Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, on Tuesday, said investor interest in Nigeria rose by 37% from $66.4bn in 2017 to $90.9bn, judging by the investment announcements tracked by the Federal Government.
Addressing participants at the first Nigeria-UK Economic Development Forum (EDF) hosted by the Federal Government at the Presidential Villa, Osinbajo said such announcements are of interest because the administration realizes that if nurtured correctly, such interests can turn into actual investments.
He also linked this to the “steady rise in investor confidence, with an increase in the number of significant deal announcements.”
This, he continued, was seen 18 days ago when “Jumia, an online marketplace company that started in Nigeria, listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), the first African start-up to do so.”
The company, the VP stressed, “received such a warm investor response, that it has since appreciated over 125%!”
A statement by Laolu Akande, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media & Publicity, Office of the Vice President, said the Economic Development Forum was signed in August 2018 by President Muhammadu Buhari and Prime Minister Theresa May in London as a platform to foster economic and development ties between Nigeria and the United Kingdom.
The Vice President expressed interest in seeing “more transactions like this, and several between Nigeria and the United Kingdom.
“Already, there are four Nigerian companies listed on the main board of The London Stock Exchange, although only one Nigerian company, Seplat Petroleum Development Company Plc is listed in both Nigeria and the UK. It is also fascinating that about half of the companies on the FTSE 100 have exposure to Nigeria.
“By leveraging the EDF, I hope that we will continue to build on the existing foundation and work together on recording increased trade and investment flows, particularly in the areas where we have comparative advantages,” he added.
Speaking on the efforts made by the Buhari administration to boost investor confidence in the economy and improve the business environment, the Prof. Osinbajo said: “as a government, we are not unmindful of the challenges that have hindered the business and investment environment in our country.”
The administration has taken these challenges as “opportunities and made the extensive build-out of modern infrastructure (both hard and soft) as the main thrust of our Administration.
“In the last three years, the government has allocated and disbursed over N3.5 trillion from the National budgets to infrastructure.
“The Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) has made significant progress in reducing bottlenecks, eliminating redundancies and increasing transparency across government ministries, departments and agencies.”
“There is undeniable evidence that the Buhari administration is repositioning the Nigerian economy for true growth and shared prosperity.”
Vice President Osinbajo described the relationship between Nigeria and the UK as one “of strategic importance to Nigeria” while welcoming the opportunity to actively grow the commercial bilateral relationship with the United Kingdom through the Economic Development Forum (EDF).
According to him, “the deep and long-standing relationship between Nigeria and the United Kingdom indicates that the current level of trade and investments between our countries is materially below the potential the relationship suggests, given that Africa represents only 2% of the UK’s trade relationships, and Nigeria represents only a tenth of that.
“All hands must be on deck, to ensure that we foster the right environment to grow the level of bilateral trade and investment between our great countries.”
Speaking earlier, UK Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said the importance of the Nigeria-UK Economic Development Forum cannot be over-emphasized, noting that Nigeria’s current demographics require government and other stakeholders to improve efforts and other interventions aimed at tackling unemployment and other challenges.
He urged the Federal Government to adopt steps aimed at improving the investment climate one of which is the approval of the revised Companies and Allied Matters Act.
Also speaking, Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Okechukwu Enelamah said a number of key decisions were reached at the end of the first Nigeria-UK Economic Development Forum, including work streams on standards, business to business linkages, clarification of regulatory frameworks, manufacturing and technology transfer, amongst others.
The highpoint of the event was the signing of the communique reached at the end of the first Nigeria-UK Economic Development Forum, by the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Okechukwu Enelamah and the UK Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt.