Only Peace, Security Can Guarantee Investment Flow, Says Abbas

Only Peace, Security Can  Guarantee  Investment Flow, Says Abbas

The Chief Executive Officer, Linklegal Consulting, Prof. Ademola Abass has said peace and security are fundamental to addressing investment gaps in Nigeria.

Abbas, former Special Adviser on Lagos Global, assured that LinkLegaI would offer professional and advisory services that would guide potential investors in the country.

He made the remarks at the unveiling of Linklegal Consulting at Eko Hotel and Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos recently.

The unveiling was witnessed by Consul-General, South Africa, Darkey Ephrain; French ambassador to Nigeria, Jerome Pasquier; Consul-General of Germany in Lagos, Stefan Trumann and founder, Centre for Value in Leadership (CVL), Prof. Pat Utomi, among others.

Abass, who identified lack of investors’ confidence in Nigeria as the major bane to investment growth in the country, said that the narrative must change in the interest of the country at large.

He said, “As much as there are several challenges confronting investment in the country, there also abound several opportunities and solutions which must be professionally anchored by an indigenous and experienced firm. We need to tell the world our own story and that is what Linklegal is set out to do.

“Investors should know who to talk to in government when it comes to business and considering the wide scope of business and investment in the country, it is imperative for experienced private organizations to also get involved in rendering such services.”

Abass, a professor of International Law and Organisation in the United Kingdom before he joined the Ambode administration in 2015, said his experience would be brought to bear in giving investors in the country a friendly business and worthwhile experience.

He said foreign firms always “find it extremely difficult and daunting navigating the rather enmeshing channels of government bureaucracy in Nigeria as well as the problem of unfamiliar business terrain.

“Linklegal with its huge understanding of the social and political environment becomes indispensable. To lessen the burden of worries on investors, we will be providing useful information about who within a state, to talk to in terms of investment, where to find relevant information, what processes and timeliness apply, what legal protection is available for investments, what rules govern repatriation of profit, applicable taxes and incentives among others.”

In his own remark, Trumann described the platform as magnificent and futuristic, stating that would pilot the investment faculty of the country by bridging the gap between investors and the community.

According to him, it is a right way to create the needed mutual relationship between Nigeria and its investors and nurture the future of investment opportunities in the country’’, he affirmed.

Utomi, a professor of political economy, also described the services being rendered by Linklegal as such that is desperately needed in the country considering the enormous possibilities of investment in Nigeria.

He urged Nigerians to be more receptive to investment, stressing that investment in any country would bring mutual communal benefits for both investors and the host community under a win-win situation.

Utomi maintained that an unfriendly business environment “has an indirect way of impoverishing the prosperity of such environment alongside other critical sectors. Why explaining why some Nigerians chose to float their businesses outside the country for the fear of the unknown.”

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