started as a result of the summit which include, HSV Farms, Jifatu Shopping Mall,, Capital Rice, Olam Poultry and Feed Mill, Vicampro Potato Farm and Processing plant, Falgates Food Manufacturing, Mahindra Tractors, Markets and Neighbourhood centre, En Consulting, Green Economic Zone, Free Trade Zone and Dangote Tomato Processing Plant among others.
Projects commissioned as a result include a veterinary doctors quarters at Olams Poultry and Feed Mill, Kaduna ICT Hub meant to provide ICT skills and training to 5000 youths annually, a Solar Power Project at Badarawa Primary Healthcare Centre and 32 similar projects completed in 18 Local Government areas in partnership with UK-DFID.
Others are the Phase I of Mass Housing Project at Millennium City which will deliver 20,000 Units of affordable housing in the next 4 years and the office complex of Wema bank Plc.
Before the commencement of the second edition of the summit, the state government identified key areas of focus which included; launching the state infrastructure master plan to give an idea of the kind of infrastructure it intended to provide in the next five years, implementation of the state sector plan where every MDAs can tell what it intends to achieve and how it intends to achieve it as well as sign donor partnership agreements.
All these are intended towards achieving 56 investments with a total of over $1b, 335,000 jobs expected, development of 150,000 hectares land for a number of projects like $10million Dangote Tomatoes Production Plant in Kaduna, $150million Olam Animal, Poultry and Hatchery Factory, located in Chikun Local Government Area; the $120million Vicampro Potatoes Farm and Processing facility in Manchok among others.
Our correspondent observed that most of the projects listed are in progress with a few facing challenges.
While the Olam Poultry and Hatchery Factory has commenced full blast and with evidence of high productivity, the Vicampro and Dangote projects have been delayed due to issues with the host community.
The former Tanzanian president, Dr. Kikwete, who presented the keynote address the third Kaduna Investment Summit, KADINVEST3.0, encouraged Kaduna State to stay on the path towards investment promotion saying it is the main road towards development.
He said while not trying to demean the importance of natural resources as it plays a central role in attracting investors, the government should strive towards creating a conducive environment to complement the requirement needed to sustain investments.
Kikwete said based on his experience when he was President of Tanzania, there’s the need to create the conducive environment for investments opportunities to flow into the continent.
He said this is because investments grow economies and have the potential to create jobs, increase people’s incomes and help uplift people from poverty to prosperity.
“A conducive investment environment is a very critical factor , if you have a lot to offer, but if the investments climate is not conducive, people will not come. Perhaps this is the most important factor that business people give closest attention to and very serious consideration when choosing where to direct their investment to, it is almost a make or break factor it is the ultimate,” he stated.
“It takes investments to build schools, hospitals, roads, airports, railways, water and power supply systems to improve people’s living standards.
It takes investments to have a well functioning government, defense and security establishment, parliament, courts of law to provide services to the people and ensure progress, security, Safety and Justice in the society. Without investments all these and many more will not be possible,” he stated. this years
The Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi Ojaja 11 in a goodwill message at the summit said Kaduna is a peculiar state with huge potentials and one of the most blessed state in the entire black race and is the convergent state for the entire northern region, saying there’s the need to convert the huge potentials into reality is imperative.
He said,”We should all look inward and come together as one big family in terms of our comparative advantages”.
The Ooni described Governor Nasir El-Rufai as the brightest, smartest and boldest governor in Nigeria saying the governor needs all the support to transform the state positively.
President Muhammadu Buhari in a goodwill message, commended the governor for initiating the KadInvest saying the Federal Government was encouraging similar initiatives across the states to create jobs and prosperity for Nigerians.
The President said that his administration is looking inward while pushing for an aggressive plan to make it easier to do business in the country.
Minister of Transport, Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi who also spoke at the event urged investors not to be dismayed by pockets of kidnapping in parts of the country, saying that investments can be used to end crime in the countr
Amaechi praised the Kaduna people for their activism in social media, saying that it indicates how educated they are. “In the past none of you can send a video to a minister, now you don’t only send, you direct me on what to do.
“So, I urged you to continue on that line of being active by making us accountable to you because without you there is no government. Without the Kaduna people there is no Malam el-Rufai and without the Kaduna people there is no Buhari.”
As the summit closed, a big challenge for the state has remained the issue of the $350 million loan the state government had hoped it would secure from the World Bank to fast track its development plan for the state but which has been stalled due to its rejection by the Senate.
Many had hoped that the state governor would have used the opportunity of the summit to impress it on the legislature to see reasons with him and reconsider their position.
The Ooni however used the occasion to appeal to the senators from the state to cooperate with the governor on the issue.
But it is not clear how the legislators would respond to this even as many say it would have come a major breakthrough if the summit had achieved harmony between the executive and the legislature on the issue of the loan.