Emma Okonji
The Minister of Communications, Adebayo Shittu, who is Nigeria’s Head of Delegation to the just concluded World Summit on the Information Society, WSIS FORUM 2017 in Geneva, Switzerland, has struck a business deal that will facilitate over $4 billion telecommunications investments from India to Nigeria.
The minister, while making his presentation at one of the sessions on the various business opportunities that beckons in the nation’s telecom sector and the need for investors around the world to take full advantage of Nigeria’s strategic relevance and positioning in Africa, extended a hand of fellowship to Indian investors and leading telecom stakeholders.
Highlighting Nigeria’s government’s new capabilities, transparency and the new set of business ethos under President Muhammadu Buhari, Shittu said they remained the impetus required for investors to be engaged in legitimate businesses without let or hindrance to get adequate and timely returns on their investments.
The audience who were impressed with the various giant strides of the minister, as encapsulated by the different on-going reforms in the agencies under the ministry, and in the overall telecom sector in the country, were desirous of doing business in Nigeria.
At a side meeting with the ostensibly elated business gurus and key investors, a couple of Indian entrepreneurs convinced of the minister’s olive branch and sincerity of purpose, jumped at the offer to pull resources together in excess of $4 billion, to be invested in Nigeria’s telecom sector with emphasis on rural telephony and grassroots development.
The parties are due to meet next month to fine tune the necessary modalities.
Meanwhile, other countries with technical expertise have also indicated interest to assist the country over satellite capabilities, so as to expand the horizon of the Nigeria Communication Satellite Limited (NigComSat).
