By Henry Umoru
THE Director- General Director, the Nigerian Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA), John Isemede, disclosed yesterday that most companies in the West African sub region have failed to achieve success because they have refused to recognize the need to register their membership with their countries’ Chambers of Commerce and Industry.

Isemede who also lamented that security agents usually pose a threat to the entrepreneurs, stressed that most of the problems could be attributed to entrepreneurs who lack the necessary information on trading within the region, adding that they end up wasting their precious time in slogging it out with the security agents along border.

Addressing Journalists in Abuja yesterday on the forthcoming annual business forum to be anchored by the Federation of West Africa Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Cote D’Ivoire at the end of this month, said that there was the need to develop human capacity in the sub region where Nigerian entrepreneurs can move freely within the region.

According to him, business men registering their companies with the Corporate affairs Commission, CAC can not on its own guarantee companies recognition along the border and at the international market, adding that there are other chamber of commerce that can assist business men and women who may be facing one challenge or the other, particularly at the various borders.

According to Isemede, as part of moves to address these problems, the ECOWAS commission, comprising 15 member states has concluded arrangements to organize an annual business forum that will bring together all stakeholders in its economic integration process, particularly for members of the private sectors as well as government officials and other regional and international organizations to bring to focus the role of the private sector in its integration efforts.

The DG noted that an important component of the forum is award prizes to business operators as well as members states who distinguished themselves in specific fields, including energy, youth entrepreneur and borders with the best free movement of goods and people, adding that the award was crucial to the realization of the goals of the founding fathers of the sub-region that was centred around integration, free movement, financial cooperation, telecommunication, agriculture among others.

According to him, “We are talking of best free movement of state, i.e. how convenient, how simple is it for a Nigerian to move from Benin republic or any other country. We are looking at the area of energy.
“In Nigeria, we are talking about electricity, alternative source of energy and we have to encourage people to take the risk to discover one thing or the other so that we can boost the production of electricity. If we cannot produce, how can we compete with the world? In this present state of using generator”.

Also in his remarks, the Chief executive officer of the Federation of West Africa Chamber of Commerce, and industry (FEWACCI), Cherno Jallow, who noted that ECOWAS was taking care of the award because of energy problem in the region, stressed that it will also focus on boosting of energy production through the award by encouraging private sector to invest in energy production.

The selection of nominees for the award according to him has five member committees at the national and regional levels. In Nigeria the committee members include the NACCIMA, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), Energy Commission of Nigeria (ECN), Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), and the Federal ministry of Commerce and Industry.