The UK Head of Department for International Development in Nigeria, Chris Pycrof, has declared that foreign assistance like the ones from the UK\u2019s development agency, DFID, cannot lift the country out of the poverty currently ravaging its people.<\/p>\n
This is coming as the British Deputy High Commissioner to Nigeria, Ms Harriet Thompson, has said Nigeria\u2019s Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is too low, stressing that the country received only $1.8 billion in 2018, compared to $7 billion received by its fellow African countries \u2013 Egypt and Ethiopia in the same year.<\/p>\n
Thompson, also said the country\u2019s economy was growing too slow at 2.28 per cent, despite coming out of recession. The UK chief stated this Monday in Lagos at the 2020 UK-Africa Investment Summit pre-event press conference.
\nThe summit is slated for January 20, 2020 in London.<\/p>\n
According to Thompson, \u201cThere is potential for so much more. FDI is critical for the economic development of any country but it is too low in Nigeria \u2013 Nigeria received only $1.8 billion in 2018 compared with $7billion for both Egypt and Ethiopia.<\/p>\n
\u201cDespite our long history and some recent success, we think UK companies have far more potential to make financial and investment partnerships work in Nigeria.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur UK private sector has been busy too \u2013 two-way trade has now reached \u00a35.5 billion, while the stock of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) stands at over \u00a34 billion.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven though Nigeria has emerged from recession, the economic growth here is still too low, at 2.28 per cent, it is not key contractual population growth, and foreign direct investment can help to grow and drive our economic value by using resources, technology and information.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut Nigeria needs to create 4.5 million jobs each year and that number is only going to be created at that scale by private sector in areas like agriculture, services and manufacturing.\u201d<\/p>\n
She pointed out that the objective of the summit was to use it to, \u201cboost investment from the UK to Nigeria, to help create the economic growth that Nigeria needs, the jobs that Nigeria needs, to bring people out of poverty and to help it realise its enormous potential.\u201d<\/p>\n
The deputy high commissioner also noted investors needed better infrastructure to thrive, saying that had been the biggest obstacle to doing business in Nigeria.<\/p>\n
She added: \u201cReliable estimates put the figure that is needed at around $36 billion a year for Nigeria to reach its potential, that is in transport, in energy access, and in sanitation. And infrastructure needs more direct FDI.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt can only be paid for by building revenue resources, and the best way to do that is to build tax revenues from sectors other than oil, including agriculture, manufacturing and mineral mining. These are all areas of focus for the Africa Investment Summit.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The UK Head of Department for International Development in Nigeria, Chris Pycrof, has declared that foreign assistance like the ones from the UK\u2019s development agency, DFID, cannot lift the country out of the poverty currently ravaging its people. This is coming as the British Deputy High Commissioner to Nigeria, Ms Harriet Thompson, has said Nigeria\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":114605,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[110,3,15,2],"tags":[24590,5704,52460,52461,617,573],"yoast_head":"\n