The Federal Government said that Nigeria was almost a pariah state under
the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan, prompting
foreign investors to stay away.
Information and Culture Minister Lai Mohammed said this Wednesday while
addressing State House correspondents after the Federal Executive Council
(FEC) meeting chaired by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Mohammed explained that insecurity and corruption had been driving
investors away from the country before the advent of the incumbent
administration; the challenges, he said, Buhari had been addressing.
The minister also stated that Buhari’s foreign trips were crucial to the
nation’s economy, saying country could not be isolated from the rest of
the world.
“You do not run a country by being isolated,and the personal presence of
the president in many of these fora is very important because before now,
we were almost a pariah state; and the two things that had been driving
investments away from this country were terrorism and corruption. One
thing that nobody can fault this president on is his determination to
fight these two ills. Mr President’s presence in these fora is very
crucial even to the economy back at home.
“What I mean by saying Nigeria was a pariah state is that before now, the
level of corruption was very high that nobody was ready to risk his
investment in Nigeria. The cost of doing business was so high that most
international businessmen didn’t want to come here. Who is coming to
invest in a country where there is insecurity?These are the twin problems
that Mr President has addressed in the last nine months”, he said.
Environment Minister Amina Mohammed stated that the president’s foreign
trips were yielding results, saying the cabinet hoped to see him go out
to woo more investors in order to fight poverty.
“Leadership matters all over the world.The president doesn’t stand alone,
he has a vice president and a cabinet. The cabinet stays with the Vice
President here as much as possible to try to address those challenges
you’re talking about on a daily basis. But the investment that we make
with the President’s travel is well worth the investment we’re getting
from those visits.
We hope to see the President going out and advocating for this country to
get more investment so that we can take everyone out of poverty. That is
reallywhat is important. We see it as an investment with a return
worthwhile”, she said.