Investment Expo: Aliyu Woos Canadian investors to Abuja

By Stanley Onyekwere

Canadian investors have been enjoined to leverage the favourable investment opportunities in the Federal Capital Territory to invest in Agriculture, tourism, infrastructure development, transportation, healthcare, waste management and hospitality industry.

FCT Minister of State, Dr. Ramatu Tijjani Aliyu, made this call when she led a delegation of FCT to the just concluded inaugural Canada-Nigeria Investment Expo with the theme: “Creating Enduring Partnership” held at the Ontario Investment Trading Centre, Canada.

Aliyu, in a statement from her S.A Media, Austine Elemue, maintained that the participation of the FCT Administration in the investment summit has opened up more opportunities for Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) into the FCT. 

She expressed satisfaction that various business groups in Canada have indicated interest to come and invest in Abuja, stressing that the Abuja Investment Company Limited (AICL) and Abuja Infrastructure Investment Centre (AIIC) would be working with the Ease of Doing Business unit to facilitate this process for speedy implementation. 

According to her; “The Expo provided business investors from FCT and other parts of Nigeria with the opportunity to connect with Economic Development Organizations and Global Business leaders from across Canada to facilitate Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and Public Private Partnership in Nigeria”.

Also, the Nigerian High Commissioner to Canada, His Excellency, Adeyinka Asekun, in his remarks at the summit outlined the various efforts made by the Embassy that have yielded results. 

He said one of such moves was the Canadian Governor General High powered visit to Nigeria in 2017 and the visit of Nigeria Business community to Canada in 2018.

The Ambassador also informed the gathering of efforts been made to conclude the Bilateral Trade Agreement between Nigeria and Canada to increase the volume of trade which was currently below what was expected, given the number of Nigerians in Canada and the diverse opportunities.

Furtgermore, on the sideline of the Expo, the minister held meetings with the Premier of Ontario, Doug Ford, and other ministers in charge of Economic Development, Job creation, Sports, Tourism, Agriculture amongst others.

Highpoint of the event was presentations from the Mandate Secretaries EPRG&PPP, Agriculture and Social Development, where they exposed delegates to the various investment opportunities in Abuja.