Govt to save N474b from oil metering system

The Federal Government would save about N474billion ($3billion) through the implementation of the new policy on Weights and Measures, the Minister of Trade and Investment, Mr. Olusegun Aganga, has said.

Aganga spoke during the Second Annual Seminar for Trade and Investment Correspondents and Group Business Editors, in Abuja, on Monday.

He said with the granting of the Presidential approval to the Weights and Measures Department, an agency under the Ministry of Trade and Investment, adequate measures would be put in place to ensure that Nigerians get value for products for local consumption and export.

He said, “The Ministry of Trade and Investment has made significant achievements within the last one year. In terms of investment inflow, at least 30 per cent of the investments coming into Africa comes to Nigeria, which makes the country number one investment destination in Africa. But what makes this very important is that it does not include oil and gas investment, it is in the real sector of the economy.

“All over the world, there is legal meteorology which ensures that what you buy is accurate and legal. If you look at the Nigerian Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative Report, there is a lot of leakage in the oil and gas industry, either because the meters are not working or they are not installed at the right places. But for the first time, the President has given us approval to commence that operation across all sectors of the economy.

We are starting with the oil and gas, telecoms and power sector. When the process is completed, we expect to save the country about $3billion and also generate revenue of about N17.4bn for the government in 2013”.The minister also said that the value and volume of the country’s export had increased significantly within the last one year.

He said, “In terms of export, the volume has gone up by 17.23 per cent while the value has gone up by 23.5 per cent. We are restructuring the Abuja Securities and Exchange Commission and when that is completed, that will increase the price the farmers get for their goods from 35 per cent to about close to over 50 per cent as it is done in Ethiopia. This process will help to create more jobs in terms of the warehouse receipt system that we are trying to introduce.

“Every Nigeria has the ability to establish and run their own businesses. All they need is a good investment climate, funding and the business support. We are working with them to make sure that we have both the right investment climate, funding to create about 3.6 million jobs within the next four years. For the first time, we have completed the database of all MSMEs in the country which we never had. This database revealed that there are 17.28 million MSMEs in the country employing close to 33 million people.”

He, however, said that most of these businesses were micro-businesses.

“In terms of overall GDP contribution, MSMEs contribute about 45 per cent of the country’s GDP .This shows that this is the sector that we need to support due to their capacity for employment generation,” he added.

He said that the capacity utilisation of industrial sector had improved, driven largely by the textile, apparel and footwear sub-sectors of the Nigerian economy. He, however, added that the Nigeria Industrial Revolution Plan would help in moving the country from that of exporting raw materials to a net exporter of finished products.