The Nigerian-British
Chamber of Commerce (NBCC) has unveiled plans to attract foreign direct
investment into Nigeria, particularly from Britain and promote efforts to
build
the country’s capacity to meet global export standards that could boost trade
and investment portfolio.
Speaking in
Lagos at the chamber’s yearly general meeting and investiture of its 15th
President, the newly elected President of the chamber, Akinola Olawore, who
decried the country’s negative image in the press, said the chamber is working on
strategies to attract investors into the country.
“We will be
bringing businesses here because Nigeria has got a lot of bad press and the
best way to shake that off is to build relationship that will bring foreign
companies to Nigeria to see if they should believe the bad press or not. When
you have not gone to a country, you may believe the bad press but when you are
there you will see the money and not the bad press.
According to
him, though the economic situation is tough all over the world, Nigeria has
enough room for growth provided there are avenues to grow the industry.
Olawore said
the current economy situation in Nigeria is an opportunity for businesses,
adding that the chamber is determined to identify gaps in the economy and
bridge them to the nation’s advantage.
He stated
that the chamber would ensure that the country meets global export criteria in
order to ensure goods from the country are accepted, particularly in the UK.
“There was a
time beans from Nigeria were banned in the UK and we could not export our yams
differently. We see our yam everywhere and we don’t benefit so much from it.
So, we will
look up to private investors to see how we can partner together and provide
facilities that will enable to meet export standards.“We don’t want to sit back
and complain. We don’t want to keep talking about what government is not doing,
we would rather take action,” Olawore stated.
Guardian reported that He said the
current executive of the chamber has been carefully selected to meet up with
the expectations and goals of the body.Immediate past president of the chamber,
Dapo Adelegan, who said the chamber has witnessed tremendous improvement in the
past two years, urged the new administration to the see the chambers
achievement as pedestal for new height.
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