Aganga to speak at NDDIS mining summit

Over 1000 delegates are to attend this year’s Nigerian Diaspora Direct Investment Summit (NDDIS) in London. The summit holding between June 12 and 13 this year, has as its theme: Mining and the Diaspora – Nigeria’s unexploited Wealth Opportunities.

Olusegun Aganga, minister of trade and investments, is expected to deliver the keynote address while governors of Niger, Kaduna and Cross River are to headline the summit.

According to Bimbo Folayan, executive director, NDDIS, the summit is an opportunity to identify potential sources of finance, technology and technical skills that could boost the development of the mining industry and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) to stimulate economic development in states across Nigeria.

Folayan, who is also chairman, Central Association of Nigerians in the UK, said the NDDIS would not be an ordinary talk shop, but a real deal making business-to-business meeting of Nigerians in Diaspora and government and private institutions from Nigeria.

“For the second time, the NDDIS will open its ‘deal room’ and invite Diaspora businessmen to meet with commissioners and investment directors to discuss opportunities on one-to-one basis during the summit,” he said.

“I undertake to go to all lengths to mobilise serious minded and genuine Diaspora business leaders and their UK friends to focus on these states in particular, because of their willingness to champion Diaspora efforts to invest in Nigeria,” Folayan said.

Three states, he disclosed, have indicated their willingness to provide business incentives and support for Nigerians in the Diaspora. “So far, three states have indicated their willingness to partner with the NDDIS to support Nigerians in the Diaspora because they are looking for Nigerians willing to relocate and set up SMEs to support the mining sector or to partner with existing businesses in Nigeria,” he said.

Folayan also revealed that a new publication ‘The Eminent Nigerian Series,’ designed to promote the ethical values of Nigerian heroes, would be launched at the summit.

The chairman of the NDDIS steering committee, David Smith of the British African Business Alliance, said there was a pressing need to develop the SME sector.

“The statistics illustrate the disparity between the present situation of 17.5 million micro and SMEs, where 98.8 percent are subsistence businesses and Nigeria’s need to develop the SME sector into a powerhouse of economic growth and the creator of widely held wealth. This is a role in which the Diaspora is ideally positioned to help; through its expertise, experience and investment potential,” Smith stated

The maiden event of NDDIS in June 2013 was attended by the Oyo State Governor Abiola Ajimobi, his wife and delegates from the state, officials from Bayelsa and Kaduna states, SMEDAN, NIPC, and several other agencies from Nigeria and the UK.

Remi Feyisipo