Presidential Research & Communications Unit

Having painstakingly laid the foundations of economic development, as articulated in the Seven-point Agenda and Vision 20:2020, there is a visible resurgence in Nigeria’s international economic relations under President Umaru Musa Yar’adua’s administration. There is a new impetus, a fresh dynamism as well as growing momentum to open up Nigeria and make it ready for solid and sustainable investments. It is not just a case of doing more of the same old drive for foreign direct investments.

Though the concept of using Investment Forums/Fairs to interact with investors is not new, the style of the current investment drive is novel. The current exercise is not just a series of talk-shops or seminars. The campaign involves networking sessions, investment dialogue forums, informal and interactive engagement sessions as well as road shows and rallies as each particular occasion demands.

This time around, there are conscious efforts to diversify Nigeria’s economic diplomacy away from restriction to traditional partners in order to engage new and more development partners in the international arena. Through diplomatic contacts and hosting or making official visits, the current administration has concretized Nigeria’s economic relations with Asian tigers such as India, Japan, China and South Korea. It has also forged links with Brazil, South American and Caribbean countries. Of course, the traditional partnership with United States of America, United Kingdom, France, and continental Europe as well as with North America continues to be strengthened.

It is no longer about telling investors fairy tales about Nigeria, rather it is about letting them know the immense potentialities as well as the daunting challenges while encouraging them to come on-board. The government is also going beyond offering incentives and palliatives to creatively engage investors in fixing and improving the critical infrastructures in order to reduce the cost of doing business in Nigeria.

Moreover, the investment drive is not just about wooing big companies, conglomerates and trans-national corporations; it is more to do with encouraging partnership between Nigeria’s small and medium enterprises and their foreign counterparts. It is about encouraging information exchange, technology transfer and personnel exchange/training collaborative schemes in a way that will integrate Nigeria into the global economy matrix.

It is within this context that the present administration has enlarged and re-energized the Honorary International Investors Council (HIIC), which it inherited from President Olusegun Obasanjo’s civilian regime. The HIIC has been enlarged to become more representative of different economic sectors as well as the various geographical locations and investing populations of the world. Beyond the two six-monthly meetings held annually, Council Members scattered around the globe are now more practically engaged to organize investment meetings and dialogues in their different geographical regions as occasions demand.

From a high-brow technocratic talk-shop on investments, the HIIC is gradually becoming an interventionist and activist agency for attracting investors to Nigeria’s rich but challenging economy. HIIC has become more pro-active, pragmatic and sector-specific in its drive to too investors into the Nigerian market.

This administration is not just urging investors to come to Nigeria; it is also making the investing environment more conducive to investors and fertile for their investments. Definite steps are being taken to reduce corporate taxes, eliminate double taxation and end the rash of illegal levies on manufacturing companies. Following the advice and at the instance of members of the HIIC, the Vice President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan has instructed Nigeria’s Foreign Affairs ministry to make issuance of visas in our embassies abroad more investor-friendly. In the same vein, the Vice President said our immigration laws must be more investment-oriented and tourist-friendly.

According to him, “It is in the overall national economic interests of our country to issue long-term visas and make procurement of visas easier for investors and tourists. We must also make our airports and ports less cumbersome and more people-friendly if we are serious about getting foreigners to partner with us in our development efforts.” With the effectiveness of Nigeria Investment Promotion Commission’s (NIPC) one-stop-investment-centre (OSIC), where foreigners can access information and register new business without delay, a brand new deal is being forged for investors in Nigeria.

A lot has changed as far as Nigeria’s investing environment is concerned. Yet, the world out there is still stuck with the old stereotype of Nigeria as the tottering sleeping giant. Not much is known is about the positively altered macroeconomic situation or more favourable policy environment.

It is against this backdrop of changed circumstances in Nigeria vis-à-vis global ignorance -- at a time when the country is in dire need of international resources and support -- that this administration has been organizing or facilitating a series of investment forums in key development centres across the globe.

The first in the series of investment forums was a two-legged conference on Stating the Case for Investing in Nigeria scheduled to take place in Dubai and London, which was jointly facilitated by African Matters Limited and Developing Markets Associates. While the Dubai Forum was postponed for logistic reasons, the London Forum was successfully held at IET Savoy Place on April 22, 2009 with about 200 participants comprising government officials, prospective investors, business tycoons, development activists, non-governmental organizations, diplomats and representatives of the international community.

