
[su_heading size=”18″ align=”left”]Dr Omobola Johnson, Minister for Communication Technology of Nigeria made this presentation today at the opening of the Nigeria Pavilion at ITU Telecom World 2014 in Qatar National Convention Centre in Doha, Qatar [/su_heading]
It is my pleasure to welcome you, on behalf of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan and the people of Nigeria, to Nigeria’s Pavilion at ITU Telecom World 2014.
[su_quote cite=”Dr Omobola Johnson, Minister of Communication Technology “]The increasingly diversified nature of our economy is also reflected in the increasingly diversified nature of investments coming into the country. Considering the period from 2007 till 2013, more than 50% of the FDI capital invested into Nigeria has been into the capital-intensive resource sectors. However, nearly 50% of FDI projects are service-oriented, and telecommunications has experienced particularly strong growth – attracting about 24% of FDI projects.[/su_quote]
We know that there are a number of activities vying for your attention during this short week of discussions and demonstrations and truly appreciate your taking the time to meet with us as we explore partnership opportunities. We hope that the discussions we start here will later materialise into mutually beneficial investments in Nigeria and that together we can build and deploy sustainable solutions for the huge market opportunity that Nigeria represents.
For companies that are already in Nigeria, much of what will be discussed at this Pavilion over the coming days will be “preaching to the converted”. Such companies already know Nigeria to be an exciting, dynamic, high-octane growth market. However, there are some in this audience that are yet to invest, who are on the outside looking in, and who may perceive Nigeria as chaotic, unstable, and uncertain.
Please permit me therefore to take a few minutes to highlight some key characteristics and indicators that I hope will, for those that are currently our partners, reinforce your decision to operate in Nigeria; and for those still contemplating investing, bring into clearer/sharper focus the true scale of the potential you are currently missing out on.
Nigeria presents a large and diverse market.
