Understanding Osinbajo's investment drive to the US

It is important to restate here that the Buhari administration is doing everything possible to revitalise the nation’s economy especially with emphasis on the non-oil sectors, which is a viable way of propelling the diversification of the economy. The roadshow, which included a visit to the Silicon Valley, was a way to trigger American techpreneurs to consider Nigeria in their investment loop.

“Investment Roadshow” is a marketing technique that is usually embarked upon by countries that are serious about investment drive from abroad. The most recent example was the visit by the French President, who after the official visit to President Buhari was also on the streets of Lagos, to drive partnership between his country and Nigeria in the area of culture, language and manufacturing business.

The French President was not at the Fela Anikulapo-Kuti’s Afrika Shrine (a place that may not enjoy the recommendation of many government officials) for fun. He met with top-shots of Nigeria’s entertainment industry, Nollywood practitioners and culture journalists, who painstakingly waited for him at the Afrika Shrine for over three hours behind schedule! To add to that, the French President gave the highest honour in France to Mr. Mike Adenuga for building a French Language school in Lagos.

A government that managed the country out of its worst economic recession in its history in record time without the economy going under completely cannot be said to be an “unserious one”. While the economy might not be running on all fours at the moment, there’s no iota of doubt that things are definitely looking up. According to a very recent report by the National Bureau of Statistics, the perennial double digit inflation that has dogged the economy for many months has crashed to 11.23%.

The implication of this is that, other things being equal, a single digit inflation is possible in no distant time. With a single digit inflation, the intrinsic value of the Naira, the nation’s currency, will increase, so with its purchasing power. To achieve this quickly, a foreign investment drive as embarked upon by Mr. Vice President is inevitable in order to increase foreign revenue and strengthen the local currency.

The global financial monitor and assistor, International Monetary Fund(IMF), has said in one of its recent reports that Nigeria is good for investment. In its July 2018 edition of its World Economic Outlook, the global lender predicted a surge in the economy of countries in the sub-Saharan region of Africa with Nigeria leading the way.

The outlook identified the “improved prospects for Nigeria’s economy” as the major catalyst for the upgraded forecast for the whole region compared to what was obtainable in the April 2018 edition. Also, the likely increase in Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to 2.3 percent was reflected in the prediction.

“Its (Nigeria) growth is set to increase from 0.8 per cent in 2017 to 2.1 per cent in 2018 July 2018 and 2.3 per cent in 2019 on the back of an improved outlook for oil prices.”. IMF also stated that the economic renaissance in sub-Saharan Africa will continue, owing to a rise in the price of commodities in the region.”

Another newspaper report indicated that revenue of US firms in Nigeria hits N2.6trn as Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) reaches $1.3bn. All genuine efforts like that of Professor Osinbajo, to sustain and enhance such progress should be applauded and not derided for any reason whatsoever.

According to another report, American companies in the country ranging from GE to PwC, made N2.6 trillion in 2017 as against N1 trillion reported in 2016, according to a report conducted by the American Business Council (ABC), sponsored by Dow Chemical. The report says that Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflows from the US into Nigeria were $1.3bn in 2017.

Another interesting aspect of the report is the total spend on training. The US firms invested over N1.6 billion in training in 2017 as against N340 million in 2016. American companies operating in the country also pumped N1.5 billion into Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) last year as against N217 million the previous year. American investors know better than putting their money where handsome returns are not guaranteed.

The report disclosed further that the CSR programmes embarked upon by US firms in 2017 were in key sectors such as health (provision of medical equipment for primary health centres; medical missions); education (scholarships for university undergraduates); infrastructure ( building of classrooms as well as youth and sports centres), and social intervention (monetary donations to charities, NGOs, community development trust funds). They also created over 9,000 direct jobs and 11,000 indirect jobs in 2017.

We share in the aspirations of Nigeria,” said Lazarus Angbazo, President of ABC and Chief Executive of GE Nigeria, at a recent press conference in Lagos.

He further stated that US firms in Nigeria have shown that they are good corporate citizens, based on their level of commitment and expenditure on CSR, adding that GE collaborated with UNICEF in 2017 on the rehabilitation of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the north-eastern Nigeria.

According to Darrell McGraw, Vice President of ABC, the major challenges faced by US companies in Nigeria in 2017 were labour issues (poor preparations of school leavers for the labour market), specific industry regulations, local content, as well as crime and security.

“US companies are optimistic and bullish in doing business in Nigeria,” McGraw said, adding that there had not been a better time to do business in Nigeria.

Also, 52 percent of the firms identified Nigeria as a regional hub for their operations in West Africa. There is certainly no evil in asking for more American investments in Nigeria. All efforts aimed at sustaining and promoting FDI in Nigeria should be supported by all patriots, regardless of political and economic biases.

By Usman Yakubu

Very good thread

Elections are coming and things are looking very bad for APC and now they want to start our monring withrheir usual empty nonsensical lies and propaganda

Tell Buhari not to worry. Wot d parliament refused to do, we will do it in 2019.





Clueless pple