At the London Event, the Ministers of National Planning, Commerce and Industry, Finance, Mines and Steel Development, Agriculture and Water Resources as well as the Governors of Kano State, Rivers State and Ondo State (represented by the Secretary to Government) were on hand to showcase Nigeria’s immense investment potentialities vis-à-vis the country’s agenda for development. Aside from fielding questions after each session of paper presentations, the Nigerian investment delegation used coffee breaks and networking moments to engage and interact with would-be investors and fact-finding tourists who had many posers about Nigeria’s social climate and economic environment.

The tone of the London Forum was set by H. E. Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, the Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, who spoke passionately and analytically about Nigeria’s largely untapped investment potentials amidst some daunting development challenges. He said that Nigeria remains the preferred investment destination because of its abundant natural endowment and immense manpower resources as well as because of infrastructural gaps and deficiencies that are being fixed. The investment forums, he explained, are veritable avenues to get willing and genuine development partners and investors to collaborate with Nigeria to develop, upgrade or upscale the infrastructures in order to make the country the ideal and fertile investment ground. He said we cannot wait to fix all our infrastructural deficiencies, logistics problems and legal hurdles before calling on development partners who may actually be needed to accelerate the process of getting the ideal investment climate in the first place.

Expectedly, the Executive Secretary of Nigeria Investment Promotion Commission, Engr. Mustafa Bello was around to restate and recall all the steps that Nigeria has taken and is taking to transform Nigeria to an investor’s paradise. He spoke about the myriads of incentives, tax holidays and all sorts of sweeteners and palliatives designed to woo investors into the manufacturing sector of Nigeria’s economy. He said the One-Stop-Investment-Centre (OSIC) has removed most of the logistics challenges and bureaucratic hurdles that new investors face in a developing economy like Nigeria.

Representatives of the organized private sector in Nigeria like the Dangote Group and Total Oil were readily available to give the needed endorsement to Nigeria’s investment climate. The Chief Executive of Dangote Cement Group, Tony Hadley said “Nigeria’s improved investment climate is making it easier to do business, to source external finance and secure foreign technical partners.” He explained that investors and foreign finance institutions have more confidence in Nigeria’s economy.

Following on the resounding success of the London Forum, Nigeria’s ambassador to Sweden, Dr. Godknows Bolade Igali (who was present at the London Forum) successfully organized a Nordic Forum on Nigeria-Nordic Economic Partnership that will take the Vice President’s delegation to Finland, Sweden and Denmark between May 10 and 17, 2009. This is a bold initiative to concretize and expand Nigeria’s international economic relations with Scandinavian countries with a view to benefiting from their high technologies and other comparative economic advantages.

The first of two HIIC meetings held annually will hold from June 25 to 26 in London this year to take stock of the gains and challenges of Nigeria’s investment drive in the light of the current global economic melt-down. The second Council meeting slated for November should ordinarily take place in Abuja but may be moved to the United States to tap into the business connections and investment potential of some American members on the Council. There is also the possibility of another Nigeria Investment Forum in Germany in the first quarter of next year to engage with investors in Germany, Austria, Czechs and Slovenia.

The global meltdown or economic downturn is not a reason for Nigeria to slow down its drive for foreign investment rather it is a good reason to intensify it. For one, investors have become more wary and discriminatory in their choice of investment destinations, making it necessary for countries to deliberately publicize their investment opportunities and comparative advantages. Secondly, the fact that several investors and banks had their fingers burnt in hitherto favoured investment destinations has made emerging markets like Nigeria to become objects of favourable consideration for new equities. It is therefore the right time for Nigeria to press her comparative advantage as a preferred investment destination.

In any case, as explained by the Vice President, to achieve Nigeria’s Vision 2020-20, there is no way Nigeria can shy away from partnership with the international community by way of international trade and utilization of foreign investment. The current drive is for solid strategic investments that can deepen and diversify the country’s economy and promote sustainable development. Such investments would lead to genuine value-addition through improving and increasing local content of Nigeria’s products. Moreover, the investments would not only build personnel and institutional capacity but also create more jobs and employment opportunities for Nigeria’s huge and resourceful population

Therefore, while Nigeria continues to take concrete actions to improve her infrastructure and improve the regulatory environment, it must continue to state and reassert its credentials as a desirable emerging market in order to continue to attract and retain foreign investments.

*Femi Ajayi is Senior Special Assistant to the Vice President on Development Cooperation.