Obinna Chima
The British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Dr. Andrew Pocock has said UK investors are increasing seeking for investment opportunities in Nigeria.
Pocock said this recently when he visited the President of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), Mr. Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede.
The envoy noted that Lagos is increasingly becoming an investment hub,
not just for Nigeria, but for the rest of West Africa. Therefore, he
stressed the need for policies that would continue to increase capital
flows.
Pocock pointed out that a recent partnership between the NSE and the
London Stock Exchange, would go a long way in further exposing the
Nigerian capital market to global investors.
Pocock however said efforts should be made in stimulating economic
activities in other major cities in order to broaden the country’s
growth, adding that Lagos would benefit immensely from the partnership.
“I think this is designed to improve Lagos’ attraction as a hub and its
efficiency. I think the question for Nigerian government and the
private sector in the future is how to take the success of Lagos and
multiply that across the country.
“In other words use Lagos as a multiplier of economic activity within
Nigeria. There is a slight risk that as Lagos becomes a kind of magnet
that draws attraction away from other parts of Nigeria, people think
Lagos other than Nigeria.
“Not that having a global mega city is a bad thing, we also have
London. But there is a debate in the UK on whether London pulls
resources away from the rest of UK or it contributes resources to the
UK. I think London contributes.
“I think the trick for Nigeria, both in the private sector and in the
public sector is to take Lagos’ unquestionable growing role as an
international hub and convert that into a domestic multiplier for the
rest of the Nigerian economy,” he added.
On his part, Aig-Imoukhuede noted that the more global a city becomes global, the greater the rate of its development.
The former Access Bank boss argued that for the Nigerian economy to
grow rapidly, it has to be opened for mutual trade relationships and
partnerships, such as that between the NSE and the LSE.
According to him, one of the lowest hanging fruits in terms of opening
up the economy is either through trade or through capital flows.
“Trade in terms of physical flow of goods and services or capital flows and it is a low hanging fruit for us to reap from.
“The key thing is that just like with physical trade where for example
you have ports and so on, in terms of capita, you have exchanges,
markets, issuers, investors and that is what we have to work on,” added.
Furthermore, Pocock said the attraction of UK investment to Nigeria are
multiple, even as he cited long association and history between both
countries.
“We understand each other and have been useful in various ways. Also,
there is scale. This is the largest economy in Africa. The finance
minister last year said if you are not in Nigeria, you are not in Africa
and she is correct about that.
“But I think above everything, the potential. I think Nigeria is well
beneath its potential and my contention is that if in the next five to
10 years, between a combination of government enabling and the private
sector leveraging on the right capital and scale, Nigeria could not only
be the biggest economy in Africa, but as big as the rest of Africa put
together,” he said.
Continuing, he added: “One example I can use for that is the power
sector. Nigeria is still generating the same amount of power as it did
30 years ago and that is simply not enough. If the power sector can be
properly enabled and steps taken to for the privatisation to go further
and faster, if power could reach major cities and rural areas,
businesses big and small, the unlocking of the potential within this
economy is just of the scale. “From the Dangote refinery to the
hairdressers in Lagos, everybody pays a serious overhead. So, if you can
take that out and put in place an efficient power system, all that
capital tied up in overheads would go elsewhere and the entrepreneurial
energy of Nigerians which is legendary, would be focused on productive
opportunities instead of just breaking even.”
Source: Thisdaylive.com
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