SIAKON MEDIA

AGI advises companies to build capacity for oil industry

The President of the Association of Ghana's Industries (AGI), Nana Owusu -Afari has said that taxes and royalties alone are insufficient to meet the expected income targets to support the nation's development efforts. What will make it adequate, he explained, is the effective development of the downstream activities, with active involvement of Ghanaians, through local content and participation.

Making a presentation at the First Domestic Content and Matchmaking Exhibition In the Oil and Gas Industry in Accra, he said the local content policy, which is the utilization of Ghanaian human and material resources for the provision of goods and services to the petroleum industry, will remain a mirage if our companies do not prepare and develop their capacities to take advantage of the opportunities offered by the oil and gas industry.

"The oil and gas industry is a sophisticated business area; indeed the scale of operations of the Jubilee Fields is completely new in our economy hence doing business in the industry cannot be the business as usual. To achieve the objectives of the local content policy, government's role would have to go beyond the development of the policy. There is the need to strengthen the business environment in order to improve the efficiency and competitiveness of local businesses."

The Minister of Trade and Industry, Miss Hanna Tetteh, said that under the Industrial Policy which is being formulated, government is expected to initiate policies to increase local content in the manufacturing process by encouraging the production of local materials , value addition to local resources including the fabrication of plant and machinery locally.

She noted that the capital requirement for the exploitation of the natural resource is quite substantial.
"I will then advice that we use our domestic financing resources and look within and in this regard, request the various local financial institutions to provide complementary funding through syndication as the expected foreign funding may not come in as expected. After mobilizing the necessary funding, including complementary domestic funding, there would be the need to put in place a legal framework which will give an indication as to the mode of ownership."

She said there should be a clear indication as to the ownership: fully state or foreign owned or joint state and private ownership.

"The legal framework should also clearly look at the management contract to be put in place. We should be able to clearly define the role to be played by government, the foreign investors, the people in the localities where the oil find was made, especially the traditional rulers and opinion leaders."

The legal framework, she added, will also look at payment of relevant taxes, royalties, the provision of local amenities and the percentage of oil extracted to be reserved for the domestic market.

Drawing lessons from other oil producing countries, Miss Tetteh said, there is the need to adopt the best practices, examine challenges that were faced and find ways of addressing them if they surface in Ghana.

"Some countries have used their oil revenue to effectively develop their infrastructure and tourism with multiplier effect earning them substantial revenue for further development. We should emulate the examples of these countries."

She said some of the challenges in the trouble spots areas include conflicts, tampering of oil and gas pipes and the setting up of illegal refineries. She said Ghana needs to learn from their experience and promote local participation in the industry through the local content concept.

She said there are considerable business opportunities for Ghanaian businesses in the petroleum industry from Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to large corporations.

She disclosed that the Ministry of Trade and Industry through the World Bank Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Project will also explore the possibility of training artisans to acquire the necessary entrepreneurial, technical and managerial skills to enable SMEs benefit from the industry.

The President and General Manager of Tullow Oil Limited, Mr. Dai Jones, said Tullow Oil has 80 percent of its workforce being Ghanaians, with 50 percent in leadership positions.

He said Tullow Oil has already given 840 contracts totaling $65 million to Ghanaians. Mr. Jones, however, cautioned Ghanaians to control their expectations."One oil field is not an industry. It is, however, the commencement of an oil industry," he added.



Source: Public Agenda/Akwasi Fredua

  Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Kumasi, June 22, GNA - Mr Samuel Kwabena Danso, the Ashanti Regional Chairman of the Convention People's Party (CPP), on Tuesday appealed to the government to act decisively to bring back to life the collapsed Kumasi jute factory.

He said he found it disturbing that the factory, which has immense potential to give jobs to many of the country's unemployed youth, had over the years been left to ruin.

Speaking to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Kumasi, Mr Danso said everything possible should be done by the government to reactivate it.

The factory, established by late President Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah, had not received any attention by successive governments since his overthrow in 1966.

"They have only been paying lip service - showing no sign that they are indeed interested in getting it back into operation."

Mr Danso said to help tackle the soaring unemployment and worsening economic situation of the people, the government needed to aggressively push towards reviving the country's folded factories.

He also appealed to people to develop a taste for made in Ghana goods to aid the growth of the local industries.

GNA

Chartered Accountants to Institute Quality Assurance Review Programme

Accra, May 24, GNA - The Institute of Chartered Accountants Ghana (ICAG) will soon institute a quality Assurance Review Program to ensure adherence to quality standards in the accounting profession.

As a first step, the Council has adopted the Audit Quality Assurance Review manual prepared by the Association of Accountancy Bodies in West Africa.

Mr Joseph Fred Odartey Blankson, Vice-President of ICAG, said under the programme the Institute would monitor the practice standards of all firms and recommend corrective action where necessary.

He was speaking at a press conference to herald this year's celebration of the annual accountants' week celebration on the theme: "Accountants: Sustaining Value Creation."

Mr Blankson said to secure and maintain professional standards the institute adopted and implemented the International Financial Reporting Standards for public interest companies in 2008.

He said the Council of ICAG in partnership with the Controller and Accountant General, the Auditor General and the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning was working on way forward for the adoption of the International Public Sector Accounting Standards in Ghana.

The ICAG is also playing an active role at the sub-regional level and currently involved in mentoring the Liberian Institute of Certified Public Accountants, which had requested ICAG to open an examination centre in that country to enable Liberian students write the professional ICAG examinations.

In addition, ICAG and the Institute of Chartered Accountants, Nigeria had promoted the harmonisation of the Accountancy Technician Scheme in West Africa.

Moreover, Gambia, Sierra Leone and Benin would be joining Ghana, Nigeria and Liberia to write the common examination in September 2010.

In pursuit of a growth agenda, the Institute had put in place interventions to improve the turnout of accountants whilst ensuring that the quality did not deteriorate.

There are also plans to start the ICAG Chartered Diploma, a professional style higher diploma with specialisation in business studies geared towards meeting the current demand dynamics of the market, Mr Blankson said.

He said the ICAG's diploma programme was aimed at training participants to improve on their job performance. The package contains a comprehensive range of advanced diplomas and would be the leading diploma in Ghana and the West African sub-region.

Some activities planned for the week include students' forum, accountants' conference an annual general meeting and a dinner dance.

GNA