Vice President Kashim Shettima, on Tuesday, said President Bola Tinubu was working hard to make Nigeria an investment destination in Africa.
Shettima said this during a group discussion on ‘Humanitarian and Resilience, Investing Roadmap for Africa,’ at the ongoing 2025 World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, Mr Stanley Nkwocha, his spokesperson said in a statement on Tuesday.
The session was co-chaired by Mirek Dusek, Managing Director of WEF, and chaired by Marie-Laure Olugbade, Senior Vice President, African Development Bank (AFDB).
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the titled of the 2025 WEF is, “Roadmap to Co-create Investment Opportunities for Africa’s Frontier Markets.”
The Vice-President stated that Nigeria was poised to invade the global business platform with modernisation and robust investments.
According to Shettima, serious investors can now take unfettered advantage of Nigeria’s growing investment climate to tap from the limitless opportunities in the country and the African continent.
He told the forum that the tales they heard about the country and the African continent as a whole were really not that of doom and gloom as being painted by doomsday proponents.
Shettima said, “for 20 years, I have been in the Nigerian banking industry. I was a general manager in Nigeria’s largest bank, Zenith Bank.
“I grew up in that ecosystem. The President himself is a seasoned chartered accountant.
“So, I believe that Nigeria is ready for business, Nigeria is ready to embrace the path of modernisation with very robust investment.”
He, however, said the nation still had certain challenges, and was looking up to the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) to address them.
“We have a huge deficit but we are looking forward to the AfCFTA and that involves investing in infrastructure. For instance, the coastal highway from Calabar to Lagos is the largest single investment in Africa.
“We are building corridors to the North. We have the West African Gas Pipeline. We are thinking ahead of time.
“We are partnering with 14 African countries to invest in gas infrastructure down to Morocco,” he said.
Shettima insisted that the African continent had woken up from its slumber.
“From DRC to Somalia, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, and Cote d’Ivoire, Africa is waking up from its slumber.
“I remember what Napoleon Bonaparte said about China. He said China is a sleeping giant but when she wakes up, she will rattle the world.
“So, Africa has woken up and we will take our rightful place in the comity of nations, because as I said earlier, the trajectory of global growth is facing Africa. We are the youngest continent,” he said.
Shettima said Africa had come of age and could no longer be treated like an adolescent.
“I want to quote Murtala Mohammed – a Nigerian military leader at an extraordinary summit of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), about 50 years ago.
“Murtala said Africa has come of age, it is no longer under the orbit of any extra-continental power, and it shall no longer take orders from any country, however powerful,” he concluded. (NAN)
