Investors have been
assured of the safety of their investments in Nigeria. Speaking at the
Standard Bank West Africa Investors’ Conference in Lagos yesterday,
Atedo Peterside, chairman, Stanbic IBTC Bank Plc, said the climate
environment in the country is conducive.
Speaking against
the backdrop of events in North Africa, he said, “I do not hesitate to
state that I do not foresee a similar occurrence here in Nigeria,
because our circumstances differ vastly. In my opinion, what we are
witnessing in North Africa and some countries in the Middle East is
essentially a confrontation between angry populations and “sit-tight”
autocratic rulers.
“Yes, we have
sections of the population here that are or could get angry, but then
our leaders cannot and do not “sit-tight”, nor does the system allow
them to be truly autocratic.”
According to him,
the Ivorien political crisis, the successful ‘Jasmine’ revolutions of
Tunisia and Egypt, and the possible replay of these in Libya, the
referendum for secession in South Sudan, and the discovery and eventual
pumping of the first barrel of crude oil in Ghana, are signs that
Africa and West Africa are areas of interest to investors.
Mr. Peterside said
with the creation of the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria
(AMCON) and the conclusion of party primaries, which are preparatory to
elections in April, are all significant steps in the country’s
investment climate.
Making steady progress
“We have already
gotten rid of our own autocratic regimes. Today, Nigeria is still
grappling with a large chunk of the fallout from the poor economic and
political decisions that were taken by those autocratic regimes.
“The good news,
however, is that our economy is currently one of the fastest growing in
the world and we are no longer threatened by a collapse of our banking
sector.
“I leave you to
imagine what growth rates our economy could, therefore, attain when we
finally fix our infrastructure, as President Goodluck Jonathan’s
Government is currently trying to do,” Mr. Peterside said.
The conference,
which is to end tomorrow, is to be addressed by Arunma Oteh, the
director general of the Securities and Exchange Commission; Mustapha
Chike-Obi, the CEO of Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria; and
Emmanuel Ikhazobor, the interim administrator of The Nigerian Stock
Exchange.
Others are Ekow
Afedzie, the deputy managing director of the Ghana Stock Exchange;
Aliko Dangote, the president of the Dangote Group of Companies; and
Kwame Pianim, the chairman of Bharti Airtel Ghana.
Nigeria’s Stock
Exchange had a “turnover of 1.966 billion shares worth N18.51 billion
in 33,509 deals, recorded this week, in contrast to a total of 1.297
billion shares valued at N11.16 billion exchanged last week in 24,011
deals,” according to a weekly report by the Nigerian Stock Exchange.
The Banking
subsector was the most active during the week (measured by turnover
volume); with 1.45 billion shares worth N11.59 billion exchanged by
investors in 19,678 deal. It led on the activity chart and was followed
by the Insurance subsector.
The conference, the second Investors’ Conference organised by
Stanbic IBTC Bank Plc, a member of the Standard Bank Group, is expected
to provide investors an excellent opportunity to meet with and compare
notes with other relevant persons who are all eager to review the
investment opportunities and risks in Africa and, more specifically, in
West Africa.
View the full Address here
