Minister proposes multi-modal tranportation
By Abayomi Adeshida
KUALA LUMPUR—Trade relations between Nigeria and Singapore is to hit the $90 million mark by December 2011, just as an open-air agreement for direct air link between both countries has reached advanced stages.

As the Transport Minister, Mallam Yusuf Sulaiman, also proposed a multi-modal transportation system for the country which would become a major driver of economic growth as the country is set to achieve Vision 202020

The Nigeria’s High Commissioner in Singapore, Amb. Emmanuel Ogunnaike, during a seminar in Singapore,  called for more sectoral partnership between both countries.

Represented by the Head of Chancery, Nigeria High Commission in Singapore, Alhaji Abdulaziz Dankano, the High Commissioner expressed the belief that as Nigeria celebrates 50 years of independence, government had carried out very successful reforms.

According to Ogunnaike, in a message to a seminar on ‘Doing Business in Nigeria’, “ there is need to advance collaboration between Nigeria and Singapore.

“The reforms that were embarked upon by the Federal Government had yielded positive results and a follow-up of the reforms is the business forum we are holding today.”

“This seminar is one of the several ways that government is consolidating on the reforms and with the reforms, government’s target to grow the economy in the next one decade would be realised.

“Having tried several other means, wealth creation was one of the key areas focused upon by government to alleviate poverty among the people.

“Government intends  to further deregulate the downstream sector of the economy, and all these commitments, plans, programmes are opportunities for the Singaporeans investors to benefit from,” he pointed out.

On the open air agreement between Nigeria and Singapore, Ogunaike said,  “the Federal Government would soon go into bilateral agreement with Singapore  for Singapore airline to fligh directly into Nigeria.

“And to assure investors that governmment is adopting a multi-sectoral approach, there is in the pipeline agreements on education, scientific, culture and tourism with Singapore.

“And for those who have expressed the concern, another agreement  in the pipeline is avoidance of double taxation in the country,”Ogunaike assured.

In his presentation, the Singapore High Commissioner to Nigeria, Shabbir Hassanbhai, maintained that policy makers in Singapore supported the initiative to increase Singapore’s trade in Africa as a whole.

In his words, “since year 2000, there had been massive trade between Africa and Asia, as trade volume jumped from 1 billion dollars in 1991 to 30 billion dollars in 2000.

“The trades are continously growing and could be 90 billion dollars by the end of 2011,” he said.

Minister proposes multi-modal tranportation

Transport Minister, Mallam Yusuf Sulaiman, has proposed a multi-modal transportation system for the country which would become a major driver of economic growth as the country is set to achieve Vision 202020.

The Minister made this proposal in his paper, titled “Understanding the spectrum of strategic partnership and investments for developing Nigeria’s integrated transport system,’’, during a seminar on doing business in Nigeria delivered in Singapore.

Addressing the gathering of a Nigerian trade delegation and investors from several sectors in Singapore, Suleiman stated that, ‘as we try to achieve vision 2020, it becomes imperative to have a multi-modal transportation.

“Due to lack of committed efforts over the years, the nation’s roads had been stressed because a nation where over 90 per cent of goods are moved by roads would result to high costs of transportation.

“Ity is unfortunate that Nigeria was ranked worst in costs of moving containers among eight countries like Kenya, Venzuela, Brazil, South Africa, Indonesia, China and Indonesia.

“The masterplan for an integrated transport infrastructure is the plan of the Ministry of Transportation for meeting Nigeria’s needs by year 2020.

“For the rails, the standard gauge were ready, just as the Federal Government is embarking on the rehabilitation of the narrow gauge all over the country.

“Statistics show that railways had been neglected for several decades, as the 11.2 million passengers of railways as at 1964 had declined to 1.9 million in 2008.

“In marine transportation sector, government has almost completed the dredging of River Niger to put a stop to the chaotic water transportation system in the country,” he assured.

Suleiman also told the gathering that there were huge investment opportunities at the Inland Container Depots, ICDSs, to open up the hinterlands and facilitate imports and exports.

In his address, the  Executive Secretary, Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission, NIPC, Mustafa Bello, said Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product, GDP, had grown by 7.2 per cent in the first half of 2010.

Speaking while delivering a paper,‘breaking the barriers to doing business and investing in Nigeria,’  Suleiman pointed out that  the nation’s GDP growth rate between 2000 and 2008 was encouraging.

The NIPC helmsman said the GDP appreciated due to several reforms put in place by government, “including the rule of law which government embraced as well as its zero tolerance for corruption.

“Government had also created an enabling environment with the seven-point agenda of government which is aimed at attaining a single digit inflation rate.

“So far, the nation is enjoying political and macro-economic stability and had improved on contributions of the non-oil sector from less than a billion dollars to close to two billion dollars.

Bello who admitted that widening income rates among the poor and the rich was a challenge in the country also said that high cost of infrastructure due to insufficent energy and lack of access to long term funding for infrastructure were some of the challenges to be investors faced in the country.

However, Bello said listed incentives of investing in Nigeria’s vast arable lands to include relative absence of natural disasters, high returns on investments, five years corporate tax holidays and very low Value Added Tax (VAT) among others.

Other speakers at the event include the FCT Minister, Senator bala Mohammed whoi was represented by the FCT Director of economic Planning, Mr. Ari Isa; the Chairman, Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Chief Ebitimi Banigo; the Executive Director, Bank of Industry (BOI), Mr Mohammed Alkali and the Director-General, Infrastructure Concesion and Regulatory Commission (ICRC), Mansur Ahmed who said the vision of Nigerians over the next10 years is to reposition the nation’s economy.

The ICRC D.G. stated that Nigeria would need between N12 billion and N15 billion over  a period of five years to upgrade its infrastructure.

According to Mansur, “ by 2020, Nigeria should be one of the largest economies in the world to consolidate its leadership role in Africa.