Juliana Taiwo
7 November 2008
Abuja — The Federal Government yesterday reaffirmed its commitment to reposition Nigeria to attract foreign investments as well as development programmes that will deliver a better life to its citizens.
The Vice President, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan stated this at the opening ceremony of the 7 th Meeting of the Honourary International Investor Council (HIIC).
He has also expressed determination to guarantee the welfare of Nigerians and ensure a strong national economy buoyant enough to discourage the desperate surge of nationals in search of greener pastures abroad.
He said that the Federal Government is dedicated to rapid economic and infrastructural development aimed at creating a fertile ground for businesses to thrive, and that "If Nigeria does not progress economically, chances are that we would become a burden to the rest of the world".
Jonathan stressed that the attainment of the vision 20-20 demands that all hands must be on deck.
He stressed the present administration's efforts towards solving Niger Delta crisis saying that the achievement of peace and stability in the region would contribute to stable energy supply needed to power Nigeria 's economy.
Earlier, the Council Coordinator, Baroness Lynda Chalker, observed that progress has been made with respect to improving the investment climate in Nigeria as she called for concerted efforts towards making the country more attractive to investors.
She, however, expressed worries over the non-fulfillment of some economic development promises urging government to speed up its pace of programme implementation.
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If Nigeria were a corporation, it would have been allowed to collapse like Lehman Brothers or teeter like Merrill Lynch until it was allowed to shack up with Bank of America for dear life. Why did the President send his Vice to deliver this meaningless speech when the President knows full well that the current global credit crisis has sucked all capital market dry of any fund for foreign investment at this point? Everybody is taking care of its own right now to put their respective house (country) in order b4 they can worry about any other country at this time. Besides, with President Yaradua's cancellations, left and right, of every agreement his predecessor started - given the President's history of flip-flops - who would trust him that he will not cancel or renege on his promise, after all, an agreement or a contract is a promise in exchange for a consideration. Most damning to his credibility is Yaradua's removal of Ribadu as our Corruption Tsar, plus his slow poke approach to decision making. Given the above rationale, which investor would risk its hard-earned money in a market as corrupt and visionless as this one? Perhaps the President thinks that his VP might be taken more seriously than investors would have if the appeal is coming directly from our visionless President. Perhaps we should ask Mr. President why it took him 18 months to appeal for FDI when the going was good by making haste while the day was young. Even if you can find capital at this late stage, investors would probably lend at exorbitant rate to a country like Nigeria with its baggage history of corruption, to cover their high risk of investing in this visionless administration.