A former Minister of Information, Jerry Gana, on Thursday, took a swipe at banks and the ‘gatekeepers’ for failing to create an enabling environment for local and foreign investors, who he said have been discouraged from doing business in the country.
Gana, who identified high exchange rates as one of the biggest bottlenecks affecting ease of doing business in Nigeria, blamed financial institutions for deliberately weaponising forex and failing to make them available for prospective investors.
He raised the concerns at a press conference to announce a four-day International Conference of the African Biblical Leadership Initiative scheduled to be held in Abuja from October 21.
While emphasising that the Federal Government have a lot of work to do, the former Social Democratic Party presidential candidate lamented that Nigeria, with its huge population of over 200 million, remains a good market for potential investors.
He said, “The banks are getting richer. They should be facilitating growth. They are frustrating things and it is most unfair. If I was in charge, I would take away their licences in no time. Why are you doing this to the economy of Nigeria? It is not right. You are supposed to be a goal-setter, not one who frustrates things. They are too selfish and don’t want the rest of Nigeria to get out of poverty.”
“Nigeria, with its over 200m population, is a good market. We have people and the resources for potential investors to throw in their money. The truth is that they like to come. During our time, they came. The Influx into Nigeria were huge. But what is happening is that the gatekeepers of the economy (banks) are doing everything to frustrate investors not to come here with their money.
“For investors to be encouraged to bring their money to invest here, we must address the critical issues and we will be out of the woods in no time. The return on investments we have in Nigeria is one of the highest. So we urge you people in the media to appeal to the gatekeepers. Of course, you know them.”
Continuing, Gana said a country that lacks good leadership will go down in no time.
The former minister, who also doubles as the chairman of the National Planning Committee of the ABLI 2024 conference themed ‘Value-based leadership model for Africa’, added that the initiative would focus on raising a new generation of transformational leaders in Africa and Nigeria in particular.
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