Nigeria’s High Commissioner to Singapore, Mrs. Nonye Rajis-Opara, in this interview with DGossip247, speaks on the forthcoming Nigeria –Singapore business forum, the benefits of the first edition of the forum to Nigeria and other issues. Excerpts;
What is the idea behind the Nigeria – Singapore business and investment forum?
The idea behind the Nigeria –Singapore business and investment forum came when I got to Singapore in 2012. Then I discovered that a lot of the Singaporeans are actually ignorant of the great opportunities that lie in the Africa’s largest economy, Nigeria.
Some of them when you say that you are from Nigeria, they will ask you if that is Ghana and I got so offended on that and I dawned on me that there is a lot of ignorance among them about Nigeria I felt that people need to know Nigeria, and what she has and what she can boost of. Nigeria being the giant of Africa, I believed it is not a country that can be mixed up with other countries like Ghana or Kenya. So, I said to myself that what we should do in such a situation is to hold Nigeria –Singapore Business and Investment Forum.
We started by sensitising the various private sector in Singapore and their government. We saw their desire to come to Nigeria for business. They want to make Nigeria their hub foothold in Africa but they don’t know how to start.
So, we saw that this is the best platform to engage the Government of Singapore and the private sector coming into Nigeria. We hosted the forum and we saw in our attendance over 67 ministers, governors from Nigeria and Singapore, and their high ranking private sector operators.
Singapore actually acclaimed that the forum was the largest and biggest bilateral event they have ever held in the 50 years history of its existence. From then on, we started to see a lot of Singapore companies coming to Nigeria to do business and our visa issue to business and travelers has doubled in the last two years.
What was the level of trade between Nigeria and Singapore before the forum started and what was the environment for business in Singapore?
There was a lot of desire to do business in Nigeria by Singapore and there were some businesses that were already here but they desired to do more business with Nigeria, so we thought that we should equally encourage more Singaporeans to come to Nigeria. Singapore is a country we have seen that they have maintained a very stable economy and they have made themselves almost like a giant of the Asia region. And we believe that Nigeria should key into the success story of the country. So we thought that there is a lot Nigeria would learn from interacting or partnering with the Singapore government and their private sectors.
Have you be able to trace improvement in terms trader relationship with Nigeria and Singapore since the first edition of the business forum, so that we can really say, these are the tangibles Nigeria is building and consolidating on?
During the first business forum about four Memorandum of understanding was signed and as I speak to you, they are in the process and not abandoned just like in the past. Most of the MoU and agreements we signed are there 10 to 15 years nothing happened, so we have seen the conclusion of those MoU and the agreements. Since then, there are a lot of Singapore companies that have come into Nigeria to establish their business and for that we are very grateful.
Looking at attendance in this second edition you only invited 26 governors and what about the other governors in the country?
It is not only the 26 governors that we invited; this is actually a private sector driven thing and while the governors were actually invited because every investment is domiciled in a state. Business function should not be a thing of the Federal Government thing.
So, our focus actually is more on the private sector, if you listen to our jingles and advertisement that is going on, most of the people invited are from the private sector and governors. Because we believe that the resources of Nigeria that we are talking about actually belong to the states, they don’t belong to the ministries at the Abuja.
Whether it is oil and gas, solid minerals or human resource, they belong to the states and we believe that is will be good a opportunity for governors and state governments to come and display what they have, as well as look for partners from the Asia region through Singapore because this forum is not just for the Singapore but the region because Singapore is the hub of the Asia region.
Multi-million dollar companies and investors are in Singapore and when you are partnering with Singapore, you are actually reaching out to the Asia continent. As I am speaking with you, Singapore business Federation sent delegates to Nigeria and some of the state governments and private sector are discussing with them now.
There still exist a lot of trade imbalance between Singapore and Nigeria because data show that the volume of trader is in its favour with over USD200 million, while for Nigeria it is USD5 million. How do you intend to bridge this gap and is there the possibility of this investment forum to bridging the gap?
One of the reasons the Singap o r e business delegations that are right now in Nigeria are to see the area where they can invest in the country. And most Singaporeans have come into the country than Nigeria going to Singapore. It is a great opportunity for Singapore and Nigeria. Singapore does not produced oil but she has the third largest refinery is in the world. Just because its citizens took a decision that though they do not have mineral resources, they decided to use their human capital to build their nation to among the most industrialized in the world.
They invested in their human capital, now Singapore is the third largest producer of wheat, also the largest loading offshore rigs. There are many Nigerians that buy offshore support vessels from China and other places in the Asia, and Singapore manufactures them in large quantities and Nigeria can benefit from that.
Singapore is the fourth financial center in the world and there is a lot experience Nigeria can learn and partner with the financial institutions in the country. They are known to have a very good record education and Nigeria is interested to harness the educational system of that country.
Singapore is a very small country but Joint International Commission accredited eleven hospitals and three medical centres, so there is a vest opportunity for Nigerians to tap from.
Also in housing 85 per cent Singaporeans in their own houses and it is not free of charge but governm e n t p r o – vide d the enabling environment and the policy for the private sector. I was overwhelmed when I got to the Singapore seaport, you think that you are in a studio, it is so clean, and it is very efficiently run. I want to see the Nigeria Ports Authority turns around our ports into something, we can be proud of.
And Singapore has shown that they want to partner with Nigeria in various areas and they are looking at investing in various areas. Also they are willing to come to Nigeria and help government.
Looking at enabling environment for sustainability of the investment, do you think that the investors will not back off from Nigeria, looking at the power sector which is one of the most important infrastructures needed for industrilisation?
It is a very serious issue and it makes me shed tears whenever I think about it. After the first edition of the forum some of them like the Singapore Stock Exchange came to Nigeria and for one year they were pursuing an investment that worth over USD2 billion in Abuja and one of the thing that will make Nigeria to lose that investment right now is power, water and roads. I don’t know how long they can wait for us to build these things.
They even want to build these things which will be upset it on the land rate , somehow , somewhere, I don’t know what happened we are having serious issue on that development because they are saying that it will no longer be viable by the time they put money in power, road and water .
And we are telling them that it will be viable for them and my prayer is that this administration will concentrate in building the enabling environment especially in the area of infrastructure.
When Akwa Ibom State made their presentation to Singapore investors, I was very proud because they showed the investors the network of road that has been built, the stability of their power, the seaport they are looking for investor and they have created the enabling environment which is extremely wonderful. We can replicate that in most of our states and it will be easily for investors coming with money will be able to be comfortable and have confidence in the country that they are investing in.
So, deficit in infrastructure in Nigeria is a huge problem and I believed that what the past administration has done and the present government will continue to build on it.
Government have a lot of incentives for business to thrive in the country for investors to do business and Nigeria is the only country investors can own their businesses 100 per cent. Investors have free and confident way of repatriating their funds.
In the business forum, we are going to sign Basal agreement; we are looking forward to sign Double Taxation Agreements (DTA) and IGA business Guarantee agreements. These are things that give investors’ comfort and confidence to invest in Nigeria and if we can conclude on some of these pending agreements
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