Vice president Yemi Osinbajo has told members of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) of his confidence that investing in Nigeria is and will continue to be a smart business decision as he urged them to evolve innovative ways of mobilizing resources to address emerging challenges.
Speaking at the opening saession of the 15th ordinary meeting of the board of governors, ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development, EBID, on Tuesday in Abuja, Osinbajo said challenges emerging from recent trends in global economic development have had significant impact on local and regional economies.
He said the economies of the various ECOWAS member countries have faced falling government revenues, on account of commodity price slumps; declining economic growth; and the challenge of creating jobs on a scale that can cope with our rising populations – all of these and more have translated into greater pressure on governments to urgently diversify resource-dependent economies.
According to him, the more than 300 million citizens of the various countries’ are looking up to leaders for policies and interventions that will break the hold of poverty and inequality on their lives.
And according to him, a strong, vibrant and creative ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development (EBID) is a strong pillar in building the much desired great West Africa.
The EBID is the financial institution established by the 15 Member States of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) comprising Benin, Burkina Faso, Capo Verde, Côte d’Ivoire, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo.
With the headquarters is in Lome, Togolese Republic, the Bank has two funding windows namely, the promotion of the private sector and development of the public sector.
Overall, EBID aims at contributing to the economic development of West Africa through the financing of projects and programmes in particular, those related to transport, energy, telecommunications, industry, poverty alleviation, the environment and natural resources.
While declaring the meeting open, the vice president said that the role of the bank today is even more crucial considering prevailing challenges.
According to him, “…the sub-region, like the continent, is a youthful one, 70 percent of our population is under 35 with all the implications for providing education and livelihoods that that will mean.
“So without question, the challenges of today call for greater creativity and foresight in supporting and making investments in member countries.”
He said one of the crucial issues today which will decisively impact the future is how the EBID can make a difference in the lives of the sub-region’s young people.
“Are there opportunities for strategic investments in relevant education, especially in the underserved disciplines such as Science, Education Engineering and Maths, he asked.
Osinbajo commended the bank for proving to be one of the wisest and most farsighted decisions taken by ECOWAS since its inception, primarily focusing on contributing to the integration and economic development of the fifteen Member States of our Community, by investing in and supporting both private and public sectors.
But he said, perhaps, the rising scale of foreign investment inflows into business start-ups by the young people should be taken by local financing institutions like the EBID as a challenge to be just as relevant and invested in the dreams and ambitions of local talents.
He further wooed the bank to become even more active in supporting Nigeria’s investment and infrastructure ambitions.
He, however, told the audience that the Nigerian government was working hard to attract greater local and foreign investments, and has put in place the needed reforms required to create an enabling environment for these investments.
“With our robust Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP), and our ongoing business environment reforms, we are confident that investing in Nigeria is and will continue to be a smart business decision,“ he said.
Also speaking at the meeting, finance minister, Kemi Adeosun regretted that ECOWAS plans of facilitating economic development in the sub-region had come with a number of challenges.
She said for instance, Finance Ministers should speak about radical economic transformation and prioritise industrialisation especially through labour intensive manufacturing to promote job creation.
According to her, conscious emphasis should be placed on agriculture to improve food security and deriving more value from the Sea, by boosting the Ocean economy.
“Potentially, these areas also provide investors with profitable investment opportunities in our community,” she said, also pointing to need to promote regional integration in the sub-region.
She said the meeting presents an opportunity to discuss the various issues of development in our sub-region, considering the past economic growth had not been inclusive. She said it is now time for a shift to a new model which ensures that opportunities from economic growth and development, can be enjoyed and shared by more people in the sub-region.
The finance minister assured that the government was working out strategies to radically transform the Nigerian economy in a manner that will shift the age-old emphasis away from oil as the main source of revenue for the country.
According to her, infrastructure development remains top of the agenda to ease movement of goods, people and services across the ECOWAS community.
“For us to succeed, we need to mobilise appropriate financing. Accordingly, we must support our Bank – EBID, to mobilise domestic and external resources to strengthen developmental partnerships and collaboration,” she advised.
She said the meeting was therefore, a key instrument to bring the drivers of the economies of the sub-region together, to discuss important matters, among other issues.
Onyinye Nwachukwu, Abuja
