The Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo at the weekend disclosed that Nigeria attracted $10 billion investment during the first half of the year.
Although
investment announcements are not actual investments, they indicate
investors’ interest in Nigeria.
Osinbajo
made the disclosure in an address he delivered during the Forbes Best
of Africa award ceremony organised virtually by the Foreign
Investment Network (FIN) in collaboration with Forbes, where three
Nigerians were among the recipients of the award.
The
event was captioned, ‘FIN Leadership and Philanthropy Roundtable
Discussion and Forbes Best of Africa Award.’
The
vice president said: “Nigeria is open for business and its
investment climate is improving. Nigeria recorded an investment
announcement in the first half of 2021 of $10.1 billion, an increase
of 100 per cent compared with the year 2020.
“Investors
in China, Morocco, and the UK are making a strong commitment and this
administration is working tirelessly to ensure that these commitments
turn into projects to positively affect our nations.”
Osinbajo,
who was represented at the event by the Minister of Industries, Trade
and Investment, Mr. Niyi Adebanjo, expressed delight to have
identified with the award ceremony, saying it was an opportunity to
celebrate the best of Africa’s exemplary leaders in commerce and
industry.
The
Nigerian recipients of the award were the Pastor of the Church on the
Rock, Rev. Paul Adefarasin; Group Executive Chairman of Mahtari Group
and Founder of Zinox Technologies, Mr. Leo Stan Ekeh, and the Founder
and Executive Chairman of OIS, also known as Online Integrated
Solutions Limited, Mr. Mahmood Ahmadu.
Adefarasin
received the Forbes ‘Best of Africa Most Influential Personality of The Year 2021,’ award, while Ekeh won the Forbes ‘Best of Africa
Leading Tech’ award.
Similarly,
Ahmadu emerged the winner of the ‘Best of Africa Corporate Vision
Leadership’ award.
Adefarasin
expressed gratitude to Forbes Global and the FIN for conferring the
award on him, saying, “on behalf of all the good people who make up
my team, especially my wife and my family I hereby accept the
award.”
He
said: “My job is to inspire. But Forbes measures the effect of the
inspiration. God has endowed Africa with an enormous volume of natural
and human resources so there ought to be no poverty on the African
continent.
“Our
problem, however, is and has been for the last millennium, the
question of vision and leadership. The big challenge for Africa is
poor leadership and ineptitude in management science. It is no
secret that we struggle with the management of our vast endowments
and opportunities.
“However,
the good news is that things are turning and times are changing and,
therefore, what this award means is that the vocal and other
exhortations of a messenger of hope are not without signification;
that indeed the African dream is still alive.
“I
believe in the Africa dream. I believe in the African. I believe in
the youth of Africa, particularly because through their endeavours a
new Africa is moving out from the old. Gone are the moribund ideas of
yesteryears, gone is the regimental command and control economies
that were full of contradictions.”
Speaking
in the same vein, Ekeh expressed appreciation for the award.
He
said the recognition justified the decision he took to come back to
Nigeria after completing his graduate and post-graduate studies
abroad, not knowing whether Africa would witness technological
revolution in 30 years’ time.
But,
30 years later, he said the Zinox Group he founded has become the
biggest technology integrated group in Sub-Saharan Africa, with eight
successful entities that, “have been able to bring to reality the
power of technology in transforming lives and taking many into the
digital ecosystem and providing employment to 5000 persons and
indirect employment to over 250,000.
“Indeed
the world is currently a technologically global village. Technology
remains the only profession in the world today that can transform an
indigent child into the richest person in the world.”
Ahmadu,
in the same vein, appreciated his award, which he said was the second
time he would be winning in two consecutive years in 2020 and
2021.
Chairman
of FIN, Ms. Olayinka Fayomi said leadership and philanthropy were
crucial to the future of the African economy, saying they have, “helped
countries all over the world to fight poverty, support the building
of health and educational infrastructure, improve our social economic
standing and help to strengthen our democratic institutions. Indeed,
philanthropy has helped make the world a better place.
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