Chief executives of Nigerian businesses say the country must be open to business and embrace research and development to be able to compete and attract global capital.
Speaking at the 26th edition of the Nigerian Economic Summit (#NES 26), Kyari Bukar, co-founder and MD, Trans-Sahara Investment Corporation, said there are several trillions in the global economy waiting for Nigeria to grab—though with conditions.
“We need to attract the few trillion dollars injected into the global economy. This can only be done if Nigeria is perceived to be open for business,” he said.
On his part, Ed Ubong, CEO of Shell Nigeria Gas, said R&D requires energy and is critical for development and competitiveness. “Energy represents three things: mental energy, that is, the educational aspect; reliable electrical energy–power. It requires local partnerships without which you may be doing research which will not solve real problems that exist,” he said.
“In reality, the cradle of R&D is the education sector. If the educational sector is not working, there is no base or foundation to drive R&D which would lead to cutting edge technology,” he noted.
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Kunle Oyelana, CEO of GSK, a drug giant, said partnerships would be key to achieving acceleration in the R&D sector in Nigeria.
Nere Emiko, CEO of Kian Smith Refinery, said key issues such as the problem, the market and the opportunity are core drivers of R&D in a sector like mining sector in terms of R&D.
“In Nigeria, if people will see an opportunity, they will find a reason to solve the problem,” she said.
