VENTURES AFRICA – The president of Abuja Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (ABUCCIMA) has announced the chamber’s plans to partner with world-class developers on an international shopping mall project for Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory – Abuja.
The President of ABUCCIMA, Dr Solomon Nyagba disclosed this in Abuja on Monday, stating the need for Abuja to be transformed to a commercial city – just like Lagos – from its current civil service city status.
“Abuja has lots of investment opportunities which should be explored, and it is the duty of the chamber to transform the business fortunes of the city … Abuja, unlike Lagos, is a city that is predominantly occupied by government agencies and driven by the public sector. As a chamber, we want to transform this concept of Abuja being a civil service city to a business and commercial centre,” he said.
According to him, there are many avenues to achieve this, even in the distribution of products and services; which is one of the reasons why the chamber is organizing its annual fair.
“Abuja is a virgin land even for shopping facilities; of recent, Shoprite of South Africa established malls in Lagos and Enugu. We intend to go into partnership with a developer to construct a large distribution centre here in our complex centre in Abuja chamber of commerce,” he added.
However, the chamber is not focusing on partnering with Shoprite. He said: “It might not necessarily be Shoprite, but we will bring Wal-Mart, which is the biggest distribution chain on earth.’’
Concerning the forthcoming Abuja International Trade Fair, the president said the fair would offer both the chamber and manufacturers from across the world the right platform to showcase their products, goods and services.
Furthermore, he said the trade fair would create a medium for business partnership that would outlive the trade fair.
He also noted the regional and continent impacts of the trade fair which he said is in line with the Federal Government’s position on Africa and serves as an avenue for companies in other West African countries to showcase their products.
“For instance, over 200 business operators from Ghana participated in the previous trade fair, they would still be part of the forthcoming trade fair,” he said.
ABUCCIMA wants to contribute its quota towards achieving the present government’s objective of showcasing the country’s potentials in Africa and West Africa. Nyangba said opportunities abound in the manufacturing, carpentry, construction and automotive sectors in Abuja.
According to him, “nothing stops an operator from establishing an auto assembly plant in Abuja.”
The president said Nigeria ought to be manufacturing automobiles instead of importing both new and used ones. Within the capacity of the chamber, it is trying to lure some of the popular manufacturing companies.
He also mentioned the chamber’s recent visit to Hamburg, Germany in search of used equipment for manufacturing in order to create opportunities for potential manufacturers in Nigeria to get cheaper equipment.
“We’ve also visited Guangzhou and Hong Kong in China and we are collaborating with other foreign chambers to ensure that quality goods are imported,” he concluded.
