By Ijeoma Nwankpa, Abuja, Nigeria.
The Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria, (CBN), Mr. Godwin Emefiele, says Nigeria and other African countries have huge investment opportunities, while calling on foreign investors to consider the continent as their choice investment destination.
Mr. Emefiele was speaking when he received the Euroknowledge Africa Most Innovative Digital Transformation Governor of the Year Award for 2022 by the Foreign Investment Network (FIN).
Presenting the award to Mr. Emefiele at a ceremony held at the Willard Intercontinental Hotel, Washington DC, on Thursday, October 13, 2022, on the sidelines of the Annual meetings of the IMF/World Bank Group holding in Washington DC, the Advisor, Euroknowledge, Mr. Andreas Deutschmann, commended the CBN Governor for leading innovation among central banks on the continent.
In his acceptance remarks, Mr. Emefiele thanked the Euroknowledge and the Foreign Investment Network (FIN) for finding the CBN worthy of the award and dedicated the award to the Management and staff of the Bank for their creative ideas, which had seen the CBN emerge as a pace-setter in payments system with the pioneering efforts in central bank digital currency (CBDC).
He also thanked Nigerians for their support to the CBN, noting that business confidence in the continent was on the rise.
“This award is not just for me, it is meant for all of us, who have worked hard in the last eight and half years to keep Nigeria strong. To keep the Nigerian economy strong and going,”.
According to him, countries that investors should consider for investments include Nigeria, Angola, South Africa and Egypt.
“Today, we talk about the frontier market and what I keep telling people is that as you continue thinking about growth opportunities in the world and you are looking at Africa, naturally you will have to think about some of the big economies in Africa.
“Nigeria, Angola, South Africa and Egypt are economies that you would need to think about. And I dare say these economies hold a lot of strong opportunities with potentials for high yields and profitable projects and I can only seize this medium to encourage our friends in the foreign investment community to continue to take a look at Africa.
“We cannot do this alone; we will continue to need the support of the rest of the world. But I can assure all of us that as you do this, the opportunities are there and you will not regret taking advantage of the opportunities.
“The opportunities are there. I can only continue to say let’s give the support to Africa, let’s give the support to Nigeria. We should all continue to work together for the growth, not just for our individual countries but for Africa as a whole,” the CBN governor added.
However, Mr. Emefiele, agreed that there are challenges, but said the Bank under his leadership, was encouraged to do more to boost the Nigerian economy.
However, Mr. Emefiele agreed that there are Challenges but said the Bank would continue to do more to boost the Nigerian economy.
