Nigeria should focus on attracting foreign investors rather than pursuing them- Peter Obi

The presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, said that instead of pursuing foreign investors, Nigeria need to draw them in.

This was brought up by Obi during the “ParrellelFact” live discussion on X-space on Sunday.

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His statement comes in the wake of President Bola Tinubu’s recent international travels to promote FDI (foreign direct investment) in the nation.

“Nobody goes around searching for foreign investors,” stated Obi. Like bees, foreign investors will flourish in the area where you maintain the honey. Instead than pursuing international investors, we should draw them in,” he stated.

However, President Tinubu stated in his Sunday interview with The Nation that the nation is interacting with both domestic and foreign investors in the global market.

The president claims that foreign direct investment represents a long-term financial commitment from genuine businesses and investors rather as “Chicken Change.”

“FDI is not ‘chicken change,’” he declared. FDI is defined as significant, long-term financial commitments from investors and serious businesses. Nigeria is currently re-engaging with investors worldwide, both domestically and outside.

“We are reestablishing trust in Nigeria as an approachable and secure investment by sharing the tale of our substantial and comprehensive changes.

“We are making it very evident that ‘Nigeria is open for business,’ and that we are fully committed to the current course of travel,” he stated.

According to Tinubu, the nation’s attempts to attract foreign direct investment were paying off.

He said, “We’ve struck a $500 million agreement with Germany to finance renewable energy projects, especially in rural Nigeria.”

“The $116 million French investment in the I-DICE programme, which aims to create 65,000 start-ups and 150,000 jobs, particularly empowering women, is indicative of the success of our focused efforts to attract European FDI,” Tinubu continued.

Remember that last week’s COP28 in Dubai saw President Tinubu present?

In an effort to “maintain his momentum in advancing the cause of FDI in Nigeria,” the President also travelled to the G20 Summit in India, the UN General Assembly in New York, the United States of America, and the G20 compact with Africa Conference in Berlin, Germany, in September.