We’ve attracted investments worth $2.4bn in 18 months –Obiano

By Chinenye Anuforo
THE Executive Governor of Anambra State, Willie Obia­no, at the weekend disclosed that the state has successfully attracted investment worth over $2.4 billion in the first 18 months of his administration as more expressions of inter­est continue to surge.
Addressing the capital market community while on a courtesy visit to the Nige­rian Stock Exchange (NSE) last Friday in Lagos, Obiano said that Anambra is the safest state to invest in the country today and called on compa­nies listed on Stock Exchange to come and do business in the state.
He said his administration is providing enabling envi­ronment for companies to thrive, adding that the four ba­sic areas that need urgent in­vestment include agric, trade and commerce, oil and gas and industrialisation.
The Governor also ap­pealed to investors all over the world to come to Anambra and invest as it is now crime free and has the enabling environment and good road network that will help their investments.
He said, “Anambra State has good record. There is zero kidnapping, no arm robbery. We are doing very well. We are asking people to come and enjoy the freedom and the enabling environment we have created to set up their businesses because business­es thrive only when there is enabling environment.”
Obiano explained that to make business easy for inves­tors, Anambra has set up an outfit called Anambra State Investment and Promotion Agency (ANSIPA). “This is one-stop shop investments outfit. So, if you want to in­vest in our state, you don’t need to go to many places. You just need to come to this outfit, discuss your business. Where you will get land for your business will be there, and where you will get your Certificate of Ownership (C-of-O) all within one week is also there. You see, life is a lot easy doing business this way.”
The Governor noted that to attract investment to the state, his government would even give incentives such as tax holiday to companies to en­courage them, adding that the tax exemption is subject to the company’s business model.
“There are different kinds of incentives that we give. Take for example putting in­frastructure, power to enable you do your business. For the tax holiday, we may give this company and may not give the other depending on the nature of the business. And the exemption can be one year, two, three or five years depending on their business model. For instance, if you are a manufacturing com­pany, it takes a while for you to break even, so, we have experts who will look at those things and decide on how long the tax break would be.”