By Dickson Omobola
North-West Governors Forum has urged private investors to identify the problems hindering them from investing in the region, saying government cannot improve the investment environment if investors do not tell it what is wrong.
Director-General of the forum, Maryam Yahaya, who was represented at the United Nations Global Compact Network Nigeria, UNGCNN, CEO Forum held in Lagos, themed: ‘Financing a Dignified Future: Aligning Capital, Policy and Business Action,’ said investors should be open about the challenges they face, whether they relate to security, power, bureaucracy or regulations that do not make commercial sense.
Yahaya said: “I know what usually happens when government meets the private sector. We arrive with presentations telling you about our enormous potential. You listen politely, we tell you we’re open for business, and you tell us you are interested. We exchange cards and sometimes, unfortunately, that’s where the investment ends.
“And please don’t give us the diplomatic answer. We’ve heard too many of those. If it is security, tell us. If it is power, or our processes are too slow, or if a regulation does not make commercial sense, we would like to know. Government cannot improve an investment environment if the investors are too polite to tell us what is wrong.”
