Minister of Trade and Industry, Olusegun Aganga has urged Nigerians in the Diaspora to be part of the ongoing massive investments drive under the transformation agenda of President Gooodliuck Jonathan.
Speaking in New York at a lunch President Jonathan, members of the executive council and the Nigerian Professionals in USA, Aganga described Nigeria as the new investment destination for investors all over the world.
“In fact, UNITAD, in June, for the second year running, announced that Nigeria was the number one destination for investment in Africa and number four in terms of returns, in the whole world,” he said.
“The Chinese are investing, the Europeans are investing, the Americans are investing, the whole world is investing in Nigeria and these investing are ongoing in critical sectors of the economy, such as power, telecoms, Agriculture, and petrochemicals.”
He assured Nigerian professionals of friendly enabling environment for business, wondering why Nigerians seem uninterested in investing in their own country while other nationals are taking the advantage. He described the country’s Diaspora communities as its blood and kin that must not be left out.
Aganga also declared that Nigeria’s economy is expected to overtake South Africa as No 1 economy in Africa .a
“As a result, we are focused on Agriculture, MSME development, the housing sector, industrialisation, skills development and we are getting results,” he revealed.
“In the power sector, for the first time in Nigeria, we have successfully privatised the electric power industry and are bringing in capital, technology and operational excellence into the sector. As a result, 11 distribution companies, and six generation companies have been privatised for over $3 billion.”
In view of the government’s enormous commitment to providing electricity for Nigerians, the minister assured that Nigeria will have the capacity to provide to generate 10,000 MW of electric power by first quarter of 2014 when most of NIPP power plants come on stream.
“This administration is also planning for the long term, by signing agreement with leading international power companies, such as Deawoo, Siemens, Eletrobas GE and China power for an additional 40,000MW of power. That means additional investment of about $40 billion over the next 10 years.”
Aganga also urged the audience to take advantage of numerous prospects to invest in transportation, aviation, oil and gas, housing, agriculture, health care, infrastructure, saying Nigerians abroad can come on board to participate in the transformation agenda through advocacy and investment.
