business0521

16 BUSINESS DAY
Thursday 21 May 2015
COMPANIES & MARKETS
Investors eye huge investment in Ogun
… as works begin on 37.65km Atan-Igbesa-Agbara road
RAZAQ AYINLA, ABEOKUTA
A
cross-section of
investors and
entrepreneurs in
manufacturing
and agro-allied
sectors of economy have foreseen
massive investment in
Atan-Igbesa-Agbara as well as
Agbado-Akute and Magboro-
Ojodu axis of Ogun State when
the current infrastructure
upgrade, especially various
road constructions currently
undertaken by the state government,
are completed.
Various proposals on different
types of investment,
including real sector and micro,
small and medium-scale
enterprises came against the
backdrop of 37.65km Agbara,
Atan, Lusada-Igbesa
and Lusada Alapoti roads
construction in Ado Odo/
Ota Local Government; $3.5
billion inter-city light rail project
linking major cities and
about 60km Ijoko-Agbado-
Magboro-Ojodu road construction.
It would be recalled that
Governor Ibikunle Amosun
pledged to start construction
of 37.65km Atan-Igbesa-Agbara
road and a light
rail project linking Agbara
and other major cities in the
state at the commissioning
of Allied Atlantic Distilleries,
ethanol plant in Igbesa last
year, which he later approved
for re-construction into four
lanes, though a Federal Government-owned.
According to Lekan Adegbite,
commissioner for works
and infrastructure, the roads
would be reconstructed into
four lanes while Lusada-Alapoti
road that links Ogun
Gunagdong Free Trade Zone
would be in two lanes with a
four lane carriage way grade
separator at Lusada junction.
He said the road projects
when completed would also
ensure reduction of travel
time, especially with the Average
Daily Traffic (ADT)
volume of 115,750 vehicles
per day that was above the
capacity of the roads presently,
revealing that contractors had
been mobilised to site and
the road project was expected
to be completed within 24
months.
Speaking on the envisaged
investment and economic
development expected in few
months,
Wale Adegbite, chiarman,
Manufacturers Association
of Nigeria (MAN), Ogun State
chapter, said appreciable
commitments would come
from investors and entrepreneurs
once the roads were
started, especially in Igbesa-
Agbara axis, saying the road
incentive would surely drive
in more investors.
“A wonderful news story
for we, manufacturers; we are
very much excited about that. I
believe transportation is a very
key infrastructure and in as
much as His Excellency, Senator
Ibikunle Amosun, the excutive
governor of Ogun State
has awarded the important
road in the state; Atan-Igbesa-
Agbara, we, the manufacturers
should be excited.
“Because, the road when
completed, will reduce the
cost of production and transportation
of raw materials to
our factories and haulage of
finished goods to market will
be quicker and easier, thereby
improving industrialization
and stimulating economy.
SON moves for standardisation of African products
The emergence of Joseph
Odumodu, director-general,
Standards
Organisation
of Nigeria (SON), as president,
African Organisation
for Standardisation (ARSO),
may signpost movement towards
integration of African
standards in products aand
services. This is predicated on
the various measures taken
towards maintenance of standards
in made-in-Nigeria
goods and servives.
At a stakeholders’ forum,
Tuesday in Lagos, Odumodu
said at this stage of Africa’s development
and the constant
infiltration of sub-standard
products into the continent,
there was an urgent need for
African countries to seek to
integrate African standardisation
to eliminate those problems
inhibiting trade within
the continent, at the unveiling
of forum for Chief Executives
Officers (CEOs) of National
Standards Bodies (NSBs) in
Africa, holding in Abuja, June
22 - 24, 2015.
According to Odumodu,
hosting the ARSO president’s
forum was one of the resolutions
made at the 20th General
Assembly of ARSO in
Kigali-Rwanda in June 2014,
where delegates endorsed the
need for the director-general/
chief executive of SON as the
ARSO president to convene
a forum for CEOs of all NSBs
in Africa for engagement on
ARSO standardisation programmes
with the expected
outcome of increasing the
membership from the current
34 countries to 55.
“In recognition of the importance
of Standarsation to
Africa’s integration, the 9th
Ordinary Session of the AU
Conference of ministers of
trade who convened at the
ministerial level at the African
Union headquarters in
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from
December 4, 2014, also made
a recommendation that:
“All AU member states that
are currently not members
of ARSO should endeavour
to attain membership by the
year 2017,” the SON boss said.
The mobilisation of all
NSBs into the membership
of ARSO would drive the standardisation
programmes necessary
for the strengthening of
the competitiveness of “made
in Africa” products a well
as engender regional and/
or continental fusion into a
economic bloc, he explained.
The forum is also a response
to the African leaders’
week-long meeting in Addis
- Ababa, Ethiopia in January,
2012 under the theme:
“Boosting Intra-African
Trade” (BIAT), as a strategy
to boost trade within the African
continent by at least
25 - 30 percent. Also the AU
conference of ministers of
trade, held in Addis Ababa,
2014, also took note of the
annual report by ARSO and
made the following recommendations:
All AU member states that
are currently not members of
ARSO should endeavour to
attain membership by 2017;
ARSO and other pan-African
standardisation organisations
to refer to the year 2017
as African Year of Quality
infrastructure; the AUC and
ARSO should increase awareness
and mobilise all stakeholders
on the role of Quality
Infrastructure; The AUC and
quality infrastructure institutions
should assess the status
of Quality Infrastructure in
Africa, and develop a strategic
plan on quality infrastructure
in Africa
On expected output of the
conference, Paul Angya, director/secretary,
SON, and secretary
to the planning committee
on the forthcoming Abuja
forum, said the forum among
many outputs will provide an
opportunity for the African
CEOs to strategies on actualising
the recommendations
made by the ministers to
ensure the smooth take off of
the CFTA by 2017.