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Investors from all over the world have been advised to take advantage of the numerous opportunities available in the country and its huge potential to establish thriving business ventures in Nigeria.

The President, Unilever for Africa, Russia and Middle East, Mr. Alan Jope, gave the advice at the opening of the two-day Unilever investment forum tagged: ‘Partner to Win Africa Conference’ in Lagos on Thursday.

He said Unilever Africa brought the conference to Nigeria because of the huge potential of the country, the high return on investment, abundance of natural and human resources and the fact that Nigeria’s economy was now the biggest on the continent.

Similarly, the governments of Lagos, Ogun and Kogi states promised serious investors attractive enabling environments and incentives for them to set up businesses in the states.

For instance, Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos, who was represented by his Commissioner for Commerce, Mrs. Olusola Oworu, said his administration was ready to assist genuine investors and had removed impediments to easy conduct of business.

He added that the government had put in place a Public-Private Partnership department in his office to deal with the issue of investors who were willing to partner with the government and that the state was also ready to render any assistance to make investment easy.

“In the last seven years, we have embrace the PPP in our industrialisation drive and this has considerably paid off. We have improved the procedure of acquiring land in the state as issuance of Certificates of Occupancy has been fast-tracked to assist the investment drive,” Fashola said.

His Ogun State counterpart, Ibikunle Amosun, while calling on investors to take advantage of the vast arable land available in the state, said only about 0.5 per cent had so far been utilised, adding that investors could take advantage of this by bringing their ventures to the state.

He said, “We have 12,000 hectares of virgin land and we will be willing to assist any investor who is ready to do business in the state in whatever capacity we can. We have the largest concentration of industries in the country and with a population of about seven million people, we have available manpower for any investment and our GDP is among the fastest growing in the country.

“Lagos and others states are taking advantage of our land. Currently, Lagos is growing rice in our state and other states too are doing so. Unilever should, aside having 80 per cent of their investments in the state, also come to the state to have farms to grow their raw materials. We are not also relenting, as the state, with our efforts, can also feed your company with raw materials in the nearest future.”

SOURCE: PUNCH NEWS