The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, has said that Nigeria needs to transform into a wealth creating economy even as he called on state governments to concentrate on winning over local investors and boosting small businesses.
Fashola who was represented at the Enugu State Investment Summit- Oganiru, yesterday, by Ayo Gbeleyi, noted that Nigeria in the past has been a rent collector depending on income from what foreign investors make from the resources of the country.
He stated that while the country has earned incomes from high prices of crude oil, “we have not earned it from any appreciable effort creditable to us. Most of our oil resources are managed by foreign oil companies under joint venture agreements where we collect a share of income, from their own operations, drilling, and production of oil, not from our own operation, drilling and production. Therefore, we have been largely rent collectors not wealth creators.”
Speaking on the theme; “Public-Private Partnership for a vibrant and inclusive economy”, Fashola noted that while it is helpful to attract and secure the big multi-billion naira investors, they are usually not many enough to create the inclusion that is needed.
“The most important investor for your private-public partnership is the home investor. Investors do not take positions on the basis of loyalty or friendship. They do so, on the basis of profit and returns, based on where their investment is most secure.
“The more foreign they are, the more likely they probably will move when adverse conditions prevail. The more local they are, perhaps their local ties may dictate a slowdown of investment in adverse conditions.
