Rivers lost rating as industrial hub, investment destination, Fubara laments

 

Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara has lamented how the state lost its rating as one of the industrialised states and competitiveness as a preferred destination for domestic and foreign direct investments.

Fubara, who said this in his address while declaring open the two-day Rivers Economic and Investment Summit in Port Harcourt on Wednesday, said the rating lost by the state as a preferred investment destination was due to the continuous posting of low economic growth, low tax revenue, high unemployment rate, and slow development.

The maiden edition investment summit was themed, “Rivers Emerge: Advancing Pathways to Economic Growth and Sustainability.”

The governor recalled that the state, especially Port Harcourt, its capital, was an established commercial centre in the country, pointing out that the Trans-Amadi Industrial Layout in the city centre hosted several thriving commercial and industrial concerns that created employment, income, and prosperity for the state and the people.

He said, “Sadly, all that is now history as most of the industrial ventures in that estate have either closed shop or become moribund. The industrial estate is now characterised by abandoned factory buildings and warehouses.

“We have since lost our rating as one of the industrialised states and competitiveness as a preferred destination for domestic and foreign direct investments resulting in the continuous posting of low economic growth, high unemployment rate, and slow development.

“For decades, the Rivers State Government had continued to depend more on allocations from the federation account to fund its expenditures because tax revenues had remained low due to low investments and economic growth.

He added, “Today’s event aims to advance investment opportunities in Rivers State. It provides an opportunity for us to hear from the experts, exchange ideas, raise questions and receive answers to the economic and investment challenges we face as a state.

“Historically, Rivers State, especially Port Harcourt, was an established commercial centre in Nigeria. The Trans-Amadi Industrial Layout hosted several thriving commercial and industrial concerns that created income, jobs, and prosperity for our state and people.

The governor said the state needed to focus on an investment drive to regain its status as an industrial hub and preferred investment destination.

He said, “For us, building a resilient, robust, and diversified economy holds the key to sustainable peace, security and progress of our state and the spiritual, social, and physical well-being of our people.

“We therefore commit to the re-industrialisation of Rivers State in partnership with the informal and organised private sectors through necessary policy, legal, and other support measures, and systems.”

“This was why we approved the Rivers State Economic and Investment Summit 2024 as the first of several measures to unveil the economic potential of the State to both local and foreign investors and markets.”

He expressed optimism that Rivers State would emerge from the summit and position itself as a premier investment destination, offering boundless economic opportunities for domestic and global investors.

To this end, he said his administration had already implemented certain policy initiatives and reforms, including the prompt allocation and issuance of land titles and certificates of occupancy to prospective investors and a moratorium on State taxes and levies on new businesses.

“We have signed a development agreement with TAF Nigeria Limited for the construction of 20,000 mixed houses in the Greater Port Harcourt City. We signed another development pact with GOSH Nigeria Limited for the construction of an international automobile spare parts trading and commercial market.”

He further said, “The state government provided hundreds of hectares of land as its equity and work has since started at both sites. Apache Aluminium LLC of America has started the acquisition of land to establish a multi-billion-naira aluminium rolling mill (plant) in the Ogoni axis of Rivers State.

“We have opened discussions with Imagine Adama Agricultural and Technology of Israel to support the state in developing our huge agricultural potential, including reviving abandoned agricultural projects and infrastructures such as the Rivers Songhai Farm, the School-to-Land farms, fish farms, feed mills, oil palm estates and poultry farms across the State.

“We have earmarked about $10m for this project this fiscal year. We have also concluded arrangements for the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with Planet One Holding Limited of Dubai for a $10m Mangrove Forests Conservation and Carbon Capture Project under the Private Public Partnership arrangement,” he added.

 In his keynote address, political economist and former Deputy Governor of CBN, Prof. Kingsley Moghalu, said without good governance no state would be able to evolve economic transformation.

Moghalu also gave conditions for attracting and benefitting from foreign direct investment saying there must be skillful manpower and availability of infrastructures.

He said, “With good and committed governance, no state in a country could make it in terms of economic transformation. Governance is key. I am encouraged to hear the governor’s emphasis on governance beyond politics.

“The reason Nigeria is broken today is because we have made politics our number one job and we have forgotten governance. If you run for election for any office the reason you are elected is for good governance. But the Nigerian politicians have forgotten that the reason they are in office is to develop human capital.

“So, our politics has become all about the politicians. Foreign investment is not a magic wand. If you think it is a magic wand, look at all the oil companies in the Niger Delta which had foreign investors in the past 50 years, look at the poverty in the creeks and the environmental degradation.

