‘US firms are boosting the Nigerian economy’

US Secretary of Commerce, Penny Pritzker, recently led a high level delegation of President Obama’s Advisory Council on Doing Business in Africa on a fact-finding, policy-oriented visit to Nigeria to review the opportunities and challenges of investment in the country. The main objective is to enhance trade and investment with Nigeria and other African countries.

During the visit, Pritzker and her delegation held a roundtable/lunch on January 25, with the president, Lazarus Angbazo, and members of the American Business Council, a business association consisting of US companies operating in Nigeria.

The sectors covered at the deliberations spanned oil and gas, power, agriculture, financial and banking services, healthcare, transportation and ICT. The state of the Nigerian economy was discussed and proposals were made on how to improve performance in the identified sectors as well as the economy as a whole.

According to the American Business Council, it was also noted at the meeting that of the over 70 large American companies operating in Nigeria, a survey showed that the cumulative amount of direct investment committed to the country by just 11 of them since 2011 totalled $10.9 billion, taxes paid to the Federal Government in 2014 amounted to $5.1 billion, while the number of Nigerians employed stood at 24,104.

It was further observed that the projected new direct investment by the 11 companies in the next 12 months in a perfect policy and regulatory environment will be about $3.9 billion. There was consensus that efforts should be deployed to encourage more US companies to invest in the non-oil sector in line with the policy focus of government to diversify the Nigerian economy.

In his remarks after the session, Angbazo, said: “The deliberations at the Roundtable have greatly enhanced the natural affinity and spirit of cooperation between Nigeria and the US at a critical juncture of the nation’s development. Nigeria will weather the current economic storm provided urgently required investments in basic infrastructure and human capital development are made in an enabling business environment.”

Oshiomhole to speak on devaluation at TheCable Colloquium

Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State will deliver the keynote address at the inaugural TheCable Colloquium holding on Thursday, February 11, at the Civic Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos.

The two-hour policy dialogue on the exchange rate will be broadcast live on Channels TV.

The four-man panel to discuss the topic, “The Naira on Trial: To Devalue or Not?” is made up of Bismarck Rewane, CEO, Financial Derivatives; Issa Aremu, deputy national president, Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC); Moses Tule, director, CBN Monetary Policy Department, and Muda Yusuf, director-general, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Frank Aigbogun, founder/CEO, BusinessDay Media Limited, will moderate the discussion.

According to Simon Kolawole, founder/CEO, Cable Newspaper Limited, in a statement, the aim of the colloquium is to offer Nigerians a better understanding of the challenges facing the country and allow a decent debate on the way forward.