By Adedapo Adesanya
President Bola Tinubu is attending the G20 Summit scheduled to take place from September 9 to September 10, 2023, in New Delhi, India, to attract private capital for the development of the nation’s critical infrastructure.
Mr Ajuri Ngelale, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, disclosed this in Abuja, saying the summit was predicated on the urgent need to attract Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) into the country.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), in the first three months of this year, FDIs contributed just $47.60 million or 4.2 per cent of the capital inflows into the country, from $81.72 million in the last quarter of 2022.
Generally, total capital importation into Nigeria in the first three months of 2023 stood at $1.13 billion, a 28 per cent slide compared to $1.57 billion recorded in the same period of last year.
The Group of Twenty (G20) is the premier forum for international economic cooperation. It plays an important role in shaping and strengthening global architecture and governance on all major international economic issues.
Mr Ngelale said that the president would focus attention on meetings with business executives of the world’s most valuable companies to discuss investment in the critical sectors of the economy for the creation of employment.
“We are focused on engagements that will be dealing with critical sectors of the national economy, involving steel development, electricity generation, transmission and distribution, shipyard building capacity, and several other industries, which we know to be labour intensive.
“Mr President will be hosting a CEO roundtable, which will be made up of more than 20 chief executive officers of major industries across multiple sectors of the Indian economy to ensure that we leverage their interest in investing in the country.
“In addition, there will be at least five meetings with the CEOs of five major industries in India, including Jindal Steel and Power Company, among a few others that would have a very important impact on our ability to develop the steel sector in our country.’’
He said that Tinubu would also meet with the President of Brazil, President Lula da Silva, German Chancellor Olaf Schultz, Indian Prime Minister Mr Narendra Modi, South Korean President, Mr Yoon Suk Yeol, and a few other heads of state on the sidelines of the G20.
“The G20 is a major event for our country at this time, and we are going to ensure that we take maximum advantage of the opportunities presented to bring value to the country.
“To create jobs for our people and, ultimately, to generate and expand existing revenues in the country to ensure the government can effectively fund and sponsor its programmes and policies across sectors.
“When we arrive in India next week, there will be live updates from India, which I will be providing daily to ensure that Nigerians have full access to what our President is doing on their behalf,’’ he said.
Modupe Gbadeyanka