"The President wants to network with international finance Corporations, institutions, and countries that are well healed that would facilitate or that could facilitate direct foreign investment into Nigeria."
Presidential spokesperson Dele Alake has said President Bola Tinubu decided to attend the Global Financial Pact Summit in Paris, France, to shore up Nigeria's foreign exchange and to complement his recent financial policy.
Mr Alake stated this while speaking with journalists in Paris on Wednesday.
Mr Tinubu left the country on Tuesday to participate in the summit on 22 and 23 June.
Mr Alake said the president intends to use the summit to "network with international finance corporations, institutions, countries that are well healed that would facilitate or that could facilitate direct foreign investment into Nigeria."
He said the decision follows explicitly Mr Tinubu's recent decision to unify the multiple exchange rates in the country.
The presidential spokesperson said the decision has led to a slight spike in demand which has affected the value of the naira.
"So apart from the immediate, short and long term positive effects of that unification policy, there could be a need for an injection of direct foreign exchange into the economy to shore up the value of the naira while market forces stabilise," he said.
Giving further details, Mr Alake said the new policy had lifted all restrictions on domiciliary accounts, adding that the policy will build more confidence in the foreign exchange system in Nigeria.
"People abroad can begin to bring in their money into the economy, even those at home, who have hoarded their dollars for fear of restrictions and all that will now be more encouraged to bring the dollars into the financial system.
"However, with all of these, you still need a direct foreign injection of foreign exchange to build or complement the domestic policies. That is the essence of this meeting, and it is a global summit.
"And there are several heads of state of developed societies that Mr President's policies in the last three weeks really have encouraged - these foreign nations and investors to become more interested in the affairs of Nigeria in shoring up the economy," he said.
Mr Alake said many investors have already shown interest in meeting with Mr Tinubu and that the president's team had already mapped out the structure and strategies of these meetings.
"At the last count, about three, four different heads of state of developed countries have indicated willingness to meet with him and have a chat with him and explore areas of cooperation on the economy, on agriculture, on other areas that are salient to the development of Nigeria's economy. That is generally the essence of this meeting," he said.
Mr Alake listed the countries to include the USA, France and Switzerland, as well as other international financial institutions.
Mr Alake said a lot of international investors exited Nigeria in the recent past because of the restrictive currency policies that were in place, which made business to be so stifled.
He said now that the policies are being liberalised and freed to market forces, "in the short run, we will need very comprehensive and robust direct foreign investment into the country. So we are very, very hopeful that some of these meetings he is going to have will come to fruition and bear very positive fruits and yield results for Nigeria."
Read the full interview with Mr Alake in Paris
What are the expectations of Nigeria at the summit?
The essence of this trip is to network as much as feasible, as much as is practicable. The President wants to network with international finance Corporations, institutions, countries that are well healed that would facilitate or that could facilitate direct foreign investment into Nigeria.
Don't forget that Mr. President has taken some very bold steps in the area of economy, in the area of social engineering in the last few weeks, and particularly with reference to the unification of the multiple exchange rates, which has caused a very positive multiplier effect.
However, in the short term, we have noticed and expected that there will be a slight spike in the demand and then that would affect the value of the Naira viz-viz the dollar. So apart from the immediate, short and long term positive effects of that unification policy, there could be a need for an injection of direct foreign exchange into the economy to shore up the value of the naira while market forces stabilize. And in the short run or medium term, there is going to be when the effects of this policy begin to mature.
For instance, you can now spend your money in your domiciliary account. The domiciliary account restrictions have been liberalized. So there's no more restriction. Once there's money in your account, you can spend it anywhere in the world. Now that is going to build confidence in the foreign exchange system of Nigeria, which means people abroad can begin to bring in their money into the economy, even those at home, who have hoarded their dollars for fear of restrictions and all that will now be more encouraged to bring the dollars into the financial system.
However, with all of these, you still need a direct foreign injection of foreign exchange to build or complement the domestic policies. That is the essence of this meeting and is a global summit and there are several heads of state of developed societies that Mr. President's policies in the last three weeks really have encouraged these foreign nations and investors to become more interested in the affairs of Nigeria in shoring up the economy of Nigeria.
So a lot of them are quite interested so many of them have even indicated interest to meet with Mr. President on this trip. Just upstairs now. We were having a meeting with the president structuring some of these meetings with heads of state. At the last count about three, four different heads of state of developed countries have indicated willingness to meet with him, have a chat with him and explore areas of cooperation, on the economy, on agriculture, on other areas that are salient to the development of Nigeria's economy. That is generally the essence of this meeting.
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Can we know the countries that have shown interest in having a pact with Nigeria?
Quite a number of them, the US, France itself, Switzerland and one or two others that I can't readily recall now. There are so many institutions, international financial institutions that are also willing to see him.
Some of them we are structuring either for tomorrow or Friday to meet with him with his team, and then consolidate some of the issues and provide, you know, more encouraging rhetoric for those people to come in and invest in Nigeria.
Don't forget that in the recent past, a lot of international investors exited Nigeria, because of the restrictive currency policies that we had, which made business to be so stifled. But now that these are being liberalised, and they are freed to market forces, in the short run, we will need very comprehensive and robust direct foreign investment into the country. So we are very, very hopeful, that some of these meetings will come to fruition and will bear very positive fruits and yield results for Nigeria.