“Foreign investment does not deliver the results if you do not know how to go about it. It calls for a certain strategy. Foreign investment helped China and Singapore, we hope it will help Rivers State. But it has not brought prosperity to Africa. “

Continuing, he said, “Foreign investment has declined precipitously in Nigeria over the past decade. This is because the competence to drive Foreign investment is absent and the foundation of good governance does not exist. Investors are not fools. If you want to attract Foreign investment it is important to lay the foundation going forward. 

 “Foreign direct investment will help to drive development only with some location factors. The first location factor is skillful human capital, the second is infrastructure and in this context, I want to congratulate Governor Fubara for the ongoing construction of the Trans Kalabari highway. These two things are necessary. Rivers State has more opportunities to be part of the value chain of the compressed natural gas”.

Highlights of the summit were the presentation of papers on available opportunities in oil and gas, energy mix, property and housing development, among others, while subject matter experts dissected the papers in a panel discussion session.

Earlier, the Rivers State governor also said the state decided to invest N225m in the Trans-Kalabari road in other to take development to rural areas. He spoke while responding to questions after a panel session at the summit.

He added that development in the state was gradually moving to rural areas.

He also expressed optimism that the state would emerge from this summit and position itself as a premier investment destination, offering boundless economic opportunities for domestic and global investors.

According to him, the state is the centre-point for the oil and gas industry in West Africa.

“We account for over 40 per cent of crude oil production onshore in the country and 100 per cent of liquefied gas that the country exports,” he said.

He said that the state is the second largest economy in Nigeria, “and with a nominal gross domestic product of over $28.4bn, the state’s economy ranks in the top 25 economies in Africa comparable to countries like Botswana, Rwanda, and Gabon,”

Highlighting the potential in the state, he said with over 40 per cent of fertile cultivable landmass, Rivers State has the potential to make a significant contribution to national food security with commercial investments in mechanised agriculture and the agro-processing industrial value chains.

Continuing, Fabura added that several state-owned but moribund companies, farmlands, and business infrastructure, including oil palm estates, rubber plantations, poultry, and fish farms, “are available for interested private investors to take over and revitalise,”

He said that the state presents lucrative opportunities for the commercial production of highly valued cash crops for the export market.

“Given these advantages and many other attractive opportunities, the economy of Rivers State has great potential for serious investors to tap into, exploit, and be rewarded with huge profits and lucrative returns on investments,”

He stated that the state was working on the harmonisation of state and local government taxes to eliminate double taxation and the imposition of multiple levies on investors.

“Two weeks ago, we launched the N4bn matching fund loan scheme with the Bank of Industry Limited for small, micro, and medium-scale businesses to drive financial inclusion and enhance the growth and development of support these businesses to grow our economy, create jobs, and wealth for our people,”

Fabura disclosed that the state had approved the establishment of the Rivers State Investment Promotion Agency to provide one-stop-shop investment services and facilitation to investors in the state.

“Last week, the State Executive Council approved the proposal by Rainbow Heritage Group to build the New Port City in the State on about 1000 hectares of land in collaboration with the Greater Port Harcourt City Authority,”

He expressed happiness with the quality of attendance at this summit.

Also speaking, former Manager, Gas and Power Directorate at the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited, Adokiye Tombomieye, said it was good the stakeholders’ engagement focused on, “diversification strategies aimed at reducing dependency on oil and gas,”

He said that the issue of economic diversification remained a global discourse as governments, “across the world whether federal, state or municipal are looking at creative means and ways to boost economic activities and increase access to capital”

“As we navigate the complexities of economic diversification and resilience, it is essential that we draw upon the lessons of the past while embracing innovation and forward-thinking strategies to propel Rivers State towards a prosperous and sustainable future,” he said.

Meanwhile, a former Governor of Cross River State, Donald Duke, who spoke as a special guest at the event, noted that despite the humongous amount of gas in the state, the country is yet to know how to utilise the gas to boost revenue.

He said, “We flare is enough to sustain a hundred and seventy of such plants in this State alone. We have got to make the treasure work for all of us. And that is the challenge of this summit.”

He opined that the country should rather focus on growth rather than inflation.

He said, “Lately, we have been having flaring of policies, these policies to my mind, are to help curb inflation and maintain the exchange rate. I think we are going in the wrong direction actually, the emphasis should be on growth. So when we cut interest rates so high, today if you borrow you are not going to get the money less than 35 per cent. That is a disincentive to growth.

“I understand the challenges of inflation, but you got to ask yourself which is more important, inflation or growth?

“I believe growth, over a period, would absorb inflation. Besides we have so many other instruments to curb excess money in the system. I am concerned because if a foreigner or a foreign investor should bring a $100m to invest, at the end of the year he or she will just go back with $120m. Do we have the resources? What are we going to do to sustain that high level of interest?  So if we keep on focusing on inflation, I think we may miss the ball but our focus should be more on growth and try to manage inflation at the same time. We are strong economically but in terms of human resources, we have grown astronomically.”