By Akoma Chinweoke

In what appears to be a mobilization for fresh and sustained investment, Northern Nigeria Investment Forum, NNIF, is billed to change the narrative of a crises- proned region, to that of one with potentials for massive foreign direct investment, FDI.

According to the group, the principal vision of NNIF is to rebrand the northern states of Nigeria from the gloomy image that has plagued the region so far and replacing it with a global recognisable image impacting on the lives of all citizens.

The CEO of NNIF, Hajia Fauziyat  Usman, noted that the need to concentrate on “developmental issues rather than political issues” for a long time has been echoed in all corners of the  country and internationally, stressing that using the ‘blame game’ analogy by previous political governments has not helped but rather left the northern region in a ‘Time Capsule’ without any direct activities to tackle societal issues.

“The Northern Nigeria Investment Forum, NNIF, is an entity with the aim of bringing investment to all individual states that makes up the northern region of Nigeria”, she said.

“NNIF has determined that for long the balance of growth and development has not been evenly distributed and achieved in comparism to other regions and we seek to address these issues by means of investment that would revive the fortunes of the north.”According to her, the framework upon which the initiative for NNIFstands is propelled by statements from institutional investors which include the World Bank, Africa Development Bank (AFDB) as well as private local and international Investors that identified growth in agriculture and construction of critical infrastructure such as electricity, road, rail networks, education and health care delivery as the best options available to the region to restore its economy and create employment.

“We strive to seek developments in  sectors such as transportation, education, tourism, health, employment, technology and housing”, Usman stated.  To achieve these visions, she said, the NNIF would be seeking investments from private and public sectors.

She added that already a number of local, international and institutional Investors have signified interest in helping to solve the region’s problems through massive investments that would lead to economic resurgence and rebranding the region’s current global image.

“Investors which include General Electric, Brambles, USAID,Milhouse Engineering, Manchester Trade, World Bank, Blumberg Grains and African World Expo, APR Energy,Symbion Power, Motorola Solutions, Learning Center, Procter and Gamble, Templar as well as Essex Renewable Energy have signified areas of interest which include investments in agriculture,exotic livestock farming, energy, education, health care, infrastructure, housing, solid minerals and hydrocarbons”, she explained.