By Dickson Omobola
North-West Governors Forum has urged private investors to identify the problems hindering them from investing in the region, saying government cannot improve the investment environment if investors do not tell it what is wrong.
Director-General of the forum, Maryam Yahaya, who was represented at the United Nations Global Compact Network Nigeria, UNGCNN, CEO Forum held in Lagos, themed: ‘Financing a Dignified Future: Aligning Capital, Policy and Business Action,’ said investors should be open about the challenges they face, whether they relate to security, power, bureaucracy or regulations that do not make commercial sense.
Yahaya said: “I know what usually happens when government meets the private sector. We arrive with presentations telling you about our enormous potential. You listen politely, we tell you we’re open for business, and you tell us you are interested. We exchange cards and sometimes, unfortunately, that’s where the investment ends.
“And please don’t give us the diplomatic answer. We’ve heard too many of those. If it is security, tell us. If it is power, or our processes are too slow, or if a regulation does not make commercial sense, we would like to know. Government cannot improve an investment environment if the investors are too polite to tell us what is wrong.”
CEO and Executive Director of UNGCNN, Naomi Nwokolo, called for leadership that goes beyond profitability to consider how value is created, how risk is managed, how people are treated and whether business success builds stronger societies.
She said sustainability cannot remain at the margins of business strategy, but should be seen as a driver of competitiveness and investment readiness.
Nwokolo said a dignified future is one in which businesses can grow and remain competitive, entrepreneurs can access capital to scale, workers earn a living wage, communities participate in economic opportunities, and the natural environment is not sacrificed for short-term gain.
She said: “This forum has been deliberately designed as a small, closed-door and highly interactive conversation. It is not intended to be another conference where we deliver prepared speeches, restate familiar challenges and leave with little clarity about what happens next.”
Meanwhile, Governor Dauda Lawal of Zamfara State urged investors to tell government what was not working.
He said: “Businesses cannot wait indefinitely for government to solve every commercial problem. Investors must do proper due diligence and build commercially sound projects. Financial institutions must design instruments suited to productive sectors, not just conventional short-term lending.”
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