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Nigeria, good destination for investors — US Commerce Secretary

By on May 23, 2014

Nigeria is currently a destination of choice for American investors, the United States Secretary of Commerce, Ms. Penny Pritzker, has said.

She said during a bilateral meeting with the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Olusegun Aganga, in Lagos on Thursday, that Nigeria currently had enormous investment opportunities which American investors were willing to explore.

Pritzker, who led a delegation of about 25 US investors (mainly in the power sector) to Nigeria, said, “About 100 American businessmen indicated interest in coming with me on this delegation to Nigeria but we couldn’t accommodate all of them. We’re aware that there is an Industrial Revolution going on, which is a very good development. We would like to know more about it so we can be part of it.”

She commended President Goodluck Jonathan for initiating the NIRP, noting that American companies would leverage on it to invest in Africa’s biggest economy.

In his remarks, Aganga said the growing interest of foreign investors in the Nigerian economy was a testimony of the positive impact of Mr. President’s Transformation Agenda.

He said, “This is the first time the American Secretary of Commerce is visiting Nigeria in 22 years. Over the years, Nigeria has had a good economic relationship with the US, but today, it is more of how we can have a stronger, strategic and long- lasting trade and investment partnership with the United States.

“During my meeting with the United States Secretary of Commerce, she said that they had more than 100 businessmen who wanted to come to Nigeria but they had to trim it down because they couldn’t accommodate all of them. This shows the level of interest that foreign investors have in President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration and in the Nigerian economy in general.”

The minister explained that the meeting provided a veritable platform for Nigeria and the US to share ideas on how to increase US investment in Nigeria.

Aganga said, “We discussed about some critical areas including how to mobilise capital from the United States into Nigeria, which will translate into getting more investments into Nigeria. We have some successful US companies which have been operating in Nigeria for more than two decades but the US Secretary for Commerce and I agreed that we needed to have more investments coming into Nigeria. We also agreed on the strategies that would help us achieve this.

“Another major issue we discussed during the meeting was trade. Nigeria has been the number one trading partner for the United States in the Sub-Saharan Africa. At a particular time, Nigeria supplied about 12 per cent of their energy needs in terms of crude oil. However, the world is changing today. America wants to be energy sufficient having discovered shale oil.”

The minister said Nigeria, on the other hand, with the new industrial plan, would cease to be a nation “that exports raw materials to a nation that adds value to its commodities.”

“We are moving from a country that relied entirely on exporting crude oil to a nation that adds value to our crude oil and gas,” he added.

 

 

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