The Nigeria Investment Promotion Council, NIPC, said on Tuesday its target is to attract about $25 billion as the Nigeria-U.S. Investors Roundtable opens in New York.
The NIPC Chief Executive Officer, CEO, Yewande Sadiku, said the Council’s target in foreign direct investment, FDI, from the Forum is expected to surpass that of the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan, ERGP.
Also, Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Okechukwu Enelamah, who spoke at the opening session of the Forum on Monday, said the federal government was deliberately investing in the development of infrastructure to attract investors to the country.
“Nigeria of the future will be dramatically different from the past,” the minister told participants at the Forum held on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly meeting.
“We are building infrastructure. We are providing the enabling environment, and we are improving on the ease of doing business, to attract more investors into the country,” Mr. Enelamah said.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, who represented President Muhammadu Buhari told the audience that Nigeria was doing everything possible to rebrand and present itself as a reliable investment partner.
Mr. Onyeama said the country planned to turn its embassies around the world into business hubs, by providing all information required by prospective investors and businesses as well as acting as a one-stop-shop for investments.
Equally, the CEO of Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority, Uche Orji, assured participants at the Forum of the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority, NSIA’s readiness as a partner of choice in the development of opportunities in power, real estate, agriculture, and healthcare in Nigeria.
The round-table was organised by the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment in partnership with the NIPC, Business Council for International Understanding, BCIU, U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Corporate Council on Africa, CCA.
Companies in attendance included Denham Capital, Atlas Merchant Capital LLC, International Business Machines, IBM, SAAB North America, Citigroup INC, Coronation Capital, Greenwish Partners, Skypower Global, and Procter and Gamble.
Others included The Boeing Company, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Mclarty Associates, GlaxoSmithKline, Wall St Strategic Capital, Flour Mills of Nigeria, Lekoil, Massmart Holdings Ltd/Wallmart, Development Finance International (DFI), Albright Stonebridge Group among others.
The CEO of CCA, Florizelle Liser, observed: “We value and appreciate the opportunity to host this event – BCIU, CCA, US Chamber of Commerce and Nigeria. Whether it’s a billion or $25 billion (investment), we’re at the table, count us in.”
Clifford Samuel of Gilead Sciences INC, who emphasised the relationship between healthcare and productivity, expressed his company’s desire to partner with Nigeria to produce and deliver medication for Hepatitis C.
Other government officials from Nigeria who attended the event were the Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Kayode Fayemi, and the Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed.
The ministry also held other business meetings with fund managers (private equity and stock), Kuramo Capital Management, SinoMach, Foster-Wheeler, in an effort to attract funding capital to projects in Nigeria.
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