By Oladapo Udom

The Anambra State Governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, has urged indigenes living in Nigeria and abroad to work together to make the state a destination point for commercial and industrial development.

Soludo said this during a town hall organised by a group under the aegis, ‘Ndi Anambra Residents in Lagos State’, at the Collonades Hotel, Ikoyi.

Soludo said that all, irrespective of socio-economic status, must join hands in developing the state and making it a destination point for significant investments in critical sectors.

“I urge Ndi Anambra to take that resolution and return to join hands in the development of the state including okada, keke riders, petty traders among others.

“Part of our mission in Anambra is to make our place to become a departure lounge. We must turn Anambra to become a destination point.

“We must change the narrative; we must change the story for our place to become a point of departure and all of us have something to do in this mission,” the governor said.

Soludo emphasised the importance of collaborative efforts to key into his agenda of making the state a prosperous homeland by realising the objectives of the five major agenda of his administration.

The governor highlighted them as: security, law and order; economic transformation and infrastructural development; education and youth skill acquisition; governance; rule of law; and sustainable environment.

“I recall how past nationalists like Nnamdi Azikiwe and Michael Okpara succeeded in creating a sustainable economy in the region in the 60s through investments in agriculture, industry, education and human capital.

“We have all it takes to develop the state, but what is lacking is home consciousness,” he said.

Soludo noted that the menace of insecurity had rocked his administration at the inception.

“However, we were able to surmount the challenge through launching operations that made it possible to recover over nine local government areas that have been overrun by criminals.

“Efforts are in top gear through various approaches including the armed forces, intelligence, and community vigilante to ensure that the state is secured for development to be in place,” he said.

The governor also highlighted other projects such as construction, industrial parks, commercial hubs, roads, real estate development, and renewal of urban areas in line with his vision of creating a prosperous and liveable homeland.

He added that currently, there was an ongoing training of about 20,000 youths on digital skills in collaboration with private partners such as Microsoft Corporation among others.

“I also encourage people to come and identify with projects which they can invest in because Anambra is ready for business.

“With the campaign slogan, “Think Home and Bring Home”, the state government rolled out a real estate development scheme.

“This scheme encourages people to invest in housing development, anchored by the Anambra State Housing Development Corporation (ASHDC),” the governor said.

Soludo said that the the state was working on shortening the time it took to process acquisition of land for investment purposes.

He also assured that the Anambra State Investment Promotion and Protection Agency (ANSIPPA) would help create an enabling business environment for investors.

Also, Chairman, Local Organising Committee of the event, Mr Charles Odunukwe, said that keying into the agenda of the state government was for the good of the entire state.

Odunukwe said the goal of the event tagged, “Aku Ruo Ulo”, meaning “think home”, is to encourage the people to come and invest in development projects in the state.

Edited by Folasade Adeniran

President Nana Akufo-Addo of Ghana

By Okeoghene Akubuike

President Nana Akufo-Addo of Ghana has called for strong development financial institutions to enable the African continent achieve its growth objectives.

A statement issued by Brandcomms Agency, a PR firm,  in Abuja on Tuesday, said Akufo-Addo made the call during the opening of the 30th Annual General Meetings of the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) in Accra.

The statement said that Akufo-Addo told participants at the meetings that Africa’s financial development institutions had remained highly undercapitalised.

He said the institutions needed to be properly capitalised and have coordination with the African Union (AU) to deliver effectively for the continent.

Akufo-Addo urged African countries and Africans to contribute to Afreximbank’s general capital initiative by subscribing to its allotted shares.

The president commended Afreximbank for its catalytic role in Africa and urged it to further improve its rating with credit rating agencies.

“This will enhance the bank’s operations and help it work consistently for Africa and the African Diaspora.”

Akufo-Addo pledged to work for Afreximbank to be admitted to a special status at the AU in recognition of its role and contributions to the continent.

He said the meetings was truly an intercontinental event with the participation of several Caribbean countries that had become full members of the bank following the signing of partnership agreements with the institution.

The president welcomed the bank’s support for Ghana, noting that its timely support through its Counter-Cyclical Liquidity Facility at a time when global financial institutions were exiting Africa.

“When dealing with powerful global financial institutions, it is important to have your own powerful financial institutions,” he said.

The statement also quoted Prof. Benedict Oramah, President and Chairman of the Board of Directors, Afreximbank, as saying that the bank was delivering on the blueprint laid out by the pioneers for Africa’s socio-economic transformation.

“For sixty years, this well-articulated road map remained a map and gathered dust, but thanks to the vision of African leaders who founded Afreximbank 30 years ago.

“One by one, they are being delivered within the framework of Team Africa, comprising the African Union and its agencies, the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat, and Afreximbank as the underpinning banker.

“Today, the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS) is up and running, which will save the continent five billion dollars in intra-African transfer changes.

“It will also expedite and enable payments for intra-African trade in African currencies,” Oramah said.

