Investor forums crucial for growth of economy – FBN Capital

The convention of strategic investor conferences would accelerate ongoing efforts geared towards enhancing national economic growth and development, Kayode Akinkugbe, Managing Director, FBN Capital, has said.
Speaking while welcoming participants to the company’s 3rd Annual Investor Conference, themed: “Tomorrow’s Nigeria through Economic Empowerment,” Akinkugbe said: “There is a need to create a conducive environment for key policy makers, foreign and local investors as well as the government, to interact and draw out plans on how we can develop and help create sustainable growth for the Nigerian economy.”
According to him, FBN Capital had over the last three years sustained the conversation on how Nigeria can attain its quest to emerge as one of the world’s leading economies through its investor conference initiative.
He added: “Last year, the theme of our conference was Catalysts for Growth: A pragmatic Approach. The objective was to identify the enabling factors and specific practical actionable initiatives that are necessary in order to boost Nigeria’s growth. It is encouraging to see the signs of progress with some of the initiatives to reforms sectors considered to be key enablers, such as the power sector.”
Noting that Nigeria was increasingly becoming a much more attractive destination for local and foreign investors, Akinkugbe said there was still the need for discussions around what it would take to move the nation from a frontier to a growth market.
“It is heartening to see the development in the power sector, because the power sector is the key enabler of the economy,” he said.
Addressing the conference via a pre-recorded video presentation, the Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, commended FBN Capital for providing the investor forum, adding that the government’s objective was to ensure Nigeria’s growth is sustainable, with the capacity to create jobs.
According to Okonjo-Iweala, the rebasing of the nation’s GDP and fast growth are two factors needed for Nigeria to be the largest growing economy in Africa.
“Nigeria is already seen as a hub. Our banks are present in almost all West African countries. We must strengthen sectorial development, but at the end, we don’t just need growth for growth sake, but we need growth to deliver,” she said.
Also speaking at the conference, Olusegun Aganga, the Minister of Trade and Investment, said the government had started an extensive reform oriented transformation process, which cuts across the agricultural, power, fiscal, industrial banking, oil and gas, among others.
“We need to focus on areas where we need to be competitive to attract the venture capital private sector players to acquire affordable finance for the economy to grow,” Aganga said.