Nigerian government charges ambassadors to woo strategic investors
The Nigerian Government on Wednesday charged Nigerian ambassadors in foreign nations to identify and provide strategic investors in their domains capable of investing in Nigeria.
It gave the charge through the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission at the Roundtable on Economic Diplomacy meeting with various Nigerian ambassadors, hosted by the Abuja Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
The Acting Executive Secretary, NIPC, Emeka Offor, said Nigerian embassies in other nations should provide opportunities for the commission to engage with leading investors in the foreign countries.
He said, “There are about 178 national investment promotion agencies across the globe and they are all trying to attract investments to their own countries. That tells you that the competition for capital is intense, especially now that we are recovering from COVID-19 pandemic.
“So there is the need for not just the investment promotion agency to work towards attracting investments into the country, but for our high commissions and embassies to strongly look at how do we convince investors in those countries to invest in Nigeria.
“One of the things we want the embassies to do is to give us an opportunity to engage with strategic investors. Every country has opportunities that they are very good at, they have sectors of competitive advantages.”
He said the NIPC conducted a study to identify certain countries and their competitive advantages, adding that it was important to attract investors from these nations.
“We said our ambassadors in those countries can give us three to five names or sectors that have shown interest in investing in Nigeria. We can now work with the embassies to do targeted investment promotion activities with them. The NIPC will support all the embassies to ensure that we project a positive image about the investment opportunities in Nigeria,” the NIPC boss stated.
The Nigerian Ambassador to Ukraine, Shina Alege, said Nigerian embassies are ready to work with the organised private sector through the various chambers of commerce across the country.
Punch
