The trio of Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and Association of Assets Custodians of Nigeria (AACN) have called on international investors to leverage on recent developments in the Nigerian economy to increase their investment.
Sarah Alade
CBN Deputy Governor, Sarah Alade, added her voice to the call at the third AACN annual London investors conference, which had the theme “Nigeria – Road to Emergence.”
Alade reiterated that foreign investors have been granted 30 per cent tax concession for five years.
Concessions for minimum local raw materials utilisation are agriculture (80 per cent) agriculture allied (70 per cent), petrochemicals (70 per cent) and cost of providing basic infrastructure such as roads, water and electricity (25 per cent).
Changes are being made to the land Right Law to accommodate foreign investors, she added, apart from tax exemptions in dividend payments and unfettered access to dividend income.
According to Alade, with the recent surge in capital inflows from international investors, there is need for assets custodianship and management in Nigeria to safe keep the assets of investors.
Participants at the conference emphasised the urgent need to assign International Special Identification Numbers (ISIN) to Nigerian treasury bills to align them with others on the market and conform to international standards.
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Director General, Arunma Oteh, commended the AACN for arranging the conference.
She said there are many attractions in Nigeria as an investment destination of choice, such as being Africa’s largest economy with $510 million Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Nigeria’s GDP growth rate averaging 7 per cent in the past five years benefits investors, the young and massive population, a rapidly expanding middle class and government’s reform, Oteh stressed.