FG, US NEXIM bank parner to attract foreign investment
MInister of Trade and Investment, Dr. Olusegun Aganga, has made known the desire of Federal government to cooperate with United States NEXIM Bank to attract investors into the real sector of the economy.
He made the call during a recent visit of the management team of the bank, led by its President, Mr. Fred Hochberg, to his office in Abuja.
The minister said that there were a lot of investment opportunities in the country as a result of the bold and creative steps taken by the Federal Government to improve the investment climate in the country.
Aganga said Nigeria needed a lot of investments to develop her infrastructure and grow the real sector of the economy, adding that the strategy of government was to identify those areas that the country has comparative and competitive advantage.
“It is my responsibility and that of my ministry to look for investment in the real sector of the economy and make sure that we improve the investment climate of the country. There are a lot of opportunities. They are there, the risk is there but the return on investment here is much higher than that of any other developing economy,” he said.
On the issue of corruption and security the minister pointed out that government has strengthened the EFCC, ICPC and was working on national value re-orientation that would be sustainable over a long time. He added that government was working on job creation to target unemployed youth to curb unrest in some part of the country.
According to him “when you talk of security of life and asset, the reality is that, the issue of security is now a global issue and it requires global response. It is not about Nigeria alone; whatever happens in Nigeria has happened in the US and the UK. It is a global issue which we have to deal with.”
The minister informed the visiting team that a lot of investors from Asia, Middle East and other had been coming to discuss their investment plans in the country, adding that government was ready to remove any barriers to make Nigeria an investment designation.
“Investment is coming in, I want more, that is the difference, I am not satisfied where we are, we can do far more with the opportunities here. We will do whatever we need to make sure we have the best and make Nigeria Investment designation in terms of improving our investment climate,” he added.
In his contribution, the Nigerian Ambassador to US, Prof. Ade Adefuye, said the event of the past has shown that government was more determined to deal with the issue of corruption.
He added that US investors had to show interest in Nigeria’s power and other sectors’ privatisation process in order not to lose out from the higher rate of return on investment in the country.
Also, the US Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Terence McCulley, pointed out that US has robust collaboration with Nigeria to create conducive atmosphere for business to strive through capacity training with security agencies across board, adding that US investors have shown interest in investing in 50,000 hectares of rice production in Sokoto.
