[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.

We are the most populous country in Africa and also the continent’s biggest economy. Furthermore, we have and are taking concrete steps to diversify our economy and are beginning to see the results in key non-oil sectors such as Agriculture, Power, Manufacturing and of course, ICTs. It therefore comes as no surprise that Nigeria remains one of the top three destinations for foreign direct investments (FDI) in Africa. In fact, Nigeria has attracted the most FDI capital and the second most FDI projects in Sub-Saharan Africa.

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.

I ask that you use the space and opportunity that this Pavilion provides to speak with some of our investors and partners – operators such as MTN, Etisalat, and Airtel. And also with our indigenous companies that are expanding both within the country and into regional markets – such as MainOne and Zinox. Also present are government agencies that can provide expert guidance and support your decision in investing in Nigeria – such as the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC), the Universal Service Provision Fund (USPF), the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), and the Nigeria Broadcasting Commission (NBC) and of course, the Ministry of Communication Technology.

We will be hosting an Investment Forum this afternoon that will provide an engaging platform to update the world on the status of the implementation of our National Broadband Plan. The Summit will highlight opportunities at both Federal and State levels and will also pinpoint the immediate opportunities that exist with respect to the roll-out of broadband infrastructure at the metro-level and last-mile. The Investment Forum also provides an opportunity to explore investments in service sectors that rely and/or are influenced by communications infrastructure – such as financial services, consumer products and eCommerce, tourism and business services.

There is much discussion to look forward to and our hope is that such discussions will feed into your deliberations on how and when to invest or expand your investments in Nigeria. My colleagues and I look forward to engaging with you all throughout the day and I am confident that our discussions will form the basis on which true partnerships will be built.