The presidency in this statement signed by
Senior Special Assistant to President Buhari
on Media and Publicity, Shehu Garba, listed
six gains for Nigeria from President Buhari's
recent trip to Kenya where he attended the
Tokyo International Conference on African
Development ( TICAD VI). Read the statement
below
TOKYO International Conference on African
Development, "TICAD 6" just ended in Nairobi,
Kenya and in attendance were several African
Presidents and Prime Ministers including our
own Muhammadu Buhari and the co-convener
of the conference, Shinzo Abe, the head of the
Japanese government. The TICAD seeks a win-
win partnership between Japan and Africa. A
key objective of the conference is to build up
African ownership of its own vision of growth
and development.
In furtherance of this, Japan seeks to differ
with the other players on the continent by
placing emphasis on high quality
infrastructure that do more than job creation
by transferring technology through the
training of youth and women.
The conference held every five years from the
time it started in 1993 until the last one in
2003 when it was decided that it should be
convened every three years instead. The one
that just finished is significant in the sense
that this was the first time it took place in
Africa. They met in Japan all the time in the
past.
Another significant departure is the
recognition of the role of the private sector in
the economic take-off of the continent. In this
respect, more than 100 Chief Executive
Officers, CEOs from leading Japanese
companies accompanied Prime Minister Abe.
This is a clear indication that more and more
Japanese companies are eying the African
continent. A modest number of Nigerian
business and state-owned enterprises were
equally present.
From its start, Prime Minister Abe made
known the intention of Japan to spend 10
Billion Dollars in the next twelve months and
overall USD 30 Billion over a three-year period
on areas key to African economies, targeting
infrastructural projects such as roads, energy,
ports, hospitals and training institutions. The
money will partly be disbursed through the
African Development Bank, ADB.
At the end of the conference, a statement
tagged "Nairobi Declaration" was issued.
Among its highlights is the launching of
"Initiative for Food and Nutrition Security for
Africa, IFNA." This aims to bring African
governments together to swiftly implement
food and nutrition security policies and
programs. There were important resolutions
taken on economic diversification and
industrialization; promotion of "resilient
health system for quality of life" and
measures for the promotion social stability
and shared prosperity.
For Nigeria in particular, "TICAD 6" milestones
include the important meeting between
President Buhari and Prime Minister Abe, at
which event problems militating against the
inflow of Japanese investment into Nigeria
were discussed and agreed upon.
Japanese companies had done a lot by way of
investment in the past in Nigeria but there has
noticeably been a drop in the last decade or
two. Chiefly to blame is the problem of
security, disguised in official discussions as
"business environment."
President Buhari used this meeting effectively
in giving assurances that the problem is being
addressed. Boko Haram terrorism is nearly
gone and sabotage in the Niger Delta will
soon be ended preferably through dialogue
and if not, by force of arms.
Coming into close personal contact for the
second time, the two leaders discussed the
issues of trade and investment, health, peace
and development of the continent. In addition,
they discussed issues in diplomacy and
international relations.
President Buhari's statement at the Head of
States' round table meeting with business
leaders underscored the serious efforts
government is making to improve Nigeria's
notoriously bad business environment.
At this meeting, he announced the coming into
place of a soon-to-be inaugurated
"Presidential Enabling Business Council,
PEBEC."
He described it as an inter-ministeri al council
to oversee the efforts of government to
remove various bottlenecks that stifle
business and economic activity to give way to
the right enabling environment and investment
climate in Nigeria. It will be powered by the
government but will be private-sector driven.
According to its vision, the PEBEC will make
Nigeria one of the most attractive business
destinations in the world. It will start with the
modest effort of moving the country up 20
points in the World Bank ranking in the ease
of doing business in the first year, taking it
into the top 100 at the end of the four-year
mandate of the current administration.
A third takeaway is on the sidelines of the
TICAD where the Nigerian government
delegation met a good number of big
Japanese enterprises. Collectively and
individually, these businesses expressed their
intention of either coming in newly or
expanding their participation in Nigeria's
private sector. The companies with varied
interests in power, agriculture, automobile,
motor cycles, textiles, financing and the
service sector included the Honda
Manufacturing (Nigeria) Limited, representing
Honda Motor Co. Ltd; Japan Tobacco Inc.,
Marubeni Corporation and Mitsubishi
Corporation.
Others included Toyota Tsusho Corporation,
Toyota Tsusho (Nigeria) Ltd., an affiliate of
Toyota Tsusho Corporation, West African
Seasoning Co. Ltd., affiliate of Ajinomoto Co.
Inc., and Japan External Trade Organization,
JETRO.
At these meetings, they explored the scope for
the incentive packages the Nigerian
government will give them so as to deepen
and expand their investments. These included
export rebates, access to Foreign Exchange,
land, interest rates, transparency in business
regulation and favourable regulatory structure.
The fourth important takeaway is the
formation of a new group KENSA made up of
industry leaders on the continent, Kenya
representing East Africa, Egypt for North
Africa, South Africa for the South and Nigeria,
from West Africa.
The four countries agreed to consolidate their
quadrilateral grouping initiated at the 19th
July UNCTAD (United Nations Conference on
Trade and Development) meeting and decided
to expand business and trade between the four
of them, inject impetus into the CFTA, the
African Union-inspired free trade agreement
among African countries and to coordinate
their positions on trade and investment inside
and outside Africa.
Fifth, Nigeria and Kenya seized the
opportunity of the meeting of their leaders to
not only strengthen bilateral relations but to
follow up on the achievements of the State
Visit to Nairobi by President Buhari earlier
this year.
From the time of the visit, both countries have
seen a growing impetus for trade and
investment between them. Kenya which
discovered oil lately is picking lessons from
Nigeria's vast experience in oil and gas.
Nigeria is learning from Kenyan experience in
managing animal grazing. There are efforts on
both sides to share experience and promote
private sector participation in trade,
cooperatives, micro finance, cotton farming
and palm oil processing.
Sixth, under the auspices of the Bank of
Industry and the Nigerian Investment
Promotion Council NIPC, several memoranda
of understanding, MOUs were signed between
Nigerian parties and their foreign
counterparts. From many of these, investments
and jobs will follow.
On the President's delegation were the
Ministers of Agriculture, Health, Budget and
National Planning, and Industry, Trade and
Investment.
There were also the National Security Adviser,
NSA and the Director-Genera l, National
Intelligence Agency, NIA.
Members of the delegation expressed
satisfaction with the outcome of the
conference and the side engagements.
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