By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Nigerian President, Bola Tinubu on Thursday met with his France’s counterpart, Emmanuel Macron and French investors where he told them that the West African country is open for business, reiterating the commitment of his administration to ensure that the right environment is created for business to thrive.
“We’ve been working on stabilizing the security system in Nigeria and we are getting closer and closer,” Tinubu said during a joint briefing with Macron at the Elysee Palace.
“We are doing better now in the area of security. I can assure all the investors that Nigeria is open for business.”
“We assure you of a free market economy; easy in, easy out; no hindrance,” Tinubu added.
The Nigerian President underscored his country’s youth who are skilled, educated, and ready to be trained as part of the reasons French investors should look towards the West African nation.
“We have a vibrant youth population that is well educated, skilled, and ready to be trained for the development of our economy,” Tinubu who is on a three-day visit to France in company of his wife, Remi and members of Federal Executive Council told the gathering.
“This, I will emphasize, is why we need the French experts and investors to do more in this area to help develop our youth population.”
He said Nigeria is working on diversifying its economy away from fossil fuels and believes France can play a key role in that move.
“We have the potential to diversify our economy from fossil fuels,” he said.
“In Lagos, for example, we have tamed the Atlantic Ocean so far and we are still promoting marine and blue economy. Fishery is an important aspect of our economic potential,” the 72-year-old said.
This comes just days after a Nigerian music star at an interview in the US told Americans considering to invest in Nigeria not to come.
David Adeleke, known in the music industry as Davido, said the Nigerian economy is in “shambles”, a remark that has attracted a flurry of criticism.
He has been under pressure to retract the statement and tender an apology. The silverspoon entertainer instead fired back, saying entertainers are the real ambassadors of the country.
