RSIPA, Business Leaders Seek Solutions to Investment Constraints as Rivers Government Deepens Ease of Doing Business

Rivers State seems to have restarted its economy with the 18th International Trade Fair holding at the Obi Wali International Conference Centre in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

This is as the Rivers State Investment Promotion Agency (RSIPA) unveiled measures to enthrone ease of doing (EoDB) aimed at winning back the confidence of the business community.

Also, the Mayor of Housing, My-ACE China, has thrown his weight behind the efforts to promote businesses in the State, advising however that you must first protect businesses still remaining in the state before promoting.

Speaking during a breakout session of the Agency at the ongoing Trade Fair, Director General of RSIPA, Chamberlain Peterside, unveiled the plans to have the Agency, together with top investors and business regulators at both local and national levels drive concerted strategies to free the state from what they called ‘Perception Risks’.

Dr Peterside said the agency was poised to free the state from accumulation of wrong narratives that over the years branded the state as unsafe for business, admitting, however, that many things have gone bad in the past where regulators joined to make the business environment difficult for investors.

He announced that the agency was rather focused on actions, solutions, and results as adopted in the mission statement of the agency’s board. He also said Rivers State is back to business.

“We are not naïve to believe that either by some form of magic we can suddenly turn the fortunes of the State and attract all the investments we desire.”  

“Our task is no mean feat. We are dealing with the perception risk that over several years branded the state as unsafe. We are also faced with the challenges of dealing with the lack of cohesion amongst MDAs, policy inconsistencies, multiple taxation, incessant harassment by miscreants, red tape and delays in obtaining operating permits, high cost of operations and opaque public sector.”

He said the Agency was not there to dwell on challenges but to focus on action, solutions, and results. He said it is about listening to the investors in the field and ensuring that MDAs were carried along, hence the imperative for the setting up of our One-Stop-Center (OSC).”

He called it the practical game-changer never experienced before in the annals of Rivers State.

The state government through the Ministry of Commerce and Industry showed full representation to reassure investors of the readiness of the Sim Fubara administration to create level playing grounds for businesses to grow in the state.

For the plans of the investment promotion agency to materialize, the Mayor of Housing, My-ACE China, who was presented at the event as a star investor and keen promoter of Rivers State reputation, advised that an enabling law should replace the Executive Order that established the Rivers State Investment Promotion Agency.

This, he said, is to insulate the Agency from political instability and remove fear in the minds of investors about its sustainability.

China, regarded as a real estate success strategist, cautioned that protection precedes promotion, thus, businesses in the state desire protection before anything else.

He said Local Direct Investment (LDIs) is what attracts and promotes Foreign Direct Investment (FDIs), citing an African proverb that says; ‘It is the rat at home that reveals to the one in the bush that there is fish in the kitchen’.

‎‎China said he discovered opportunities in Port Harcourt when he arrived the city and found it was locked out by information.

‎‎The CEO of the Housing and Construction Mayor Limited, owners of the Alesa Highlands Sustainable Green Smart City, said that Port Harcourt is like a business empire under lock and key because it is not protecting its own and also not promoting its own enough for investors to come in.

‎‎In the area of land documentation and inventory, China urged Rivers State Government to borrow a leave from Abuja and adopt the use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in dealing with land and property registration and documentation for ease of doing business by elimination of land fraud.

‎‎He said Lagos understood the power of business information. “This creates the impression that if you are not doing it in Lagos, you are not doing it in Africa.”

‎The Mayor of Housing, who is canvassing for an economic triangle along Port Harcourt-Uyo-Aba axis to boost the economy of the region, said: “We need to shout louder than Lagos because we need more investment than Lagos and we need the structural integrity of Abuja. When you marry both, Rivers State would be wonderful and become green with investments.”

He went ahead to paint the picture of the richness of Rivers State including over 50 cultures and festivals, boat regatta, a blue economy, etc.  He recommended measures that would boost economic development in Rivers State.

In his remarks to encourage investors, Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, represented by the State Commissioner for Commerce and Trade, Joe Johnson, said his administration is ready to listen to the business community to see ways of reducing impediments to investments.

He referred guests to the various actions undertaken by his administration which are listed in the Governor Fubara’s 37-page blueprint to revive the economy of Rivers State.

Speaking, the chief host and President of the Port Harcourt Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (PHCCIMA), Dr Chinyere Nwoga called on the state government to look into the menace of parked trucks now turning Trans-Amadi into a risk zone.

She outlined the activities of the PHCCIMA and invited investors and businesses to the Port Harcourt economic hub, saying peace has returned.

Speaking, the Executive Secretary and Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Investment Promotion Council (NIPC), Aisha Rimi urged Rivers State to make haste and catch up in Ease of Doing Business, saying the Council has come to help businesses in the state.

Represented by the Director, Investment Relations at NIPC, Lovina Kayode, who led the Council’s delegation to the Port Harcourt International Trade Fair, the NIPC boss said the mandate of NIPC is to promote investment in Nigeria and to protect businesses in Nigeria, contrary to widely held belief that NIPC was for foreign investors alone.

‎Rimi commended the Mayor of Housing and his counterpart, Oliver Biedima of Rainbow Heritage Group, for their decision to invest in Rivers State, saying that it was proof that Rivers State was safe for investors and their investment.

‎‎She said that NIPC team was at the event to seek the welfare of investors and interface with investors in Rivers State to solve their problems through interagency collaboration and the One-Stop-Shop in the NIPC, through the Aftercare Programme.

‎In his remark, Chief Executive Officer of Rainbow Heritage Group, Oliver Biedima urged government to give the private chance to develop the economy, saying government ordinarily has not the size of fund to develop the economy, but to provide security and regulations that attract investors. ‎