Emissaries of the Administration in Nigeria have filed out in every nook and cranny of the globe to
push an aggressive agenda on what is often called investment diplomacy. Last October the country’s embassy in the United State of America jointly organized an infrastructural investment forum with the influential Corporate Council on Africa (CCA) aimed at galvanizing private public partnership for the restoration of the country’s tottering amenities. In this interview captured by our Editor-in-chief, Oladimeji Abitogun, Nigeria’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Mr. Olugbenga Ashiru with active contributions by the Ambassador to the United States, Prof. Ade Adefuye explained the vistas of the country’s novel objectives and policy thrusts. EXCERPTS:
How is the Government assuring potential investors that the government in Nigeria is seriously battling to tackle the issue of corruption to give room for foreign investors to invest their millions in the country?
The present government of President Goodluck Jonathan is very serious in this fight against corruption. That is why government has created as a first step this one-shop registration organization. The Nigerian investment promotion council where you can go in and within 12hours your oversees company can be registered as a branch of a foreign company without engaging lawyers or anybody and you get your certificate and move on. For those who want to do projects like construction etc. the public procurement act of today make it clear that if there is a bid they advertise and you apply if you are interested, make submissions of your bids and the day it will be opened, it will be at the presence of everyone and they record all the figures, evaluate and report back. It’s what you quote on your papers that will be written down. Government has made it to be transparent as much as possible while it wasn’t like this in the past. It’s a new transformation agenda by President Goodluck Jonathan’s government and I believe we are making the right progress. We should all join hands to fight corruption and I believe we will make progress. The investors should not just dwell on perception; they should come to Nigeria and partake in what is happening there today.
Prof Adefuye: To buttress what the minister said the last exercise when the bids competition for privatized power counts was concluded, it was done openly and there is no hide and seek about it. It takes two to tango. It’s not irrational for Nigeria to engage in corrupt practices, it’s a worldwide phenomenon. We are trying to deal with it in Nigeria. EFCC has been strengthened. It’s a gradual process, it may be slow but it is steady and we are doing our best to eradicate it.
It would appear that your team is having a hard sell on the product that is coming, so frustrating to present to the world – Boko haram is there, and inadequate power supply. Are we throwing money into the wild in all that we are doingin trying to attract investors into the country, Your Excellencies?
I am sure you have not been home recently, those of us who were home and visiting will tell you that if last year you were getting in your area 5hours of constant electricity supply, today that area will be getting 10 – 12hrs supply of electricity, and that is the truth. We have to measure this improvement gradually, we all know how long it takes to build a power plant and how much it takes to even build a turbine, this is what we are doing now in Nigeria, turbines are being installed, power stations are being increased. The capacity are being doubled, we now see the German companies, American companies coming into Nigeria. The Americans are building turbine engines here in America that are all moving into Nigeria. Those that have arrived have been installed today and they are feeding into the national grid. Olorunsogo between Ondo and Ogun has been installed. There is a noticeable sharp increase in power supply in Nigeria today, a noticeable increase in the daily supply of power in Nigeria. We just have to take it gradually because when you have neglected a sector for so many decades, power sector is a sector that we must grow every year, you must add more to the national grid and that is what the present government is doing now. This is the government that has singularly focused on generating more power for everyone because we found out that without power supply in Nigeria, we are not going to make any progress nor achieve the level of development we want and that is why President Jonathan is determined that if there is one area he will make a difference it will obviously be in the power sector and we are getting the result. We need the supports of the media to educate people especially those who are vandalizing NEPA equipment all over the place, NEPA installations of course it is a crime today and if you are caught, you will be punished. Things are improving and with all the investors coming into the power sector, before we know it the power sector may become another telecom sector that the profits made between 2 – 3yrs will be unimaginable and that’s why we see countries from Europe and America now coming into the power sector because they have seen that we have the market in Nigeria.
Well sir, we have heard about 3 investment forums now and I want to know the response so far, is it positive?
ADEFUYE: We have had about 3 investment forum here in Washington, the 1st was on power that was in April last year, following the power forum, we met with the US Exxon bank immediately after that and this was followed by a visit by US Exxon Bank authorities to Nigeria during which they offered 1.5billion US dollar guarantee from American companies investing in Nigeria’s power. That is part of what is going to be utilized for a syndrome power that won the bid for Uwelli power plant and GE Company in the US signed a memorandum of understanding with the Ministry of Power to generate 10,000 mega watts of electricity for Nigeria. That’s concrete achievement and there are so many America companies that have been generating little bits of electricity in Nigeria since we are at that power front. Secondly, when we had the agric forum, after that USAID gave Nigeria some hundreds of millions of dollars to support agriculture and I was very happy to see that within 2months of the agric forum, 2 US companies AGCO, AGCO that produces tractor equipments has moved to Nigeria about completing the process of establishing one tractor equipment factory one in the south and one in the North. We met this morning and they were reporting their meeting with the Minister of Agric Mr. Akin Adeshina and they are about to complete the process of establishing those companies and that was a direct result of what we did here. The procter and gamble established another factory in Agbara 2months after we had the agric forum and there are so many concrete, tangible evidence and those are the ones I can remember. Right now we have seen so many companies here who are already having discussions and we are only about ½ of the process and the companies are ready to come to Nigeria very soon, so these fora produce concrete tangible and measurable results and that’s why we shall continue to do it.
