Despite power challenges Osinbajo says Nigeria a must for serious investors eyeing Africa

Despite the age long electricity problem and present economic issues in the country, Acting President Yemi Osinbajo (SAN) on Monday, said Nigeria is a place serious investors in Africa must invest in.

He said the reason investors in Africa must come to Nigeria is not because they are coming to help the country, but because Nigeria is a good place for them to do business.

Osinbajo stated this is his remarks at a Nigerian Initiative for Economic Development (NIED) event held at the Banquet Hall, State House on Monday.

“I like the idea of investors knowing that the reason why you are coming to Nigeria is not to help Nigeria. You will ultimately end up helping Nigeria, but the reason why you are coming here is because this is a good place to do business,” he said.

Details of the meeting were made available in a statement released by Osinbajo’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Laolu Akande.

Part of Osinbajo’s remarks read, “We are indeed very grateful to you for taking out time of your very, very busy schedule in America to be here with us. What I always find very interesting about the Diasporan community is how it is that everyone who we work with here comes from that same community. Practically, everyone who made the presentation is a Diasporan of one kind or the other.

“So, I think that this country is going to benefit tremendously from its Diasporan community in one way or the other because almost everyone whom we come across and who is doing something important in government is from that background. And it is important that is the case because I am sure all appreciate and nobody needs to repeat that we live in a vastly different world community now than ever before. Everyone is related one way or the other.

“The world is a much, much smaller place and gets smaller by the day. So I think that there is very little today and I like the point that was made by the DG of the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission, NIPC that anyone who doesn’t invest in Africa or Nigeria in 10 years’ time, they would be queried by their establishment, by their businesses that ‘you just missed out on the best possible opportunity’ and you know that it is easy to miss out on the best possible business opportunity.”

Osinbajo cited an example of how MTN and other telecommunication companies invested in Nigeria when there was so much doubt over the viability of the business in the country, and return on investment and added, that “the big telecom companies who did not invest in it, found themselves holding the short end.

Read also: We’ll open up the power sector to become bigger, better than Telecom – Osinbajo

“They realized that it was a huge mistake because in five years MTN had shown that the telecom sector in Nigeria was just incredibly profitable. They had made profit in one year. MTN alone now has something in the order of about 12million or so lines if not more, and that’s one of the telecom companies that we have.

“So, really, Nigeria is a place that is waiting to happen and it will happen. That’s really the point. It will happen. The truth of the matter is that any country that opens itself to free enterprise, the way Nigeria is opening itself to free enterprise, will somehow find that it will work.

“That is one of the critical things that we are bringing into the mix. We are insisting that the only way that this country can make the profit that it needs to make is by private sector investment, beginning with local investment.

“So, really when you compare some of these things people say Oh! I want to go to there; I want to go here…Yaah! It’s okay. But the truth of the matter is that if you are really serious about investing in Africa, this is where you have to come to. This is absolutely where you must come to. There is no other place,” he said.

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