Businesses in Port Harcourt may soon seal links with manufacturers and business entities in more emerging markets as the Port Harcourt Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (PHCCIMA) intensifies international networking.
The newly installed head of the organised private sector (OPS) in Rivers State and president of the PH City chambers, Mike Elechi, has moved to present the opportunities in Rivers State and Niger Delta region to the various embassies in Nigeria.
Embassies already visited include those of South Korea, Poland, India, Turkey, and Bangladesh, according to the PHCCIMA secretariat sources.
Elechi, a monarch in Elele and agric value entrepreneur, who was installed as president of the Port Harcourt Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (PHCCIMA), in November 2021, has also played host to the Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria (CITN) to fashion ways both groups can work together especially in area of training and human capital development.
As the bureaucrat and former permanent secretary strives to open new frontiers of opportunities and value for PHCCIMA member companies and Rivers State at large, the President paid a courtesy visit to the Bangladeshi High Commissioner, Masudur Rahman in Abuja last week.
During the visit to the embassy of Bangladesh, the PHCCIMA president and the high commissioner had both expressed their willingness to work closely to jointly foster the huge trade and Investment opportunities begging to be tapped in the areas of textiles, leather works, agriculture, ICT, shipping & marine resources, pharmaceuticals, fishing, power generation, ceramics, seaports and crude oil refining development to address the perceived trade imbalances between both countries.
The Bangladesh envoy also promised to visit Rivers State to meet with the OPS and also with the governor of Rivers State following what he described as impressive imprints of governance found of recent in Rivers State.
In the course of the business meeting, the two bodies also agreed to implement decisions reached such as to exchange memos with the High Commission and other Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce; list of PHCCIMA member-companies interested in the identified huge business opportunities in Bangladesh; hold regular zoom meetings to link PHCCIMA member-companies with their Bangladeshi counterparts; promote bilateral cooperation in shipping and agric sectors; agree to collaborate with PHCCIMA in all trade and investment activities including international trade fairs and exhibitions.
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They also agreed to act to promote rural farming and development in Rivers State. The high commissioner agreed to pay a facility visit to the chamber and OPS and pledged to facilitate trade missions for PHCCIMA member-companies.
Meanwhile, PHCCIMA has played host to the president of Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria (CITN), Adesina Adedayo, who described the Port Harcourt City Chamber as a critical stakeholder that has helped to develop the CITN system.
He said PHCCIMA has contributed immensely to ensure that CITN achieved its lofty objective.
The CITN boss made this declaration when he led a high-level delegation of national executive members and states district chairmen on a courtesy call on PHCCIMA president, Elechi, at the PHCCIMA secretariat.
The CITN president said: “As a body with district societies in 32 states plus Abuja, with only four states yet to be covered by CITN, we see engaging with stakeholders as very paramount. This is why we are in Port Harcourt to kick-start a south-south zonal conference – a gathering specially arranged to discuss the national problem that has to do with tax development.”
According to him, “One of the reasons why we organise these conferences on a zonal basis is that each zone has its peculiar challenges that are not necessarily generic. Hence, we craft conferences that are adapted to the problems and challenges of every zone. That is why we are here to engage with the south-south zone.”
He stated further: “Because we are tax practitioners and tax professionals, we believe that without engaging with the likes of Port Harcourt Chamber of Commerce that has a better understanding of the needs of government, even as we are equally mindful of the fact that the various chambers of commerce are very strategic following their knowledge on issues of commerce, industry, mines and of course agriculture, hence the need to engage and synergize with them.”
Speaking on PHCCIMA’s core objective of business, community and job, the CITN president noted that he is moved by these three key areas that basically define the Port Harcourt Chamber of Commerce.
According to him, the highlighted objectives were very significant. “Looking at the arrow, you cannot say which one comes first, the chicken or the hen, because is it the job that comes before you talk about the businesses or the community?”
In his remark, the PHCCIMA boss (Elechi) pointed to what he called the continued commitment of the Rivers State government led by Nyesom Wike in providing an enabling environment for businesses to thrive in terms of infrastructure and security.
According to him, the governor has streamlined the tax system in the state to eliminate double tax syndrome which he said has enhanced the inflow of investments into the state. He added that the governor has established a process of performance through infrastructural development, projects, and service delivery that has lifted the state to an enviable level, redefining governance and placing the state on a platform of developmental progression to boost the economy of the state.
Elechi described PHCCIMA as a very strategic organisation, the second oldest chamber of commerce and one of the only three premier chambers of commerce in the country.
He explained that every sector of the economy is domiciled in PHCCIMA and called for closer synergy between the two organisations. He specifically mentioned the CITN state representatives whom he said must come closer and open communication channels so both can complement each other on the issue of tax information, due diligence, and statutory tax regimes, among others.
