A researcher, Mrs Sade Taiwo, has advised government at all levels not to allow foreign investors to dominate the economy.
Taiwo, a researcher in the Surveillance and Forecasting Department of the Nigeria Institute of Social and Economic Research(NISER) , Ibadan, gave the advice on Tuesday at the monthly seminar series of the institute.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the topic of the lecture was “The Role of Foreign Direct Investment in Government Policies in Nigeria.’’
Taiwo lamented that foreign investment inflows were lopsided in favour of portfolio investment, leaving small holder investors less protected and unable to favourably compete with foreign investors.
She urged government to manage the risks associated with foreign direct investment, saying such investment was also critical to the nation’s economic development.
The researcher noted that exchange rate stability, faster infrastructural development, security improvement, stricter law enforcement against corruption and low inflation rate would engender foreign direct investment inflows and ease the business environment for local investors.
Taiwo urged the Central Bank to collapse the various foreign exchange markets with a guided market sensitive single exchange rate while foreign direct investment policies should be applied from a multi-sectoral perspective.
Earlier, the Director General of NISER, Dr Folarin Gbadebo-Smith, had noted that the nation’s foreign direct investment policy remained a key component of its economic policies.
Contributing to the discourse, Dr Babatunde Adeoye of the Department of Economics, University of Lagos, said the country’s exit out of recession and economic progress were fast tracked by implementing the right foreign direct investment policy.
THE NATION
