Osinbajo tells international investment community that Nigeria is open for business once again

ACTING president Professor Yemi Osinbajo has reiterated that Nigeria is a country open to free enterprise and sent out a challenge to international investors warning them that if any of them are indeed serious about Africa they have to come to the country.

Nigeria is Africa's largest economy and has long been one of the major magnets for foreign direct investment (FDI), especially in sectors like financial services, insurance and oil and gas. Over the last two years, however, Nigeria has suffered an economic downturn, with gross domestic product growth going from an annual average of about 7% to a minus.

This year, however, the economy has begun reviving again and Professor Osinbajo has been at pains to state that Nigeria is back to business as usual. Speaking yesterday at State House in Abuja while addressing a gathering at the Nigerian Initiative for Economic Development,

the acting president said free enterprise will work in Nigeria.

Professor Osinbajo added: “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.”

Echoing the thoughts of the director general of the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission, Professor Osinbajo noted that anyone who does not invest in Africa or Nigeria in 10 years’ time would be queried by the business establishment for missing out on the best possible opportunity. He said it is easy to miss out in the best business opportunity, buttressing his point with a personal illustration.

“I remember that I was counsel, I was a lawyer, teaching in the university but also in corporate practice when the first telecom licenses were to be issued. I recall that at the time, even the most optimistic of the investors, because we had only 400,000 telephone lines at the time, thought well maybe in five years we will double the number of lines or maybe triple the number of lines and then we will make profit in about five years or 10 years.

"There were so many who thought, well, it may not be worth it but in about a year of the licenses being granted, all of those who did not invest in it, the big telecom companies who did not invest in it, found themselves holding the short end. They realised that it was a huge mistake because in five years MTN had shown that the telecom sector in Nigeria was just incredibly profitable," Professor Osinbajo added.

Also, the acting president said the government is insisting that the only way the country can make the profit that it needs to make is by private sector investment, beginning with local investment. He added that the federal budget is only N7trn this year, which is not enough to meet all Nigeria's investment needs.