At the Nigerian Oil and Gas Core Strategic Investors’ Meeting which held last Wednesday, October 24th, in Atlanta, United States of America, Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr Ibe Kachikwu; Dr Louis Ekere, Chief Executive Officer, Homeland Integrated Offshore Services Limited, an indigenous oil and gas company; and Engr. Simbi Wabote, the Executive Secretary of Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), among other Oil & Gas stakeholders , shone like porcelain in the sun.
For Dr. Kachikwu, who has made the rostrum his oyster, the standing ovation that greeted his presentation which was focused on the strides and successes being made in the home-grown oil and gas sector, must have been for him another day in the office. Engr . Wabote also delivered an applause-worthy presentation about the NCDMB’s invaluable role in the Oil and Gas sector, the role President Muhammadu Buhari, who also doubles as the substantive Minister of Petroleum, has played to provide a safe and enabling environment for operators and investors and how the NCDMB has supported the indigenous growth of companies etc.
It was, however, Dr. Ekere that got the hall cheering and clapping endlessly.
The suave alumnus of the prestigious IESE Business School, Barcelona, Spain and the Lagos Business School, dwelt extensively on the gains of the Buhari administration’s economic policies and programmes geared towards shoring up Nigeria’s Foreign Direct Investment and the role the Oil and Gas Sector is playing in this. Dr. Ekere said no country or developing economy can grow sustainably and provide employment without much inflow of FDI.
An otherwise private businessman, Ekere took on the garb of an accustomed government spokesman, dispelling existential economic fears while painting a picture of stability, and saying without equivocation that with the policies being implemented in revamping the economy, especially the national action plan put together by the Presidential Enabling Environment Council (PEEC), mandated to lead its reform projects and provide a conducive atmosphere for transaction of businesses in the country, the Nigerian economy was on its way to utopian heights.
He said further that more than any other administration, the Buhari government is instituting a hospitable regulatory framework for FDI by relaxing rules regarding market entry and foreign ownership, improving the standards of treatment accorded to foreign firms, and improving the functioning of markets.
While the heterogeneous audience listened with rapt attention, Ekere said in spite of pockets of challenges around the country, things were getting better and therefore implored the foreign businessmen and financial institutions to come and invest in Nigeria as their investments are safe and that Nigeria offers numerous benefits to potential investors.
