Minister of the FCT, Senator Bala Mohammed, has called on Nigerians in the Diaspora to take advantage of the current transformation agenda and invest in Nigeria, particularly the Federal Capital Territory.
According to a statement by the minister's media adviser, Nosike Ogbuenyi, on Monday in Abuja, Mohammed made the call while addressing delegates attending the 2014 conference of Nigerians in the Diaspora at the Embassy Suites, Columbus, Ohio, United States in Saturday.
The theme of the 2014 conference is, "Nigeria's Transformation Agenda and Leadership Accountability: The Role of Nigerians in the Diaspora."
The Minister, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary of FCT, John Chukwu urged the Nigerians in the Diaspora to think more about what they can contribute to the development of Nigeria and less about what they could get from it.
He said the implementation thrust of the Transformation Agenda in FCT is to open up the Territory to unfettered private capital-driven development, noting that it was this thrust that made the FCT Administration to introduce the Land Swap programme as a catalyst for accelerated development.
According to him, the private sector would be incentivized to provide site and services within the districts.
He added that government's emphasis would be to provide the policy, legal regulatory environment for seamless private sector participation in the development of the districts.
The benchmark, he noted, was to open up by providing modern infrastructure in at least 10 new districts within five years.
Mohammed said, "Development is based on contractual Agreement with 15 Private Investors on the basis of the Land-for-Infrastructure Swap Framework; The total land area for the development is 4,283.2 hectares and projected to require a minimum of $3.8 Billion of private sector capital. The distance of this area is averagely 20 minutes from the City centre and 15 minutes from the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja."
He said the benefit analysis of the investment initiatives of the FCT Administration include creation of more than 300,000 jobs within the plan period; inflow of N1 trillion investment to the FCT; reduction of housing deficit by 20 per cent; reduction of cost of rent/lease by 15 per cent and increased funding to human capital development and enhanced security of lives and property.
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And those inside the country are investing their loot abroad
ReplyDeleteThe concept to invest in Nigeria by Nigerians in diaspora is laudable but unachievable! Unfortunately, things that matters that would attract investments are not available in the country. First and foremost, the environments that will be made available must be free of corruption and unnecessary government intervention. Most Nigerians in diaspora are aware of the need to contribute their quotas to the development of the country but unfortunately are discouraged. Federal Government should come out with an outstanding blue print that would guaranty accessibility to infrastructure such as electricity, good road network, cheap land availability, etc. These facilities should be made available throughout the federation.
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