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The federal
government has charged the Honourary International Investor Council
(HIIC) to support Nigeria in building investor confidence in the
country. The call came against the backdrop of the treatment given to
companies doing business in Nigeria by some countries.

Vice President
Namadi Sambo said at yesterday’s meeting of the Council at the Banquet
Hall of the State House, Abuja that it is sad that European Union
countries do not guarantee companies that are doing business in
Nigeria. He cited the United Kingdom which gives guarantees to
companies in Ghana and other countries but not to those in Nigeria, as
an example.

He therefore urged
the members of the body “to support and partner with government to
build investor confidence on the country.” Mr. Sambo stressed that
there are still huge opportunities for investment in all sectors in
Nigeria, adding that the Central Bank of Nigeria has made available
N500 billion at one digit interest rate.

The Vice President
noted government’s commitment in ensuring an enabling environment for
businesses to thrive in Nigeria, saying “government has made deliberate
policies to ensure that these objectives are met”.

In this light, he
said government has put in place a new gas pricing policy to further
bolster investor interest in the oil and gas sector and that to ensure
adequate security, machinery had been put in place to reform the
Nigeria police.

“To meet the huge
financial requirements for infrastructural development, government is
looking at various ways to organise and stratify funding for projects
in its quest to achieve the laudable goals contained in the Vision
20:2020 programme,” he said.

He said such ways
include concessionary funds from the World Bank, the Islamic
Development Bank (IDB), the African Development Bank (ADB) and the Yen
Credit facility, among several others. Others include Public Private
Partnerships and bilateral funding.

The VP stated that
government needs “the cooperation and support of the private sector to
meet the developmental challenges of the country”.

According to him,
areas needing urgent intervention include, “power, such as the hydro
power projects in Zungeru and Mambilla, and development of Coal power
plants; transportation; housing and urban development, construction of
multipurpose dams, agriculture, port expansion, road and railways
construction, water ways and access to financing for the private
sector”.

Positive changes

The Chairperson of
the Investor Council, Lynda Chalker, said the Council has a good
opportunity to take a number of key issues forward. She further said
that the Council had noticed a very significant change in Nigeria which
is for the better, adding that they have seen a big leap forward. Mrs
Chalker used the occasion to assure Mr Sambo of their commitment to
improving investor confidence in Nigeria.

The meeting saw
presentations from the Minister of Agriculture, Ahmed Abdullahi on
driving investments into agriculture; the Chairman, Independent
National Electoral Commission (INEC), Attahiru Jega on the Challenges
and Prospects of Electoral Reform Process in Nigeria and; the
government of Borno State, on driving investment to Nigerian States.

Council members present include Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, Sam Jonah,
Emmanuel Ijewere, Umaru Mutalab, Neil Harvey, Guillaume Roux, Ronnie
Ntuli, Simon Harford and Pietro Franco Tali. Others at the occasion are
the Minister of National Planning, Shamsudeen Usman; Special Assistant
to the President on MDGs, Amina Al-Zubair, and the Executive Secretary,
Nigeria Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC) Mustapha Bello among
others.