Foreign Affairs Minister Yusuf Tuggar has urged foreign investors to participate in Nigeria’s evolving economy despite security concerns.
Speaking on CNN on Tuesday, Yusuf Tuggar claimed that Nigeria is being unfairly assessed based on sporadic security issues.
He went on to say that the fighting in some areas of the nation is regional and connected to the instability in the Sahel.
“It’s very important to see the conflict for what it is. It’s a regional conflict that has spilled over into Nigeria. It is not removed from the conflict in the Sahel. It’s not removed from what happened in Libya many years ago,” he said.
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“It’s not removed from the proliferation of weaponry, of fighters and climate change issues and so many other complex issues.”
According to Yusuf Tuggar, the government is collaborating with foreign allies, such as the US, to target terrorist organisations and outlaws in their hiding places.
Additionally, the minister stated that Nigeria is actively interacting with investors and combating an overblown narrative about the country’s economic vulnerability.
“We’re urging potential investors to treat us the same way, to look at us the way that they look at other countries. The fact that there is an incident in a country of 923,000 square kilometres does not mean you write off the entire country,” he said.
According to him, geopolitical risk in Africa is frequently “overhyped” in comparison to other regions, which deters capital inflows.
Yusuf Tuggar outlined several macroeconomic and fiscal measures implemented by the Bola Tinubu administration with the goal of boosting investor confidence, including as adjustments to the foreign currency system, tax reforms, and a decrease in corporate income tax.
“It’s very important we look at the progress that the Tinubu administration has been making with macroeconomic reforms, with the tax reforms that makes it easier for investors to come into Nigeria,” he said.
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According to the minister, changes had made it easier to obtain foreign currency, and Nigeria’s foreign reserves had increased to almost $43 billion.
Regarding security, he stated that Nigeria has made notable progress against Boko Haram thanks to regional cooperation, especially the multinational joint task force, which made it possible to pursue rebels across borders.
He claimed that the Niger Republic’s removal from the force following the military takeover last year interfered with their attempts.
Yusuf Tuggar said that persistently portraying Nigeria’s security situation negatively could exacerbate instability by motivating extremist organisations to carry out assaults in order to garner attention.
“So let us look at Nigeria holistically. Let us not continue to dwell on some of these isolated incidents and define the entire country by it,” he said.
