Nigeria’s tax laws encouraging investments — APM Terminals

Nigeria has tax laws that are serving as incentive to drive investments into the nation’s economy, Courage Obadagbonyi, the chief financial officer of APM Terminals Nigeria, has said.

According to him, the pioneer legislation, Infrastructure and Roads Tax Credit Programme which companies like MTN and Dangote have used to successfully to build hundreds of kilometres of roads and bridges across the country are some of the tax laws that are favourable to investments.

Obadagbonyi, who was a panelist during a session on ‘Financing Maritime Assets - Ports and Shipyards,’ at the just concluded Nigeria International Maritime Summit (NIMS) 2022, said that funding of viable infrastructural projects in Nigeria would not be an issue in terms of availability of cash.

According to him, there are a lot of private equity and multilateral funding available if the projects are well positioned and investors have a good line of sight to their payback.

“I think what we need to do is publicity and sell these projects to the right individuals with the right pockets. I think with more publicity and engagement with private stakeholders, some of these challenges to investing in port infrastructure can be fixed,” Obadagbonyi said.

He said that tax laws can also be used to build ports infrastructure, adding that Nigeria also has great capital allowance provisions that encourages investors.

He advised the Federal Government to embark on massive awareness campaign to further attract private capital to the nation’s seaports.

According to him, based on the latest data published by the Debt Management Office, the country’s debt profile currently stands at N42 trillion, which is about four times the country’s total revenue budget per annum. This, he said, makes the cost of borrowing more expensive.

Obadagbonyi said Nigeria had to find creative ways to unleash private sector participation in port rehabilitation instead of depending on government funding through borrowing.

Recall that APM Terminals Apapa, one of the largest container terminal operators in Nigeria, has invested more than $438 million at the Lagos Port Complex Apapa.

The amount was invested in developing infrastructure, acquiring equipment and improving processes at the terminal.

The terminal has also been in the forefront of digitisation of port operations in Nigeria in line with its commitment of introducing new innovations to help both shipping lines and landside customers to achieve improved supply chain efficiency and flexibility in a cost-effective manner.

“Sustainable financing models are important to build critical maritime assets such as shipyards and ports across the country,” Mu’azu Jaji Sambo, the Minister of Transportation, said while declaring 2022 NIMS summit open.

The Minister said Nigeria remained committed to the sustainability of the blue economy.

Also, Kitack Lim, secretary general of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), said Nigeria’s significance to the maritime sector of West and Central Africa.

“Carbonisation is the greatest challenge of our time, which IMO is working to address. The upgrading strategies shall be concluded in July 2023. By next year, we shall adopt the long-time strategy. However, prior to that time, we shall continue to support member countries,” Lim assured.

He lauded Nigeria’s role in the suppression of piracy in the Gulf of Guinea but cautioned that stakeholders must continue to remain vigilant as continuous capacity building is key to success in this regard.