{"id":13609,"date":"2018-11-21T21:53:33","date_gmt":"2018-11-21T21:53:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/?p=13609"},"modified":"2018-11-21T21:53:33","modified_gmt":"2018-11-21T21:53:33","slug":"stay-away-from-nigeria-ex-british-minister-tells-investors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/?p=13609","title":{"rendered":"Stay away from Nigeria, ex-British minister tells investors"},"content":{"rendered":"

A former Secretary of State for International Development of the United Kingdom, Priti Patel, has warned investors to be wary of investing in Nigeria.
\nPatel, who is a member of the British parliament, in an opinion piece in a foreign medium, claimed that President Muhammadu Buhari was not in the habit of obeying law and court orders.
\nPatel cited the case of a firm owned by two Irishmen, which got a contract in Nigeria in 2010, adding that Buhari, upon assuming office in 2015, cancelled the contract.
\nPatel claimed that the firm\u2019s efforts to get compensation through the court were also frustrated as Buhari refused to obey court decisions made in favour of the foreign firm.
\nPatel said, \u201cIn Nigeria, the unhappy experience of the firm founded by two Irishmen, Process and Industrial Development, is a case in point, and demonstrates the risk that businesses will face in Nigeria.
\n\u201cIn 2010, P&ID signed a 20-year contract with the Nigerian government to create a new natural gas development refinery, but the project fell through after the Nigerian government reneged on its contractual commitments.
\n\u201cUpon taking office, President Buhari promptly cancelled a compensation settlement.
\n\u201cSince Buhari reneged on this deal, P&ID has undertaken legal efforts to affirm a tribunal award, first decided in London. It also made several attempts in court to force the Nigerian government to respect its obligations.
\n\u201cThe most recent court decision at a London tribunal confirmed that the Nigerian government owes P&ID almost $9bn for the initial breach of contract, loss of income, additional costs, and interest accrued after five years of non-payment.
\n\u201cHowever, the Nigerian government has continued to flout international law and convention, and it refuses to respect the various court decisions.
\n\u201cInvestors must consider this long-running scandal and weigh this obstinacy against Nigeria\u2019s mishandled economic potential.\u201d
\nHe added, \u201cNigeria is ranked 145th in the world for its ease of doing business, which demonstrates the risks of investment into Nigeria.\u201d
\nResponding, the Director-General, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Muda Yusuf, said it was not right for Patel to make such a generalisation about investing in Nigeria.
\nYusuf said, \u201cI don\u2019t think people should rely on that kind of statement in order to make a decision on whether to invest or not. What is most important to an investor is the opportunity that exists to make profit in an environment,\u201d he said.
\nAlso, the Managing Director, Footprints for Africa, Mr Osita Oparaugo, called on the Federal Government to erase the poor perception of foreign investors about the Nigerian business climate.
\nHe said, \u201cWhen an agreement is signed, the government must stick to it. There should be continuity of government programmes because lack of continuity in government programmes creates uncertainty.\u201d
\nOn its part, the opposition Peoples Democratic Party said it was unfortunate that Buhari had given the country bad image abroad, with his alleged penchant for disobeying court orders.
\nA presidency source said Patel\u2019s claims were being analysed by government.
\nHowever, the Presidency described Patel warning as \u201clacking in substance and devoid of merit in empirical evidence established by facts.\u201d
\nThe President\u2019s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mr Garba Shehu, in a statement said, \u201cHer claim is a fabrication that cannot be supported by the facts on the ground.\u201d
\n\u201cNigerian has recognised the rights of investors, both local and foreign, as enshrined in our constitution, which states clearly that no investment can be taken from its owners without recourse to the law. Given the constitution, you don\u2019t even need international protection for assets held in this country.
\n\u201cBeyond this, we have established a proper climate of investment on account of which, the nation has gained 24 points of excellence in the global ease of doing business index.”
\nBy News Digest<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A former Secretary of State for International Development of the United Kingdom, Priti Patel, has warned investors to be wary of investing in Nigeria. Patel, who is a member of the British parliament, in an opinion piece in a foreign medium, claimed that President Muhammadu Buhari was not in the habit of obeying law and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":13295,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13609","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13609","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13609"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13609\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13609"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13609"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13609"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}