He said that soonest, all intra-African payments would be domesticated and would also be extended to the Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM).

He said the Association of CARICOM Central Banks adopted PAPSS a few days ago as its preferred payment infrastructure for a pilot project.

“By this singular move, we are one step closer to a full integration of African and CARICOM economies,” he  said.

Oramah said because Africa had Afreximbank, an integrated regional transit guarantee scheme for the continent had been birthed to ease the movement of goods across the 110 borders that divide Africa.

He said that under the scheme, goods could move across multiple African borders under one transit bond, significantly reducing border delays and transit costs.

Oramah also said that Afreximbank’s existence would give the AfCFTA the best chance of success, which would fulfill another key aspiration of the continent’s founding leaders.

He said Afreximbank and the AfCFTA Secretariat had established the AfCFTA Adjustment Fund to, among others, compensate eligible countries for tariff revenue losses arising from the new trade regime.

Philip Davis, Prime Minister of The Bahamas and Chairman of CARICOM, said African countries and the Caribbean shared similar challenges but had not been maximising the hands dealt them by geography.

Davis said that the new linkages between Afreximbank and the Caribbean represented a strong testament to the shared goal of pan-African prosperity.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Afreximbank Annual Meetings which holds from June 18 to June 21, is being attended by political and business leaders.

It is also attended by bankers and and trade finance practitioners from across Africa and beyond, including leaders of several member countries of the Caribbean Community.

NAN also reports that the Afreximbank Annual Meetings is also being held to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the establishment of the bank, which was founded in 1993.

Edited by Remi Koleoso/Folasade Adeniran

Firstbank, SMEDAN representatives at the Execution of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for the FirstBank/SMEDAN Partnership in Lagos

By Lydia Ngwakwe

FirstBank of Nigeria Ltd. on Wednesday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria(SMEDAN) to develop and promote MSMEs.

Dr Adesola Adeduntan, Chief Executive Officer of FirstBank, at the signing of the agreement, said that the partnership would change not just the bank and SMEDAN, but also the fortune of Nigeria.

According to him, SMEs play critical roles in the growth of a nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) through diversification of the economy, job creation, wealth distribution and social stability.

He said, “this is one of the driving forces behind our SME Connect initiative through which we offer bespoke financing and non-financing solutions to meet the needs of our growing SME community.

“For instance, in 2022, FirstBank disbursed about N455 billion in value, via tailor-made loan products to support SMEs in various industry segments.

“We have also continued to deploy various innovative e-payment products and services to aid SMEs’ trade and collections and in the process, create a seamless experience of doing business.

“I commend the amazing work that SMEDAN is doing with the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises sub sector in Nigeria.

“Your mandate of linking MSMEs to internal and external sources of finance, appropriate technology, and technical skills is one of the biggest motivations that inspired us to embark on this partnership engagement.

“Leveraging our SME Connect initiative, the large community of SMEs managed by SMEDAN, will be exposed to our product and service offerings aimed at growing their businesses and expanding its scope and scalability.”

Adeduntan, represented by the Executive Director, Chief Risk Officer, Mr Olusegun Alebiosu, said the partnership would also enable the bank and SMEDAN to accelerate digitisation and development of the SME subsector toward increasing its contribution and impact to the national economy.

According to him, there are endless opportunities for the teeming community of SMEs.

“The teeming community of SMEs will be exposed to trainings, workshops, mentorship programmes, financial and non-financial interventions needed for upscaling their businesses through the entire value chain.

Responding, Mr Olawale Fasanya, Director-General of SMEDAN, who noted that funding was an issue for small businesses, expressed joy that the bank was ready to partner in their development.

He said, “but unfortunately, the issue of finance is a major issue, especially for those that are just going into business and then the aspiring ones.

“Then when we look at the nature of the nano and micro businesses, you know banks don’t want to touch them, and they are the ones in the majority.

“So, when we have this kind of Memorandum of Understanding where we can work with banks that are ready to, at least, fund the ones that we feel are credible and will be able to pay back, we are usually very happy to enter into this kind of agreement.

“But, we also know that we have to do a lot of work to make sure that if we are recommending anybody, they are people that will be able to prove they are trust worth,” he said.

He said SMEDAN was talking to government to see how to come up with credit guarantee scheme that would help SMEs, who might defaults.

He said the agency was also trying to put them together to cooperatives, to make it easy for those in the same value chain to source their raw materials as a group.

He also promised to provide a common facility for operators in the Garment, Furniture and Packaging sector.

Also, Mr Olawale Fasanya, Director General, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), assured Macro Small and Medium Enterprise (MSMEs) operators in the country of commissioning a common facility centres.

Fasanya said that such facility centres would be provided for operators in the garment, furniture and packaging industries to facilitate their operations, both in and outside the country. (NAN)(www.nannews.ng)

Edited by Olawunmi Ashafa