- First African leader honoured at NASDAQ
- Reforms boosting confidence, says NGX
- Millions of tech skills coming
Nigeria is open for business and all investors will be provided with enabling environment to thrive and earn globally competitive returns on their investments.
This was the central message of President Bola Tinubu to the global investment community as he interacted with investors, business leaders and top government functionaries on the sidelines of his well-applauded participation at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).
Tinubu was honoured with the symbolic ringing of the closing bell at the NASDAQ in New York, becoming the first African leader to be so honoured. This was followed with several top-level engagements with global investment leaders and policy makers.
Tinubu, surrounded by Nigerian business leaders and officials of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX), said Nigeria is ready to be the continental hub for global investments, urging investors to come and take advantage of the huge opportunities in the country.
He said the focus of his administration on reforms and key initiatives being taken would engender a secured and prosperous business environment.
“The greatest economy in Africa is Nigeria, there is an immense opportunity in Nigeria where you can invest your money without fear,” Tinubu said.
He noted that his government has continued to address longstanding problems and impediments, citing his work to restore and unify the foreign exchange rate market to a stable and trustworthy level, allowing new investors to seamlessly bring their money into the country, free of worries about whether or not they can take their money out at any point in time.
“You’re free to take in your money and bring out your money. I count on you to invest in Nigeria,” Tinubu said.
At the Nigeria-U.S. Executive Business Roundtable held just after the NASDAQ closing bell, Tinubu assured prospective investors that while he recognized that investment capital is cowardly in nature, he intentionally brought successful Nigerian industrialists and public officials to share their experiences and operational plans respectively, in addition to all that he has already done to boost the confidence of the global investment community in Nigeria’s presently reforming fiscal, monetary, regulatory and tax policy environment.
“Nigeria is an opportunity that is impossible to replicate or find elsewhere in any part of the world. We have brilliant young people who both innovate and consume at a large scale. Our entrepreneurial spirit is a major part of what makes our market totally unique, aside from demography. Nigerians build businesses and Nigerian businesses partner with other businesses to conduct larger business.
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“There is enough value to spread around. Be careful of what you hear about Nigeria. You may be dissuaded out of a major opportunity that others will take up. We are here for you. We will give you all the support you need to succeed and succeed abundantly,” Tinubu assured.
On behalf of the United States (U.S). Government, U.S. Deputy Treasury Secretary, Wally Adeyemo, who just returned from an official visit to Nigeria, said he saw in Lagos, some of the major reforms Tinubu had implemented as the Governor of Lagos and the transformative effect it has had on Nigeria’s commercial capital.
“People have attested to the fact that the reforms you have put in place as President are quickly enhancing confidence. American business is paying attention to that and from what we have seen for ourselves, Nigeria is proving to be a new frontier for investment. We will encourage our companies from our end as those reforms continue to deepen,” Adeyemo said.
American Business Council President, Mr. Sops Ideriah, said that the extensive turnout at the roundtable by American business chief executives served as a testament to the degree to which confidence is rising in response to the actions and words of Tinubu’s administration with respect to ease of business, investment promotion, and his willingness to personally intervene where required to ease the historical concerns of American business people about doing business in Nigeria.
“We are very positive about the potential of Nigeria and we are just reinforcing to our colleagues the message about the economic opportunities that exist there,” Ideriah said.
Chairman, Nigerian Exchange Group (NGX Group) Plc, Dr Umaru Kwairanga said Tinubu’s reforms have boosted investors’ confidence in the capital market, citing the world-leading rally at the stock market since the advent of the new administration.
According to him, under Tinubu’s leadership, the country has made significant strides and there are significant opportunities lie ahead
He urged the president to encourage further reforms that will help to unlock increased prosperity for the Nigerian economy, including legislative adjustments that will make listing more attractive.
Kwairanga also called for deepening of pension reforms and amendments to regulations governing free zone companies to facilitate their access to the capital market through listings.
He added that the government should work towards enacting policies to enable dollar-denominated transactions to unlock further capital into the country.
The closing bell ceremony was part of events lined up in the NGX Roadshow, supported by Stanbic IBTC, CardinalStone Partners and Chapel Hill Denham. Kwairanga also nudged the US business community to explore more partnership avenues with Nigeria.
Minister of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy, Bosun Tijani, who also spoke at the SDG Media Zone on “How to Promote Poverty Eradication in Developing countries”, said the president has mandated initiatives to create millions of tech skills.
he emphasised on the importance of harnessing the power of digital technology to increase productivity.
Bosun noted that there’s need to leverage on the use of technology to address so many issues, and the government is focusing on critical sectors especially agriculture.
He said: “The President (Tinubu) has mandated that in the next two to three years, we have to train a million technology talents in Nigeria.
“What we are doing now at this phase, is to pull people together from the industry – tech startups
“We are also working with foundations and development agencies for us to put our resources together to meet the set targets. YouTube, Google, and the likes will be invited to train youths. We are harmonizing all these programmes.
“We are on a good trajectory in Nigeria. We are harmonizing our identity system. We recognize power of digital technology to improve education and to also reimagine how we solve problems. We’ll increase significantly the number of jobs we’ve in the tech space. We are working hard to become next exporter of technology talents.
“Nigeria is a key player in agriculture. More innovative practices in agriculture sector will create opportunities. It is a priority for my ministry, and this will be done by collaborating with the Agriculture ministry.
“We want Nigeria to be able to raise more than $4bn for start ups. We want to be able to make significant progress on digitalisation of government services.
Acting Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Mr. Zacch Adedeji, assured the American Captains of Industry that under the leadership of President Bola Tinubu, the nation’s apex tax authority will be focusing its efforts not on taxing the seed, but only on the proportionate taxation of the fruit of fully formed industry, through efficient policy synergy with Nigeria’s sub-national authorities.
“The President is a business enabler, not a handicapper. Everything we do will be geared toward making your tax assessment and payment processes as digitally efficient and transparent as possible. We are not after the seed, but the fruit and we will keep to this commitment,” Nigeria’s new tax boss affirmed.