Newsfront Online …Telling the Public as it is
Despite Nigeria’s quest for foreign direct investment to help stimulate the economy, Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC), the country’s foremost investment facilitation agency, is reneging on its national and international deliverables, findings by LEADERSHIP has revealed.
NIPC was established to encourage, promote and coordinate investments in Nigeria. But the executive secretary/chief executive officer of the commission, Mrs Saratu Umar, has come under heavy criticisms for indulging in acts that are inimical to the realisation of the commission’s mandates.
Documents sighted by our correspondent showed that Umar has refused to consider pioneer status applications as she merely held only one meeting on the application in the last six months. It was gathered that the executive secretary did not consider any memo on that in clear violation of the timelines for such incentive and the minister’s directive.
The pioneer status incentive (PSI) is a tax holiday that grants qualifying industries and products relief from payment of corporate income tax for an initial period of three years, extendable for one or two additional years.The idea is to encourage the flourishing of businesses.
Many pioneer status applicants have paid repeated visits to NIPC in expected concern over the failure to consider their applications in contravention of the approved timeframes/guidelines and are groaning under the burden of facility commitments occasioned by the delay.
Some of them include KPMG, Emzor Pharmaceuticals Industries Limited, Flex Films, Harvestfield Industries Limited, Rosemary Industries Ltd, Dapon Doors Limited.
But there seems to be no respite in sight for the PSI applicants as a recent controversial staff redeployment exercise indicates that Ms Umar has posted out the entire staff of the incentives administration unit (that process the PSI) with their collective institutional memory.
Investigation by this paper showed that NIPC has failed to implement the country-specific investment strategy approved by the economic management team.
It was also learnt that apart from failing to sign international agreements since her return in July, Umar has also been allegedly frustrating efforts to enter into new bilateral agreements for the attraction of foreign investments to Nigeria.
A good example, according to a dependable source within the commission, is her failure to give approval for staff of the commission to attend a fully sponsored West African connect event conference in Ghana held between September 20 and 21 this year.
“Other actions of Umar which if not halted could ruin the commission include wasteful expenditure as she currently maintains four exotic cars in her convoy, stalled implementation of the commission’s capital budget and allegedly refused to treat staff application for leave,” the source who did not want his name in print said.
When contacted by our correspondent, Umar did not respond to media queries sent to her phone number and email to either confirm or deny the allegations. When she resumed office in July following her reappointment, having served and was sacked in 2014 as the chief executive officer, Mrs Saratu Umar, had promised to actualise the commission’s mandate of positioning the country as a top destination for global business and investment hub.
Umar said she was still fully committed to excellence and professionalism, adding that her vision still remained necessary due to the fact that as the gateway to the Nigerian economy for investors, NIPC should be a strong role model public institution, with a private sector orientation.
“It should be an African industry leader at the forefront of the investment ecosystem, and it should play a central role in our national development, as contemplated by its Act,” she had stated.
She listed the main pillars of the vision to include sound corporate governance practices; corporate accountability, and institutional discipline; operational excellence and administrative effectiveness through standardized processes, policies, and systems, among others; risk management framework that supports the internal operations, service delivery, mandate, and functions of NIPC as well as certification by the International Standards Organization [ISO] to attain process maturity and enhance NIPC’s service delivery, reliability, and efficiency.
Others are to achieve robust and effective stakeholder communication and engagement; and structured, systematic, and expanded National Investment Promotion Strategy; deployment of a best-in-class Information Technology system across our functions and processes, and a robust human resource management system that addresses and prioritises staff welfare, training, development, reward system, and motivation.
But LEADERSHIP checks revealed that barely six months after her second coming, Umar’s actions have grounded the commission to a halt. She was recently accused of high-handedness, disregard to extant rules, indulgence in arbitrary sack and or posting of staff, especially directors to non-existent offices by staff and other stakeholders of the agency.
This newspaper gathered that Umar has practically failed to facilitate some external trade relations in line with the commission’s mandates, thereby denying the country the needed investment.
Under her tenure, NIPC failed to renew the 2022 annual subscriptions for the foreign direct investment (FDI) markets intelligence which provides access to the world’s most comprehensive database of the global FDI flows. NIPC uses the information to capture and track announced investment in various sectors of the economy.
The information is used to track global investment information and provide informed guidance to investors, even as it is also used to produce Reports of Investment Announcements to show areas of investment interest in Nigeria.
Our sources further hinted that there is growing disenchantment among the staff who are demoralised by Umar’s highhandedness and flagrant disregard for approved organizational structure.
