Attracting foreign investments into Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy, is one of the key focuses of the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu-led new administration.
But ignoring the risk that global asset managers see in selling the oil-rich African country to potential investors must be counterproductive.
Speaking to BusinessDay at the ongoing SuperBridge Summit holding Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Takashi Maruyama, chief investment officer, of Asset Management One, Japan noted what investors want from leading African countries like Nigeria.
Maruyama currently oversees approximately 300 investment professionals in delivering the firm’s investment services to clients across the world.
He noted the importance of government’s investment friendly policies, adding that investors always look out for countries with returns.
President Tinubu had last month told prospective investors that Nigeria has a unique mix of opportunities they would not find elsewhere.
“Nigeria is an opportunity that is impossible to replicate or find elsewhere in any part of the world,” Tinubu had said at the Nigeria-U.S. Executive Business Roundtable just after he rang the closing bell at the NASDAQ Headquarters in New York City.
He also urged prospective investors not to be dissuaded by the negative narratives propagated in some quarters against Nigeria.
“The expectation from Africa is key for us to write to our clients,” Maruyama said.
He said: “the most important thing is, I think that in addition to their (investors) expectation is the stability of government policies ….which secures investments in future”.
Despite Nigeria’s mostly youthful large population and abundant natural resources, the country is finding it increasingly hard to attract investments.
The pain of severe dollar shortage is bitting deeper in Africa’s biggest economy as foreign direct investment (FDI) has plunged to $468.91 million, the lowest in at least nine years, according to official data.
The Super Bridge Summit has in attendance over 500 influential executives from the world’s leading corporates, investors, family businesses, and government organisations; over 70 visionary leaders from GCC, Asia, Africa and South America; and over 25 insightful multi-disciplinary sessions from over 20 countries.
The global economy is on the brink of major transformation. Six non-G7 economies are projected to dominate the world’s top 10 economies by 2050.
The SuperBridge Summit in partnership with GITEX GLOBAL, ignites, connects, and unites future-minded, action-oriented leaders from the world’s fastest growing economies to explore the rise of new markets, fast track partnerships and collaborations on transformative opportunities in the Middle East, Asia, Africa, Latin America and the rest of the world.
Source: Business Day
