Business confidence remains high as elections approach
Posted Thursday, April 5, 2007

The general elections, which will hold this month, show Nigeria in new light as an improved investment destination. Business operators across sectors say that they and their businesses are at ease as the elections approach.

[color=#990000]To buttress this, many businesses continue to attract fresh investments, incur capital expenditure and roll out fresh packages.

About a week ago, Telecom of South Africa, a fixed line telecommunications company acquired 75 percent stake in Multilinks, a Nigerian telecom operator for $280-million (about N35.6-billion).

A few weeks earlier, MTN Nigeria, acquired VGC Communications, a local telco for $70 million. Also, MTN is said to be in talks aimed at acquiring some other smaller telcos.

Business Day gathered also that Actis and the AIG Investment Fund, which acquired a majority stake in Starcomms, a Nigerian telco for $43.2-million, would be making further investments in the weeks to come.

Days back, four telcos, MTN Nigeria, Globacom Limited, Celtel Nigeria and Alheri Engineering were granted provisional Third Generation (3G) licences for which they will pay $150-million (N19.05-billion) each.

Industry experts say they will require 10 times this sum each to put infrastructure in place which will enable them roll out 3G services.

Investments in the nation’s telecom sector alone since the liberalisation of the sector six years ago, stand at about $9 billion (N1.14-trillion).

Regarding the elections, some academics are concerned about Nigeria’s history of political instability almost always triggered by electoral disputes.

They contend also that in many nations of the world , especially in developing countries, political transition periods are weak links for stability.

But high-ranking business executives who spoke with Business Day are not overtly worried.

Bayo Ligali, CEO of Celtel Nigeria said: "There is absolutely no problem in terms of elections. God has been with us all this while. He has seen us through previous elections. We believe He will see us through this one."

Maher Qubain, CEO of Starcomms said: "Every part of the world has its complications. Nigeria is not a bad place. It may be a difficult place to do business but it is not a bad place.

"What people should look at is the fact that the country is a fast growing economy, it is densely populated and has a lot of talent.

"Yes, the elections are coming. We are a Nigerian company, we have faith in the system and all our staff are staying here. We are not going anywhere."

A senior official of Globacom said: "Every country of the world has its problems but you still have people living and doing business in these places. Nigeria has its peculiarities but the country is much better than some people think it is.

"Globacom is the biggest Nigerian player in this business. We have conficence in this country. It is going through a developmental process which other countries have gone through and we will get there.

Oladimeji Alo, chairman of council, Chartered Institute of Personnel Management of Nigeria (CIPMN) said: "The transition will go very smoothly and I am convinced there will be no problem. Those who are envisaging problems do not understand that God loves Nigeria".

Sheik Abdallah, Director-General of ASCON said: "The elections will go well; we are ready and competent to do it. I do have a positive mind. I go positive."

Ausbeth Agagu, President, Academy for Entrepreneural Studies (AES) said: "I believe that God is in control. God loves Nigeria. We have had so many worse situations but eventually, God manifested himself and things came under control. I believe that we are heading for a peaceful transition."

Diezani Alison-Madueke, External Affairs Director, Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) said the company had no anxiety over the coming elections and was taking a keen interest in developments, just like other corporates.

At the onset of the liberalisation of the telecom sector in Nigeria in 2001, many foreign companies developed cold feet about coming to set up shop here.

It was said in some circles that Nigeria was politically unstable; that her income per capita was too low to sustain certain categories of business; that crime rate was too high; that corruption in officialdom was too high; that there was a gross inadequacy of infrastructure and that the judicial system was too slow and winding to offer meaningful redress to aggrieved parties.

Those foreign investors who took the bold leap to come into Nigeria are now the envy of rivals around the world, while those who hesitated are biting their fingers and looking to make inroads late in the day. - BusinessDay
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