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The Manager, Communications Policy, Government & Public Affairs of Chevron Nigeria Limited, Sola Adebawo has said the adoption of the Global Memorandum of Understanding, (GMoU) Guiding principles by the company has helped resolved crisis that has hitherto led to the breakdown of law and order in the host communities.
The Chevron boss said this at the 17th edition of the annual NECCI PR Roundtable convened by Nkechi Ali-Balogun.
The roundtable themed “The New Frontiers of Investor Relations: Access and Opportunities,” has in attendance the crème de la crème in both the public and private sector including Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo (ably represented by the Senior Special Assistant, SSA, to the President on Social Investment, Mr Ismaeel Ahmed), former Governor of Cross River State, Donald Duke, and a host of others.
Adebawo noted that the GMoU Guiding principles entails participatory partnership through stakeholder engagement, trust building through transparency/accountability, community ownership and sustainability assurance through capacity building as critical for improving investor relations.
He explained further that community engagement thrives on the bases of conflict mitigation through grievance management; bases of capacity building for investment in local businesses, local content and peacebuilding.
Adebawo shared that by adopting the GMoU principle, Chevron has carried out key Deepwater Social Investment projects across the nation covering all the 6 geo-political zones.
In her opening remarks, the CEO of NECCI PR and founder of the roundtable Nkechi Ali-Balogun said “communication oils the value chain from production to consumption”. She stressed that “ Investor relations, being the next frontier of public relations, from a global perspective, is expectedly an area of responsibility for a platform like NECCI PR Roundtable”.
Nkechi Ali-Balogun noted that Investor Relations had become a subject of key importance to Nigeria emerging from recession, identifying the investment potentials of Nigeria as one of the greatest in the world. According to her “We are poised to assist Government and other stakeholders through strategic communication to mitigate bureaucracies and bottlenecks that may impede the efforts of Government in providing transparency and ease in the way we do business”.
The Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo commended the organizers for hosting another roundtable. He said the Federal Government was committed to social investments, which was the reason N500bl was allocated for initiatives like the N-Power initiative, Home-Grown school feeding programme and the Conditional Cash Transfer Initiative for the poorest persons in the country.
In his presentation, former Governor of Cross River State Mr Donald Duke who spoke on “The New Frontiers of Investor Relations-Access and Opportunities: The Tinapa Experience”, described the “Tinapa Business Resort” project as one his administration gave top priority to give Cross River State an economic entity.
He decried the fact that due to policy inconsistency the project was not sustained by successive administrations. Duke said Investors are attracted to climes that have certainty in policy direction. Considering challenges the States were facing in the country and clamour for restructuring, he made a strong case for sustainable economic policies from State Governments.
In her goodwill video message, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Investment, Dr Jumoke Oduwole congratulated the NECCI PR roundtable for hosting its 17th edition in Lagos. She reassured stakeholders that the government was committed to an enabling environment for businesses, citing the first 60-day action plan of the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council and the current second phase of the 60-day action plan which is to elapse by December 1, 2017.
She asserted that the government is progressively working to make it easier to do business in the country, partnering with the states. Oduwole enjoined public relations practitioners to help in shaping the Nigerian story to attract investments into the country.
The CEO of Proshare Nigeria Mr Olufemi Awoyemi in his presentation on “The Challenges and Prospects of Foreign Direct Investments – A New Way”, opined that Nigeria had to learn to harness its diaspora community, to boost remittances like leading economies China and India. Awoyemi believed there was need for a robust fiscal and monetary policy thrust in Nigeria, that gives top consideration to the household income. He described India as the major economy that is open for business and a leader in FDIs, because of the remarkable reforms in its economic space.
Awoyemi assessing the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan of the Federal Government, said Nigeria will have to learn from Saudi Arabia who developed a solid and robust 2030 plan with specifics and costing for the policy, programs and projects earmarked.
TheNewsGuru.com reports that the roundtable brought together key players in the public relations space, media, economic and policy space to explore Nigeria’s prospects for attracting strategic investments to grow the economy.