Governors should lead investment drive in their states, says NIPC boss

Yewande Sadiku, executive secretary of the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC), says governors should spearhead investment drive in their states.

Speaking on Thursday during a programme on Arise TV, she explained that investments are mostly generated at state level due to the relative autonomy of states.

Noting that encouraging investment is a “great” responsibility of the federal government, she said the nation would get more investments if all 36 governors are actively involved in the process.

“In my view, investment promotion is most effective when state governors see themselves as the chief investment promoter and the person who heads the investment promotion agency (IPA) is your first assistant,” she said.

“Some governors do it brilliantly. They push the envelope when it comes to attracting investments to their states. The person who acts as the head of the IPA needs to have direct access to the principal. When there are issues that require resolution and knots that require being undone, it gets attention immediately and quickly.

“Nigeria will only succeed at this game if across all 36 states, all the governors gets it.”

Sadiku listed insecurity and corruption as the major drawbacks to attracting investments into the country.

“Increasingly, there is also policy volatility. That is, the speed and the rate at which policy changes happen and the immediacy of those changes,” she added.

“There is regulatory arbitrariness which they have long talked about. Even when things are in writing about how policies should be applied, they are applied in reality somewhat differently.”

Recently, the agency announced that investment in Nigeria rose to $8.41 billion in the first quarter of 2021 (Q1 2021), adding that Balyesa and Delta states emerged top investment destinations during the period.