‘Invest in Africa for high yields’ — Emefiele woos investors at IMF/World Bank meetings

Godwin Emefiele, governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), has called on foreign investors to consider Nigeria and other countries in Africa as their choice investment destinations.

Emefiele said this on Friday while receiving the Euro Knowledge award conferred on him by FIN Banking on Emerging Markets forum on the sidelines of the ongoing International Monetary Fund/World Bank annual meetings in Washington.

The CBN governor listed Nigeria, Angola, South Africa and Egypt as countries that investors should consider, adding that business confidence on the continent was on the rise.

“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,” he said.

“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 opportunities for high yields and profitable projects.

“I can only seize this opportunity to encourage our friends in the foreign investment community to continue to take a look at Africa. Africa yearns for growth and development.”

Emefiele emphasised that African countries need support from the rest of the world to achieve growth.

“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 countries but for Africa as a whole,” he said.

Meanwhile, Emefiele dedicated the award to his colleagues at the CBN as well as other Nigerians.

“When your credentials and all you have done are being read out to the public, you begin to wonder how you managed to do all this. But what this does is to encourage you to do more,” the apex bank governor said.

“When we talk about the challenges that we are currently facing, I can tell you that it hasn’t been easy in the last eight and half years, where we have gone through two recessions: one between 2015 and 2016 and another short-lived one in the second and third quarter 2021 during the period of COVID-19.

“Usually as the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, you never pray to go through a recession twice but we have managed to go through this with a lot of hard work and support from our colleagues at the CBN, all our departments and members of our monetary policy meeting.

“We really want to thank all of you. 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.”