There are some skeptic believe that the reason for high level of an unhinge hours of power in Nigeria is because of the rainy season, can you just expatiate more on the turbines that are being constructed here and taken back to Nigeria?
Let me expatiate better, I was part of the process. Now the German government with the active support of private sectors in Germany are now investing heavily in the power sector in Nigeria. There is a station called Gereku in Kogi state. Cements of Germany is working on the site now, it was part of the site that the present tour of the information minister round the country will portray and show to Nigerians, if you see the work going on that site you will be marveled because they are increasing the production from about 200 mega watts to 2,000 mega watts and they have brought in turbines from Germany that they are installing today, infact right now, the power supply from Gereku is enough to supply the whole of the North central part of the country and even feed into Anambra and the neighbouring states.
Ughelli power plants has been privatized and its one of the companies here in the US that won the bid, that also, if the production has increased, I also told you earlier on that Olorunsogo built earlier under the Obasanjo Administration has also been refurbished and the production is also increased and is now feeding into the national grid all these ones I am mentioning to you are gas powered stations they are not Hydro. The Hydros you have are the ones in Kanji and the one in Shiroro dam, those two could not be the ones responsible for the sudden surge we have in the power sector, it’s the gas Station that are coming on board now that are leading to that increase, so am sure by December when the water level would have gone down you will still see the same level if not increase in the supply of electricity in the country.
Sir, with all these progress in power supply, Is there any mechanism put in place to control wastages of Electricity in our country?
No, the wastages has been done now ,you know why its attractive now for companies to come into Nigeria and partake in the power sector revolution is because government has increased the tariffs of electricity ,so now you have your meter, when you go and buy your card “as boys in Abuja call it ETOPO” you know that when you are going to work you switch off your light so that it doesn’t consume in your absence, so there is that discipline now coming on with people, before that when it was just the general one that they just leave it on. People have imbibed that self discipline that they switch off their light because it’s what you consume that you pay for.
Do we have the Legal and Legislative Agenda or Platform that will sustain this development incase in future there is transitions and changes in Nigeria, that will give the long term investors in Nigeria confidence to sustain this race?
First of all ,let me say that the present government of Goodluck Jonathan is one that is desirable of partnering with Nigerians in diaspora because we have seen it and I am personally proud because I know of many Nigerian Professionals in high places who are doing very well and these are the people that we are now partnering with in various sectors of national development because we believe that they also have a stage in their own traits and don’t forget that some of them are even sitting on very huge capital that could be going back home to invest in all this profitable ventures all over the country, it’s a venture or partnership that government is consciously working on to make sure that we grow it and let it be to the benefit of our people and of our country. Even our Ambassadors here, Ambassador Adefuye has been very active with you, he’s been bringing in all of you into whatever programmes he’s doing. That is the charge that are given to all our Embassies abroad that they must work with Nigerians, they must work and partner with them because we have brains and talents amongst them and that is the only way we can grow our country.
We all know what happened in China, what develop China was this a lot of capital inflow by Chinese abroad, the same thing we did here, that’s why we cannot joke with our Nigerians abroad ,we have to work with them.
On the issue of sustainability, I believe we are on the course that is irreversible because it is been driven by the private sector and when private sector is driven a process because of their own organization and the tasks of us for profit making they just have to make sure that they get things right and they do it well and I believe that it would be sustained and no government would tamper with that progress because it will be to the detriment of any government that will come in and say he will dismantle all the power stations, everything that we have labored all together to develop ,no government will do that.
I think we have a very articulate ,sharp and intelligent community in Nigeria, Nigerians knows how to separate politics from development, you cannot say you become president tomorrow and you want to disengage what the previous government have been doing, we now know the kind of thing that has been done now as the minister said are processes that are irreversible and the proper legislative actions are being put in place .We tell the investors here, we know what continuity means and we are prepared to do it.
On a final note, I want to commend the Ambassador and the corporate Council on Africa for the good job we have seen inside here because when you go round and you see the quality of the participants, these are genuine business men, genuine Executives and genuine investors who are desirous of tapping and looking towards Nigeria and who maybe in the past they have been nervous and sitting on the fence but because of the progress and stories they hear from those who are there already and are doing well, they are now desirous of making that change, that decision to come to Nigeria and definitely we will welcome them with open arms because we need them in bounty because whatever it will take for us to ensure that we put our country back on a proper footing this government will do it.