BUHARI URGES AMERICAN BUSINESS COMMUNITY TO INVEST IN NIGERIA'S NON OIL SECTOR

American business community formally welcomed President Muhammadu Buhari to the United States at the end of his first work day in the country.

Corporate Council on Africa (CCA), a coalition of about 180 companies, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, jointly hosted a special dinner in honour of the President at the Washington DC office of the Chamber on Monday.
President Buhari was received by the executive vice-president of the Chamber, Myron Brilliant, and Paul Hinks and Stephen Hayes, chairman and chief executive officer of CCA respectively.
Welcoming Buhari and some 260 entrepreneurs, top executives and diplomats to the very convivial event, Mr. Brilliant said the U.S. business community is eager to build on the President’s vision of peace and prosperity and, support his push to expand non-oil sectors of the Nigerian economy.
“We encourage you to work with the United States business community in partnership because we share that vision, we share that aspiration and we certainly have the aspiration to increase the percentage of our investment in your great country,” Mr. Brilliant said.
Along the same lines, Paul Hinks commended Mr. Buhari’s exemplary leadership and stated that CCA and the Chamber recognize that Nigeria stand presently on the verge of tremendous opportunity.
“We both want to facilitate trade and investment between the US and Nigeria in key areas like security, power, agribusiness, health, ICT, infrastructure, transportation, oil and gas, and things like the factory Proctor and Gamble is building in Nigeria,” he said.  
In an equally gracious response, President Buhari acknowledged the “excellent political relations” between the two countries as enshrined in the US-Nigeria Bi-national Commission.
He said that his administration will foster similar deep business ties between the two countries by creating “necessary environment for future investment in Nigeria”.
Mr. Buhari invited American business leaders to take advantage of opportunities in Nigeria, promising that his administration will be attentive to the needs of genuine investors by easing visa procedures and promoting “accountability and good governance, respect for rule of law, strict compliance with and observance of contractual agreements”.
He touted the country’s population and market size as well as vast natural resources and skilled workforce as Nigeria’s competitive edge over other business destinations in Africa and, as advantages American investors can tap into.
Mr. Buhari emphasized the need for the private sector to assume a greater role in economic development in Nigeria as the country “takes steps to a non-oil based economy”, adding that Nigeria has enormous economic potentials that require heavy funding which cannot be sourced locally in Nigeria alone.
He called on multilateral agencies such as “Overseas Investment Corporation and the US Export-Import Bank to increase investment and funding of such businesses on favorable terms.”