By Titus Chigozie
The governor of Anambra State, Prof. Chukwuma Charles Soludo has described foreign companies exiting Nigeria as “opportunistic” firms that jump from one country to another “the day they have itchy feet”.
Governor Soludo spoke earlier today, Wednesday, in Abuja at the maiden edition of the Abuja Business and Investment Summit organised by the Abuja Investment Company Limited.
The governor said the “government must learn to derisk certain strategic investment for the private sector” as indigenous “nationals have higher risk appetite to invest in Nigeria”.
He spoke on the theme of the event, ‘Optimising Investment Through Partnerships’. The event also had the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, and other dignitaries in attendance.
“Dear friends, there is what we call the new mercantilism and pseudo-nationalism; it’s both a threat and an opportunity. In today’s world, in many countries, new nationalism is back. Economic nationalism is back, new mercantilism is back,” Governor Soludo said.
“People are saying ‘America first’. We must be intentional. The agenda of ‘Nigeria first’ as a philosophy is something that we must mainstream. This will require us to intentionally nurture national champions for sustainability.
“If you see the companies that have pulled out of Nigeria, how many of them happen to be national companies? None. The day they have itchy feet, they jump to the next one (country), they are very opportunistic. extremely opportunistic, no emotions to it. So, for long-term sustainability, we must nurture the domestic capital and build them.”
The Anambra governor expressed hope that “both forex and price level will stabilise and the interest rate and monetary policy will loosen” for business owners to borrow at reasonable rates to have real return on investments
Governor Soludo also said lower interest rates would shore up domestic investment, even foreign investment.
Continuing, he maintained that the oil and gas sector would remain a game-changer for the Nigerian economy, he however encouraged the government of the day to shore up daily oil production to around three million barrels per day to boost forex.
“In the short to medium term, the oil and gas sector will remain the game changer for Nigeria. It is still going to be very critical,” he said, adding that addressing security challenges and fostering ease of doing business would help fast-track economic recovery.
The event which held at the Shehu Musa Yar’adua Centre attracted prominent personalities as well as Heads of Foreign Missions, development partners, organised business sectors, etc
