What Nigeria needs to grow the economy in ten years —Osinbajo

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on Thursday said Nigeria needed mobilization of domestic savings and foreign capital to finance the country’s infrastructure, agriculture, housing, SMEs, and other services’ needs.

The Vice President who was represented by the acting Director-General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Mary Uduk, stated this in a keynote address delivered at the 2019 FMDQ Nigerian Capital Markets Conference in Lagos.

“We need to mobilise domestic savings and capital as well as attract the necessary foreign capital to finance our needs in the areas of infrastructure, agriculture, mining, industry, housing, SMEs.

“Other sectors where he said such development was also needed include: information and communication technology, transportation and other services,” he said.

He noted that Nigeria needs investments of about $350 billion over a 10 years period to meet up with its peers, sighting an African Development Bank (AfDB) report on Nigeria’s Infrastructure Plan in 2013.

Osinbajo stated that the need to attract capital is underscored by the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan’s (ERGP, 2017 – 2020) initiatives which include the promotion of innovation and technology-driven industries, and encouragement of private equity (PE) and venture capital (VC) players.

He said, “The Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) (2017-2020) has a major objective of building a globally competitive economy through investment in infrastructure, improvement in business environment and promotion of digital-led growth.

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“No doubt, this objective requires fresh and adequate capital.”

He added, “between February 2017 and November 2018, we have explored the international market to raise capital by issuing a series of Eurobonds and a Diaspora bond in June 2017.

“This approach to diversifying our sources of capital has assisted in making our country a destination of capital and further deepening our capital market.

“Private issuers are also encouraged to issue these instruments, leaning on the success recorded by the Federal government.

“The secondary markets of some of these instruments are also getting more liquid as observed on the Exchanges.”

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