By Martha Agas
An investment expert, Mr Fife Banks, has said strengthening state investment promotion agencies was critical to achieving Nigeria’s ambition of becoming a one trillion dollars economy by 2030.
Banks, the Chief Executive Officer, Brave Investment Global (BIG), told newsmen on the sidelines of the investment mobilisation stakeholders roundtable on Wednesday in Abuja that states were central because they controlled many projects.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the investment mobilisation stakeholders’ roundtable was organised by the Forum of State Investment Promotion Agencies of Nigeria (FOSIPAN), in collaboration with BIG.
The event focused on the theme ‘From Opportunity to Capital Outcomes: Building Nigeria’s Subnational Investment Mobilisation Structure’.
He added that they controlled licences and investment opportunities required to drive economic development.
“For almost a year now, since we’ve been designing a comprehensive programme that will seek to institutionalise investment organisation capacity for state investment promotion agencies across the entire country.”
He said that the move was necessary to accelerate Nigeria’s development, emphasising the need to keep pace with global competition.
He said that particularly in the age of intelligence, developments were becoming increasingly exponential, noting that the current administration had set a familiar ambition of building a one trillion dollar economy by 2030.
He said that in the age of intelligence, technological advances were accelerating rapidly, noting that the current administration aimed to grow Nigeria’s economy to one trillion dollars by 2030.
The initiative, he said, would be delivered at the state level because states control the projects, licences and investment opportunities.
According to him, state investment promotion agencies, which were saddled with the responsibility of mobilising investment, had struggled to effectively convert available opportunities into investments.
“And we realise that if they (states) are critical to the achievement of the ambition of the one trillion dollar economy, then they need to be equipped.
“Not just with the knowledge, the skill set, but also an enabling technology that helps them to accelerate the development and preparation of opportunities,” he said.
He said “investment mobilisation is much more than investment promotion”, adding that the agencies needed the knowledge, skills and technology to accelerate the development of investment opportunities.
He said the technology would help the agencies prepare opportunities more efficiently and engage with capital providers in a structured manner.
The initiative, he said, led by FOSIPAN was designed to strengthen the capacity of state investment promotion agencies to mobilise investment.
Speaking at the round table, FOSIPAN Chairman, Dr Terhemen Kpenkaan, said the roundtable sought to explain why promising opportunities across states failed to become financed projects, productive enterprises and measurable development outcomes, improving citizens’ livelihoods.
Kpenkaan, also the Executive Secretary, Benue State Investment Promotion Agency, said a one trillion dollars economy could not be proclaimed into existence but had to be built.
He said State Investment Promotion Agencies had therefore become strategically important, serving increasingly as investor-facing coordination points by guiding investors through government and convening relevant ministries and agencies.
“Capital does not move towards opportunity alone. It moves towards credible institutions,prepared transactions, manageable risks and clear pathways to decision.
“This is the challenge that the Subnational Investment Pipeline Nigeria (SIP-NG) programme seeks to address,” he said.
The News Agency of Nigeria(NAN) reports that FOSIPAN and BIG signed Memorandum of Understanding for SIP-NG programme development , stakeholder consultation and institutional alignment.
Kpenkaan explained that the agreement neither admitted states into implementation nor approved projects or committed institutions to financing, but provided a transparent basis for refining the programme and engaging institutions essential to its development.(NAN)
Edited by Yakubu Uba
Comments