“In six months, she held just one management and one pioneer status meeting where not even a single memo was considered,” one of the sources who is a staff of the agency said, insisting that the last six months under Umar has dragged the agency back.
Rather than convene management meetings where key decisions can be taken since there is no board in place, Umar, according to credible sources, has been running the commission single-handedly.
“She indulges in wrongful dismissal, retirement and redeployment of senior staff, engages new staff without recourse to due process in clear breach of public service rules,” another source close to the commission stated.
Umar was sacked as the chief executive of NIPC in 2015 after a committee set up by the then minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Olusegun Aganga, found series of administrative lapses, reported highhandedness and procedural gaps against her management team.
In his letter to then President Goodluck Jonathan, Aganga said Saratu failed to exhibit appropriate or any commendable competence in dealing with the administration of the NIPC. “I’m, therefore, with regret, compelled to recommend that given the circumstances especially the importance of this institution in Nigeria’s drive to attract foreign investment, Your Excellency consider assigning as a new Executive Secretary, a person of suitable competence, seniority and focus befitting our national agenda,” Aganga stated.
However, in July 2022, President Muhammadu Buhari, through a statement signed by presidential spokesman, Mallam Garba Shehu, approved Umar’s reappointment as the executive secretary/chief executive of NIPC. But barely six months after her assumption of office, the same concerns that led to her sack by the Jonathan administration are still being raised.
In a petition addressed to the minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, dated December 7, 2022, a group identified simply as concerned stakeholders of NIPC accused Mrs Umar of deployment of staff outside professional cadres in contravention of extant regulations.
The group flayed the executive secretary for wrongful and malicious sack of the most senior director in the commission from of NIPC, Emeka Offor, in blatant disregard and disrespect of the circular with Ref. HCSF/428/51/139 and dated June 20, 2016, issued by the Head of Civil Service of the Federation on the directives of President Buhari.
Offor, it was learnt, was disengaged on November 22, 2022 in very controversial circumstances, an action the executive secretary claims was taken on account of NIPC’s conditions of service, which had never been approved by the Head of Service of the Federation in line with extant regulations. About four other directors were aslo redeployed under what is considered a vendetta mission of the sitting executive secretary.
The directors affected include Akwada Chukwudi James who was posted from Finance and Administration department to Reform unit; Barrister Patience Okala who was redeployed from her position as director, Legal Services unit to director, department of State Coordination, and Hajja Gana Wakil who was also posted to North East zonal office in Maiduguri.
Some staff of the commission expressed concern over her posting, with some saying that it is even appalling that the senior director was posted to head zonal offices. Checks by this newspaper showed that there is director at the zonal offices, as the zonal offices are usually headed by a deputy or assistant director in the commission.
The most senior director of the commission who heads the department in charge of the incentive was also posted to a subnational office in violation of the commission’s approved Structure and Schemes of Service.
A director in the commission who spoke with our correspondent on condition of anonymity said the posting of all staff out of the unit at the same time indicates that no thought was given to the administrative liability that could be caused by lack of institutional memory. NIPC has also failed to honour a number of international obligations and engagements, which have embarrassing effects on Nigeria’s image.
For example, NIPC failed to play key role in ongoing negotiations of the investment facilitation for development agreement of the WTO, thereby negatively impacting on Nigeria’s chance to make meaningful contributions to the agreement that would soon be sealed.
The Umar-led NIPC, it was further learnt, failed to participate in the 2022 WAIPA Investment Conference held from 12-14 September 2022. Umar and her team also refused to grant audience to members of the Diplomatic corps, including the Nigerian Ambassador to Brazil and the Brazillian business delegation as well as the Canadian envoy to Nigeria for discussions on bilateral issues.
It was gathered from the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment that failure of NIPC to play its lead technical role has stalled the negotiation of bilateral investment agreements with countries such as Vietnam, South Korea, Saudi Arabia and the renegotiation of the investment treaty with Canada despite repeated demands by these countries for negotiation of the agreements.
“This has not only embarrassed the commission but has also set back Nigeria’s quest to attract the much-needed FDI from the listed countries,” some concerned stakeholders of NIPC stated in a petition that obtained by this newspaper.
NIPC also failed to participate in several other national and international commitments, including those fully sponsored by ECOWAS. For instance, it failed to honour invitations to make country presentations to market Nigeria to potential investors at the business and investment forums such as Nigeria – Italy Business and Investment Forum as well as Nigeria – Egypt Business and Investment Forum, organized by the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment.
It was also gathered that Nigeria missed out on fully funded conferences like the Nigeria–UK Business Forum and Nigeria –Canada Business Forum where it was supposed to play an active role.
