President Bola Tinubu has assured potential Indian investors about the enormous profits they stand to make in Nigeria.
He premised this on the pledge that his administration would break every bottleneck that impedes their ease of doing business in the country.
“I am here to personally assure our friends and investors that there is no bottleneck that I will not break. Nigeria will become one of the most conducive places on earth to make good profits and create lasting jobs,” Tinubu told the Chairman and CEO of the Hinduja Group of Companies, Gopichand Hinduja, a conglomerate with a total asset portfolio exceeding $100bn.
“The Indian Industrialist was received by the President within 90 minutes of the President’s arrival in India for a meeting, which began around 8:00 pm local time,” read a statement signed by the President’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale.
The statement is titled, ‘President Tinubu Arrives India and heads straight into top-level investment meeting with Hinduja Chairman after 15a -hour journey’.
Accompanied to the meeting by Nigeria’s Ministers of Finance, Trade & Industry, and Foreign Affairs, Tinubu told his first visitor, Hinduja, that he was in India to attract investments to Nigeria with lucrative opportunities for investors, but most essentially, jobs for Nigerians and new revenue opportunities for Nigeria’s federal and sub-national governments.
“We are here for business. With my support, nothing is standing in your way of enjoying the unrivalled opportunities presented by our massive market and the ingenious & hardworking nature of the Nigerian people. We are open for business,” he stated.
The Hinduja Group Chairman told the President that he witnessed his landmark effort as Governor of Lagos in turning a coastal erosion and water encroachment crisis into a massive free trade zone, where industry now thrives.
He said this was partially responsible for his excitement to partner with Nigeria’s new President to create win-win prosperity for Nigeria’s talented population.
“We believe in you as a leader who has done this before. You know what the challenges are. You know how to fix them.
“We are going to make investments into the billions of dollars under your leadership because we see you are already addressing the systemic problems. I am ready now to sign an MoU and to begin execution.
“You tell me who to liaise with and we will get to work immediately, particularly concerning bus and automobile manufacturing in Nigeria, amongst other areas,” the industrialist said.
Responding to Gopichand, Tinubu said,
“Ministers of Trade and Finance, the two of you will follow this up immediately and you will draw up the terms to the satisfaction of both parties.
“If there are any issues at all which require my intervention, they must be brought to my attention immediately.”
The President concluded that his task of making Nigeria great can only be achieved through teamwork and not in isolation.
He noted that when his investors are happy, Nigerians will rejoice by partaking in an inclusive economy where hard work is rewarded and excellence becomes the nation’s reputation.
After the President assigned the collaboration task to the two ministers, the industrialist noted that he had “paperwork stalled in Nigerian bureaucracy for over one year, especially in FCT, but I knew that you would be purpose-driven in this endeavour and God will help you to turn Nigeria’s rich promise into rich reality for all of its citizens.”
