Nigeria Content Online

The federal
government has assured investors that the forthcoming general elections
in 2011 will not affect the nation’s investment climate, as it is
making all efforts to ensure policy continuity in the country.

The Vice President,
Namadi Sambo, gave this assurance on Tuesday, when he received energy
delegations from Nordic countries at the State House, Abuja. He said
the federal government is providing the enabling environment for
businesses to thrive, in areas such as the legal framework and the
provision of adequate security to ensure that the safety of lives and
property of Nigerians and that of investors, are protected to
international standards.

Mr Sambo restated
the administration’s commitment to ensuring free and fair elections in
the 2011 elections, by providing a level playing ground for all
aspirants, noting that with the experiences garnered by the president
and himself, “our programmes are very clear. Nigerians believe in our
programmes, and we are confident that we are very popular and there
will be continuity,” he said.

The Vice President
urged the delegation to partner with government to meet the aspirations
of the Vision 20: 2020 blueprint. He highlighted viable areas of
investment to include, the power sector, where he cited the Zungeru and
Mambilla Hydro Power projects, coal fired and thermal power plants and
their management. He also called for investments in the renewable
energy sector, the oil and gas sector and the transportation sector,
which he enumerated as roads, bridges, railways and waterways. He said
the government is facing the funding challenges for these
infrastructures through Public Private Partnership (PPP), concessional
funding, as well as bilateral funding.

Harnessing the relationships

Speaking earlier,
the Norwegian Ambassador to Nigeria, Kjell Lillerud, said that the
delegation was in the country to further advance cooperation between
the Nordic countries and Nigeria especially on the energy sector.

Expressing that the
countries have had friendly relations, Mr Lillerud stated that “they
are yet to explore the full potentials of their economic relations.” He
said the Nordic countries could impact positively on the energy sector
of Nigeria, with experiences in biological research, renewable energy
and environmental friendly technology, adding that he hoped concrete
agreements will come out from the visit, within the context of a
Memorandum of Understanding (MOU).

On his part, the
leader of the business delegation, Matti Pekkanen, Nigeria’s country
manager for the ABB (Asea Brown Boveri, a Swiss-Swedish multinational
corporation operating mainly in the power and automation technology
areas), said Nigeria is a country where the business opportunities and
the opportunities for improving the people’s lives are so vast and
concrete. He explained that they have the firm intention to enhance
more cooperation, knowledge transfer and investments into Nigeria.

Other members of
the delegation were the Ambassador of Finland, Anneli Vuorinen, and
that of Sweden, Per Lindegaarde. Others present at the meeting were the
Minister of State Power, Nuhu Wya, and several government officials.
The Nordic countries are Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden.