TheCable

Adejare Bello, Nigeria’s ambassador to Mexico, says restoring security in Nigeria is a prerequisite for productive investment.

Abimbola Tooki, spokesperson to the ambassador, quoted him as making the remarks in a statement issued on Thursday.

According to Bello, Mexican investors are willing to “invest heavily in Nigeria’s economy but for the prevailing security situation in the country”.

“The embassy receives frequent enquiries from investors on possible areas of collaboration between both countries but all these efforts to attract foreign investments are being thwarted by the news of insecurity,” he said.

“Some of the areas the foreign investors have been looking to invest include oil and gas, gold mining, agriculture as well as establishing a partnership with Dangote in the area of fertiliser procurement.”

Bello said although the federal government has been proactive in dealing with the security challenges in the country, he advised that the current onslaught against criminals must be sustained.

This, according to him, will go a long way to enhance the inflow of foreign direct investment into the country.

The envoy said the situation is not peculiar to Mexico alone but that most envoys would have contributed more towards the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration’s zeal to deliver more dividends of democracy but for the hydra-headed security challenges facing the country.

Bello added that the trend of declining foreign investment is a worry for Nigeria which is in dire need of private capital to boost economic growth and create jobs.

He said Buhari’s plan to lift 100 million Nigerians out of poverty in 10 years is likely to fall short of expectations without adequate investment in human capital development and infrastructure, most of which must come from both local and foreign investors.

“In the last decade, one of the critical challenges facing the Nigerian economy is the lack of adequate security of life and properties which has made the country to lose so much in terms of foreign direct investment,” he added.

“The present situation in the country is very clear evidence of the impact of insecurity on the nation’s development in general and on the economy in particular.

“Lives are lost in the bombings, properties destroyed and businesses collapse as some businessmen who are not indigenes of the affected states leave and migrate to other states. Even the indigenes are taken to refugee camps leading to an increase in government expenditure.”

Bello, therefore, urged policymakers to pay serious attention to the security of the borders against external aggression by mobilising adequate resources towards the sector.