Mustafa Bello: A decade of enhancing Nigeria’s investment climate
Discounting some of his political miscalculations, there is no denying the fact that the return to democracy under former President Olusegun Obasanjo laid the foundation for the renewed confidence of foreign investors in Nigeria. In 2007 Nigeria’s investment returns from its capital market was the highest among African and Middle East emerging markets with the exception of Zimbabwe (due mainly to its hyper-inflationary economy). These growth rates were achieved through the instrumentality of robust macroeconomic policies; and the assemblage of a skilful professional team of technocrats and modern institutional development.
It was the interplay of these three elements that put Nigeria back on the path of economic recovery and real growth after decades of stagnation induced by a succession of military regimes. The macroeconomics policies were driven by regimes of reforms in key vital sectors of the economy—telecommunication, banking, transportation and power. The technocrats came from rich and diverse backgrounds, each bringing his or her experiences shaped by best practices and supported by the right institutions to coordinate and implement the reform policies. It was a painful process with attendant high change management risks but which Nigerians are now enjoying the fruits at last.
One of those Obasanjo’s economic team technocrats is Mustafa Bello, the Kontagora-born civil engineer whose talent as a young secondary school student and as an undergraduate saw him set the best West African Examination Council (WAEC) record of the decade in his Government College, Bida, in 1974 and winning the Shell Prize for the best project and thesis of the Faculty of Engineering at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria in 1978.
Bello, who served the Obasanjo regime as minister of commerce from 1999 to 2002, was later in 2003 appointed the executive secretary of the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC), one of the key strategic institutions in the concerted effort to accentuate the non-oil growth rate of Nigeria’s economy.
Coming to NIPC was like coming to build on a foundation he remotely laid from his position as commerce minister earlier. Little did he know that fate would bring him to head the NIPC. Bello, back in 2000, driven by sheer patriotism as a minister of commerce, took five strategic actions that were to have direct bearings on the activities of the NIPC. Firstly, he developed a comprehensive 3-year action plan aimed at developing the domestic economy and boosting exports within the framework of Domestic Economic Strengthening Strategy (DESS).
Secondly, he executed Bilateral Protocol that established the Nigerian Trade Office at Shanghai, Peoples Republic of China. Thirdly, he developed the ‘Wealthy Nigerians Initiative’ project, which aimed at mobilising wealthy Nigerians in the Diaspora to spearhead the Foreign Direct Investment drive of the FGN. Only two weeks ago, the Federal Government announced that Nigeria received $21 billion as remittances from Nigerians in Diaspora making the country the highest recipient in Africa and the 5th globally.
Fourthly, he developed a new WTO consistent trade policy for Nigeria that addressed nearly all trade-related bottlenecks that hindered the smooth flow of trading activities between Nigeria and its trading partners. In 2011 Nigeria’s foreign direct investment (FDI) stood at $8.8 billion rising from its $6 billion mark in 2010. Fifthly, he embarked on Corporate Affairs Commission’s online project that was to revolutionise the operations of the CAC and make it possible for its clients or customers to register a company, conduct searches and obtain all other services online using special payments system.
All these decisions were critical to the success story of the NIPC as the central government agency responsible for the promotion of investment in and outside Nigeria. Today, NIPC is the icing on the cake of the nation’s investment drive through innovative policies and projects such as the One- Stop Investment Centre (OSIC), development of sector-specific investment policies as vehicle to accelerate inflow of FDI into the economy and remove distortions, etc.
What NIPC is to the nation’s investment, OSIC is to NIPC. OSIC is one of the most innovative programmes of NIPC. From the initial apprehensions and resistance to past efforts to establish a one-stop shop in NIPC, it is now the beautiful bride of the commission, attracting no less than 26 participating agencies, both public institutions and private concerns. Such public institutions include CAC, Federal Inland Revenue Services, Customs, Immigration, etc. In the private sector, we see companies such as New Nigeria Development Company (NNDC), Odu’a Investment Company Limited and Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN).
OSIC serves as an investment facilitation mechanism which brings relevant government agencies to one location, coordinated and streamlined, to provide efficient and transparent services to investors. It shortens and simplifies administrative procedures for the issuance of business approvals, permits and licenses and company incorporation thereby removing bottlenecks faced by investors in establishing and running business, and ultimately reduces the cost of doing business in Nigeria. OSIC has contributed immensely to the investor confidence the country is now enjoying.
In addition to initiating and supporting measures which enhance the investment climate in Nigeria for both Nigerian and non-Nigerian investors, NIPC also promotes investments in and outside Nigeria through effective promotional means. This is why today the country has been able to create global brands in the manufacturing, telecommunication and financial services such as Dangote, Globacom and many banks.
In the span of 14 years, first as minister of commerce and in the last 10 years as the executive secretary of NIPC, Bello has contributed immensely in the brain work, policy formulation and implementation of economic reforms that have engendered the macro-economic stability achieved over the past few years in Nigeria. His role in pushing reforms of investment-related laws aimed at liberalising investors’ entry and at strengthening protections for foreign investment would not be easily forgotten; neither would his doggedness in promoting openness and transparency in our investment policies that have made Nigeria’s investment environment more favourable for inward foreign direct investment (FDI).
Hassan writes from Abuja.
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