Gov. Abdulahi Sule should hear this... Nasarawa State @ 24: The Need To Unlock Investment Opportunities. By Murtala Adogi Mohammed

Nasarawa state was created on 1st October 1996, out of neighboring Plateau state. Located in the North-Central region of Nigeria, bordered to the West by the Federal Capital Territory, the North by Kaduna, the South by Benue an
d Kogi, and to the East by Plateau and Taraba states. The State is nicknamed “Home of Solid Minerals” because of its huge deposits of mineral resources.

The creation of the State was indeed, a significant development for its diverse citizens. This is because it brought together people who shared common aspirations and had co-existed peacefully for decades, even though with pockets of tribal and natural resources conflicts here and there which are also characteristic of developing democracy.

The desire for self-determination, sustainable development, economic empowerment and social cohesion were the stimulus that impelled our founding fathers to struggle and tussle for the creation of the State.

According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development UNCTAD 2019 World Investment Report, Nigeria is the third host economy for Foreign Direct Investment FDI in Africa, behind Egypt and Ethiopia. Both World Bank ‘Ease of Doing Business’ and UNCTAD recent reports revealed that – the investment climate in Nigeria is improving generally.

At sub-national level, as reported in the Guardian Newspaper of 28th, February 2020, the Nasarawa State Coalition of Business Professionals Association (NACOBPA) has lamented the poor business climate that has crippled small and medium scale businesses in the state.

Presenting the factors that have crippled businesses in the state, Chairman of NACOBPA, Mrs. Joanna Bello listed them to include insecurity of lives and business property, as well as poor access to funding for micro and medium scale enterprises, poor access to business premises, lack of street numbering and addresses and absence commodities processing centre/industrial layouts and multiple-taxation on small businesses in the state, as a major huddle that the state and Federal Government must surmount.

In Nasarawa State, several of its untapped resources now offer very good potentials for economically viable and technically feasible industrial and agricultural development projects. It has a wide range of solid minerals and a variety of crops produced within the state.

There is need for Nasarawa State Government to provide smart, not overly burdensome regulation and a stable regulatory environment, as well as guarantee the rule of law and a level playing field for investors. The state needs to do to improve state’s policies in relation to transiting to digital economy, building more business hubs and leveraging on the Abuja-Karu investment corridor.

With thousands of unemployed youth, a rise in numbers of functional industries and productivity is required to maintain growth and guarantee development and sustainability, it’s worth noting that innovation requires investment in human capital and is high time for Nasarawa state to develop costed, state-specific human capital development plan.

Moving forward, Nasarawa state government need to strengthen financing strategies for state development; Improve the state investment climate and local markets; Attract investors and access capital markets; Identify sectors where private sector solutions can create or expand markets.

The state government need to lead by example to have investment that will stimulate the economics of Nasarawa state, I think there is need to have a project that will create massive employment and increase the internally generated revenues for the state.

One of such projects is what I refer to as ‘Nasarawa Agro Trade Centre’ NATC, just like Kano Agro Trade Center in Dawanau, Dubai World Trade Center and Korea Agro Trade Center in Huntington Beach, CA, which is a public-private company categorized under Wholesale Grocers.

Governor A.A. Sule should consider constructing the Nasarawa Agro Trade Centre’ NATC in Lafia, for comparative advantage of being the state capital with other supportive institutions in place that would stimulate the take-off of the trade Centre.

In Practice, the Nasarawa Agro Trade Center I’m suggesting here will be cluster of markets where different types of agricultural product are sold. The agro-based cluster is simply a concentration of producers, agribusinesses and institutions that are engaged in the same or different agricultural or agro-industrial subsector, interconnect and build value networks in addressing common challenges and pursuing common opportunities.

A recent research shows that clustering markets of the agricultural products presents many benefits, such as creating an enabling environment for inter-firm cooperation, facilitating the diffusion of innovations, and acting as a means of massive revenues generation to government and at the other hand creating employment.

In a layman sense, the trade Centre will be one stop mega market located in Lafia for all agricultural product produced in Nasarawa and the neighboring state, every product with its section, and in the market, there will be with police station, banks, hospital, hotels and parking space for over 150 lorries and other necessary modern facilities.

Just imagine the number of youths that would be engaged in keeping the market clean, the number of youths that would serve as local security in the markets, and the window of opportunities the Centre will open for local and international investors.

Equally, important is that agricultural activities should be made attractive to encourage more youths, especially in rural areas, to take part in it rather than continuously drifting to urban areas where jobs are becoming even scarcer.

This could be done through the provision of soft loans, facilities to enhance mechanized farming, building of more silos to minimize produce wastage, provision of irrigation facilities as well as improved seeds. Good roads for the transportation of farm produce should also be provided.

As a development practitioner and a student of Dudley Seers, I strongly believe that development should be a drastic reduction in the level of poverty, unemployment and inequality over a period of time.

Therefore, Nasarawans need a project that will bring food to their table quickly – and that is just the bottom line. I think there are so many low ‘hanging fruits’ that will give current administration a quick win.

Improving the business regulatory environment across the state such as land administration process through a robust geographic information system; getting electricity for business owners; paying taxes; getting credit; technical support for starting business, and employing workers - will be key for the state’s economic growth.

State’s heavy dependence on ‘Abuja-Monthly-Oil-Give-Away’ has posed a huge challenges that have made it difficult to achieve sustained growth, create jobs and reduce poverty in Nasarawa state. We need to move on….but we also need to carefully study the MAM’s SWOT Analysis below...

Murtala Adogi Mohammed
mamurtala@gmail.com
011020