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NASS to facilitate direct foreign investment into Nigeria

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Abuja, Aug. 12, 2023: Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu has pledged that National Assembly will prioritise legislations that will boost direct foreign investments to Nigeria to make it the best business destination in Africa.

Kalu said this on Friday when the Deputy Ambassador of Hungary to Nigeria Mr Gabor Krauss paid him a courtesy visit in Abuja.

The deputy speaker also stated that President Bola Tinubu had a robust economic agenda that would reposition Nigeria for better development.

“Nigeria is big with regards to playing a major role in the global market and anybody who sees the opportunity now and steps in stands to benefit from the market share that is going to spring up from Nigeria.

“I say so because we will be leveraging the Africa continental trade agreement, that we are all signatories to, that will be commencing soon. Most companies around the world are seeing beyond their own continents and looking into the continent of Africa.

“You know if you come to African continent, the biggest market is Nigeria. So anyone who’s going to be strategically positioned to benefit from the Africa continental trade agreement cannot avoid Nigeria.

“So what you’re doing now is good for your country, by sniffing out opportunities, closer to your people to embrace,” he said.

Kalu said that the National Assembly would champion policies that would help to increase the confidence of investors on Nigeria through legislative interventions.

Speaking, Krauss said the visit was to communicate with the deputy speaker, of a planned increase in investments and humanitarian services to Nigeria.

Krauss said that the embassy officials had visited Abia where they sought to establish a factory as a joint venture that would help in technology transfer to Nigeria.

He said that a number of Hungarian companies were doing business in the country, adding that his country had equally offered a lot of scholarship opportunities to Nigerian students.

Kola-Balogun

Expert urges NASS to expedite legislation on decentralised national grid  

A power expert, Mr Kola Balogun, has urged the National Assembly to expedite action on its move to decentralise the National Grid due to incessant system collapse.  

Balogun, who is the Chairman, Momas Electricity Meter Manufacturing Company (MEMMCOL), made the urge in Lagos.  

The national grid had suffered two system collapses within the last three days, resulting in blackouts in some parts of the country.  

Balogun commended the efforts by the national assembly to move electricity generation and distribution from Exclusive to the Concurrent List in the ongoing amendment of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.  

“Honestly, they have taken the right step. This has been my advocacy ever since, but it took them a long time to listen to us.  

“We have over 30 years of experience in the power sector downstream and we made recommendations that the grid should be decentralised as a matter of urgency.  

“We have seen that the grid system has failed us. Every time we have system collapse because of decayed infrastructure. We need a lot of replacement.  

“We need substation enhancement, distribution substations, injection substations, transmission substations and network expansion of the transmission substations.  

“So, it is good that we are now moving to separate the grid to allow state and local governments interested in the sector to come in.” he said.  

Balogun, however, warned that it was not enough to clamour for the decentralisation of the national grid, stressing that past mistakes recorded in the power sector privatisation must be avoided.  

He said, “We must ensure that only people with pedigree, right technical skills and financial competence will be allowed to manage the cascaded separation of grid.  

“They are to manage the sub-sector of the network and this means we have to sit down and do a proper restructuring of decentralisation to ensure that the right people are given the task.”  

According to him, even some personnel who have retired from the power sector but are still technically sound can be consulted in this regard.  

Balogun said there should also be a time frame and deliverables to appraise the players from time to time.  

“We can do an appraisal that will show that a particular local government or state has become a success story in managing its grid with the area having uninterrupted power supply.  

“That will serve as a learning curve to others and will lead to adopting their methods.  

“So, the national assembly has put in a remarkable effort to decentralise the grid and they should license people on kilowatt hour.  

“Those businesses that are surviving in Nigeria today are licensed.  

“Banks are licensed businesses,  so also are telecoms. We can have same in the power sector but they must be thoroughly scrutinised.”  

Trading At The Nairobi Securities Exchange

NASS want stronger capital market regulation

The Chairman, House Committee on Capital Markets and institutions, Hon. Babangida Ibrahim, has called for strengthening of the regulatory framework of the capital market to attract more investments.

Ibrahim made the remarks during a stakeholders meeting on Investments and Securities Bill held on Monday in Lagos.

He said due to the vital role that capital markets played in the growth and development of the economy, there was need for investments to be conducted under a secured and transparent environment.

“This meeting is to review the current developments in the Nigerian Capital Market and also dissect the content of the Investments and Securities Bill, 2021 and make appropriate contributions.

“Towards strengthening and enhancing the regulatory and supervisory framework of the Securities and Exchange Comission (SEC) as the umpire of the capital markets.

“SEC, with our determined commitment for the passage of the Bill, which has already passed the second reading, I believe at the end of this retreat a clearer focus would be charted to ensure the success of the passage of the Bill,” he said.

Ibrahim said he hoped that contributions at stakeholders’ meeting would strengthen the operational framework of the capital market.

“We as Stakeholders must offer our valued ideas and bring in our expertise and professionalism to this piece of legislation.

“We should note that for this bill to pass through the legislative activities successfully in the National Assembly, it must be holistic and comprehensive.

“Therefore, I urge the management of the mommission and the entire stakeholders gathered here to bring out our best towards this course,” he added.

He also assured stakeholders of the National Assembly’s support in any area of legislation necessary to actualise the vision of SEC to make the investment and securities businesses in Nigeria better.

The Director-General of the SEC, Mr. Lamido Yuguda, expressed the need for a legislation that would address the current realities and prepare the Nigerian capital market for the prospective changes in the future.

Yuguda said the significance of the capital markets could not be over emphasised as governments needed the capital market to deliver the goods and services that the nation needed.

“I hereby wish to register my profound appreciation for the support from the two committees of the National Assembly to us in our various interactions over the last one and half years.

“This has helped the leadership of the Commission in doing things differently and I can say confidently that we are in a better state than we were two years ago.

“With this kind of support we are going to get the capital market of our dreams,” he stated.

Also speaking, the Chief Executive Officer, Nigerian Exchange Ltd., Mr Temi Popoola, emphasised that most of the developmental challenges the country faced could be solved through the capital market.

He said: “The capital market stimulates economic growth, mobilises savings, creates wealth, contributes to infrastructure development, reduces scarcity of foreign currency, aids financial inclusion, and promotes transparency and good governance.

“It is, therefore, crucial that the market becomes more innovative in product development to attract a more diversified array of market players both in the listing and trading segments.

“Undoubtedly, if we are able to deepen our market and make it stronger, there will be inflows and our nation will grow and become healthier,” he noted.

The Chairman Senate Committee on Capital Markets, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, in his goodwill message said a lot of changes had happened in the global stock market, hence the need for Nigeria to move with the tide.

Represented by Senator Kashim Shettima, Amosun said: “It is interesting to note that the last time the Act was enacted was in 2007. There are lots of changes in the global stock market and we need to move with the tide.

“There is, therefore, the need for a review of the ISA to conform with current realities. This is a good forum for us to come up with robust solutions to the challenges,” he said.