Osuchukwu said foreign investors would prefer to go to Ethiopia or other African countries and not Nigeria because of the difficulty of doing business in the country.
Winston Osuchukwu, Co-founder and Managing Partner at Trans-Sahara
Investment (TSIC), has raised the alarm over the growth rate of the
Ethiopian economy and how that might adversely affect Nigeria.
Speaking in an interview with CNBC Africa, Osuchukwu said foreign
investors would prefer to go to Ethiopia or other African countries
and not Nigeria because of the difficulty of doing business in the
country.
The Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC) recently said
Nigeria ranked 146 out of 190 countries on the Ease of Doing Business
globally.
Osuchukwu said the lack of a favourable business environment in
Nigeria would push investors, whose choice who have hitherto be
Nigeria, to other African countries.
He also raised concern over the Africa free trade agreement which
encourages an open border across African countries.
He said: “Free trade could also mean I don’t have to come to Nigeria
to do business with Nigeria. I can do business with Nigeria by proxy.
It (Africa Free Trade Agreement) is significant because of how
difficult it is to do business in Nigeria, you will find that some of
the investment that should have come into Nigeria can now go into
neighbouring countries and those countries can serve Nigeria.
“The second one is, the rise of Ethiopia is actually a significant
risk to Nigeria. Nigeria used to be the centre of gravity for all
sub-Saharan Africa. We are the largest economy; we are the largest
market out there.
“Ethiopia has opened up its economy. Ethiopia is a much more
compelling economy to go to. Only good news has come out of there in
terms of how they are opening up their economy. They have better
infrastructures in place.”