The Executive Secretary of Kaduna Investment Promotion Agency(KADIPA), Malam Khalil Nur Khalil, has reiterated their resolve to make Kaduna State a local and foreign investment hub in Nigeria, saying already the state's total investment Portfolio has risen to over $4.35 billion.
Speaking at a press briefing to mark his one year in office, the Executive Secretary said that some of the initiatives of the Board and Management have been fruitful.
"As you may all be aware, The Kaduna Investment Promotion Agency (KADIPA) was created in 2015 as a one-stop shop investment Centre in Kaduna state that initiates, promotes and facilitates investments via green-field, brown-field projects, public-private partnerships and privatization."
"To achieve the foregoing, KADIPA also organizes the annual economic and investment summits (known as KADINVEST) which provides a platform to showcase the investment opportunities in Kaduna state as well as providing an avenue for policy discussions and private sector engagement to maximize the state's economic potential to create jobs for our teeming youths."
"The inaugural investment summit held in the year 2016 with the theme, Kaduna is Open for Business. The summit has continued to hold unfailingly since with the theme changing to reflect the progress recorded and the objective of the year's summit. In 2017 the theme was "Making Kaduna the Investment Destination of Choice," in 2018 it was "Partnerships for Development," in 2019 it was "Expanding Investment Frontiers," and in 2020 it was "Infrastructure, Industrialization and Innovation," in 2021 "Towards a Sustainable Knowledge-based Economy" and now in 2022 "Building a Resilient Economy."
' Between 2016 and today, because of KADINVEST and the investment promotion drive by KADIPA, Kaduna has attracted investments worth over $4.4 billion, with notable names including Africa Natural Resources and Mines Limited, Tomato Jos, Olam, Mahindra, OCP Africa's Ultra modern Fertilizer blending plant, Dangote Peugeot, Zipline and many more."
"The 7th edition of the Kaduna Economic and Investment Summit (KadInvest 7.0) was a very special one, not only because it spanned a period of 3 days and was highly interactive consisting of a pre-summit event and the main summit with presentations that highlighted Kaduna state's progress in line with the theme, Building a Resilient Economy, but it was the first time any State Government in Nigerian history hosted an economic and investment summit live on the Metaverse. The metaverse is an immersive virtual world on the internet that is facilitated by the use of virtual reality and augmented reality headsets or devices and we worked with Greysoft Technologies, a company domiciled here in Kaduna to achieve this. This was a clear signal that Kaduna is already on a path to transforming its economy into a knowledge based economy and becoming part of the digital future," he said.
He said that the mission of the Board and management is to make it a world-class investment promotion agency as KADIPA has joined the World Association of Investment Promotion Agencies(IPA) to see what other members are doing, and explore capacity-building opportunities and networking opportunities in the World Investment Conference.
According to him, KADIPA surpassed its 2022 set target of $500 million worth of investments in the first quarter and the Board increased the investment portfolio to $1 billion.
"Investment figures for the 2nd Quarter 2022 tallied at $36 million worth of actualized investments in various sectors across the LGAs in the state.We recorded $112.7 million in announced pledges bringing the 2nd quarter figures to a total of $148.7 million, thereby increasing the state's total investment Portfolio to $4.35 billion, representing a 3.6% growth for the quarter. The chief objective for all these is job creation," he said.
Malam Khalil explained that KADIPA " facilitated the investments of 18 companies and recommended them to KADGIS for land allocation. We handed over sites to investors in Kubau LGA, the Kangimi Layout, GAAIZ, Rabah Link Road and the Afaka layout, all of which have mobilized to site."
"Furthermore, KADIPA has assisted the state in generating revenues of N236.6 million through payments of premiums by greenfield investors that have been allocated land and brownfield investments via payments received from the privatization of State owned assets," he added.
The 28 year old Executive Secretary, expressed gratitude to Governor Nasir El Rufai for believing in the capacity of the youths, just as he thanked the Deputy Governor of Kaduna state and Chair of the KADIPA Board, Dr Hadiza Balarabe, and the Vice Chairman, Khalifa Muhammadu Sanusi II, for their support, advice and direction to the agency.
Malam Khalil thanked his predecessors for their efforts, the Commissioner of Business, Innovation and Technology, Professor Kabir Mato, the Local Organising Committee of KadInvest 7.0 as well as the management and staff of KADIPA for making the last KadInvest successful.
Khalil listed the initiatives that KADIPA embarked on that enabled its achievements in the last one year.
"Similarly, we organized Peer Learning Sessions with South Africa, Ghana, Rwanda, and DFID-LINKS Due Diligence Workshop. We are actively looking for opportunities to learn.
"We rejigged our media infrastructure and embarked on strategic promotional interviews to advertise Kaduna state and the investment opportunities with national TV networks, national dailies, and radio stations both in English and Hausa.
"We deployed promotional materials including flyers with QR codes to our publications. We printed and made these available to investors. Our marketing of Industrial Zones and layouts of the two Industrials Zones and various approved layouts has remained consistent across social media platforms," he said.
According to him, KADIPA's renewed investment drive encourages creativity, adding that "this is why our investor targeting has been deliberate and strategic.
"We regularly engage embassies, and developmental agencies for partnership and capacity building initiatives."
"To promote networking amongst businesspersons in the state, we organize quarterly Business World Breakfast where we meet with business people in the state and listen to their challenges."
" And to ensure that business in the state is retained and encouraged to expand, we carry out weekly AfterCare services, where we visit businesses within the state to hear their challenges and understand areas the Kaduna State Government can help remove encumbrances," he added.
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The Executive Secretary recalled that the recently held 7th edition of Kaduna State Economic and Investment Summit(KadInvest 7.0) was successful.
"We launched the Kaduna Livestock Regulatory Authority (KADLRA) Regulations. The Ginger Investment Policy and Strategic Framework GIPS (GIZ). And the Film Village Project, with the signing of MoU with KADCCIMA and KDSG on using the trade fair complex by the creative art sector," he said.
Khalil recalled that Governor Nasir El Rufai also commissioned eight projects, including the N2 billion Falgates Foods' Rice Mill with 100, 000 metric ton capacity per annum located at Sobawa, Rigachikun.
According to him, the governor also commissioned the AFEX's Aggregation and Processing Centre, an agricultural commodity warehouses and multi-grains processing plant, to help farmers in the state prepare and market their produce.
A computerized vehicle inspection services center located at Mando, which provides automated checks for all vehicle types was also commissioned, he recalled.
In addition, El Rufai also commissioned the Kaduna Galaxy Mall, "a multipurpose shopping mall that houses food courts and cinemas for Kaduna residents to shop and have a good time," he said.
"Ammsco Neighborhood Centre, which has shopping mall and food court, was also commissioned by His Excellency, " Khalil said.
