Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators of Nigeria, ICSAN has described as welcome development the inauguration of a two point five billion dollars fertilizer plant.
ICSAN says with the inauguration Nigeria which Africa’s most populous country hopes to contribute to the global supply amid the impact of increasing prices in the aftermath of the Russia-Ukraine war.
Its President and Council Chairman, Gbenga Owokalade said the coming on stream of the plant would create huge opportunities in the areas of employment, trade, warehousing, transport and logistics.
The Plant, according to him, will greatly create wealth, drastically reduce poverty and secure the future of the nation.
He said this during the Institute’s quarterly media parley in Lagos, reacting to the commissioned Dangote fertilizer project, urging Nigerians to continue to invest in signature projects that would directly impact the country’s economy.
Owokalade said investments of such nature would leave great marks on the nation’s employment indices through its expected provision of thousands of direct and indirect labour particularly at the location.
He added that the transportation sector and even the country’s depleting foreign exchange would also be impacted by the development.
According to him, when this nature of development continues with many other Nigerians investing in signature projects, the economy would become more self sufficient, and grow more sustainably.
In his words, food security would be addressed, naira would get to an appreciable level in the international community, and the narrative of the country would definitely change against what is seen daily.
He also reiterated the Institute’s commitment to preaching good corporate governance parlance across all the sectors of the Nigerian economy.
Owokalade also commended the Lagos State government for its desire to commence operation at the Imota Rice Mill, which would be the largest in Africa, in December.
The Mill, when operational, would ensure a steady supply of about two point four four million freshly processed fifty kilogram bags of rice per annum, in addition to over two hundred and fifty thousand jobs that would be created in both the upstream and downstream sectors of the Rice Value Chain.
Speaking on the impact of the ongoing Russian-Ukraine war, he said the war is already being felt by global economies, Nigeria inclusive with soaring confectionery, gas and a host of other prices.
According to him, both nations should visit the negotiation table as a place to end the rift, saying Nigeria ought to benefit from the effects of the war but oil theft and bunkering is not allowing that to happen.
He charged the federal government to begin to embrace the cassava/corn based bread model and implement policies that would engender food and oil sufficiency for the country.
“Government needs to be more strong willed to address these issues because players in that sector are complaining seriously.
“Also, government should find a way to help the Ukraine student returnees either by allowing them continue in Nigerian owned Universities or organising with good foreign universities so that they don’t loose in all ways,” he said.
On the education sector, Owokalade bemoaned the current rift between the Federal Government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities, saying the situation was a big challenge to the Nigerian education sector.
As an Institute, the President posited that government must sincerely make its position known and stand by it to put an end to the back and forth which had elongated the academic tenure of many Nigerians.
According to him, the academic environment must not be affected by things like this. We cannot keep quiet as an Institute nor be diplomatic in making statements that addresses this issue, saying
the government must be able to define what is fundable within the academic environment and stand by it thereby addressing this issue once and for all.
He lashed out on Federal Government for not being proactive in meeting the demands of the academic union in forestalling any industrial action, saying every country that recognises the value of human capital development invests appropriately in education.
In his words, the government must be proactive, responsive and responsible to its citizens, in particular the area of human capital development, instead of building the access and capacity of existing universities, you are creating more universities.
You are creating universities within the same pool of staffing that has been in existence for over ten years because there have not been serious capacity building.
Owokalade, commiserated over the losses at the fire incident at Apongbo area of Lagos Island, stressing the need for the government to rise up to the occasion to curtail future occurrences.
He said there is need for the government to adopt regulations that cleverly compels risk mechanisms such as insurance against incidences of such nature.
According to him, there is also need to ensure mechanisms that prevent human activated fires are in place and also empower the fire service by improving their capacities to fight or ameliorate the effects of the incidences in the future.
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