The governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress in Abia State for the 2023 general elections, Dr Uche Ogah has insisted that enthronement of responsive leadership at all strata of the country will create an enabling environment to guarantee sustenance of inflow of foreign direct investment in Nigeria.
He was speaking through a statement made available to newsmen on Saturday, on the backdrops of decimated inflows of foreign direct investments being experienced in Abia state
Ogah who is the immediate past Minister of State for Mines and Steel Development, maintained that Abia needs to strategically highlight her strengths and provide the best investment climate in Nigeria in order to absorb every form of foreign direct investment that may come to the country.
“A large number of Abians who are outside the shores of Nigeria are highly educated and entrepreneurial and they maintain regular contact with their families within the state and other parts of the country.
“Their foreign remittances contribute in sustaining those of their relatives back home and they deploy some of their funds to investments and other projects,” he added.
While hinting further on ways to ensure inflows of foreign direct investment and remittances in Abia state, Dr Ogah confided that he possessed the required experience to begin creating value for them from his first day in office as governor come 2023.
“I have been a technocrat, a banker and now entrepreneur with heavy investments in Abia state and other parts of the country, my antecedents place me in a better stead to understand a great deal about the economy and how to develop it for massive benefits to maximum number of people,” the Abia APC hopeful added.
“I have already identified various nations in the world where Nigerians from Abia state and other parts of the country are engaging in high-level businesses, and our administration will offer them the best climate to invest their resources”.
Ogah further promised that his administration when elected into office, would vehemently and consistently sway foreign direct investment coming into Nigeria to Abia State through the mechanisms of roadshows in foreign countries, advertisement in foreign media and even on the sidelines of multilateral meetings.
“We will also actively partner with Nigerians and Abians abroad to channel a fraction of their remittance to investments within Abia State through the state’s investment promotion vehicle.”
“It is clear to keen observers of Nigeria’s economic space that a lot of financial resources circulating within the nation and contributing to its GDP emanate from inflows from Nigerians who are based abroad.
“Even with subsisting inflationary trends and other sociopolitical factors that have decimated foreign direct investments to Nigeria, remittances from Nigerians abroad continue to rise so much that for Year 2022 alone, remittances to Nigeria from Nigerians abroad amounted to four times the value of foreign direct investment to Nigeria.”