AFRICA

Burundi Appeals for Investments from Nigerians

The government of Burundi has appealed for investments from Nigerian investors, insisting that the Eastern African country has the environment to grow their wealth.

A delegation from the country who was in Abuja, Nigeria made mouth watering incentives to Nigerian investors who might be interested in investing in the country.

Special Envoy of the Burundi President, Ambassador Liberat Fumukeko, who led a delegation to Nigeria, urged captains of industries to catch on to the abundant opportunities in Burundi.

Fumukeko said that there are juicy incentives for Nigerian investors that decide to invest in his country.

He said: “We have come to Nigeria with the delegation from Burundi and we have come to invite people from the private sector in this country to come to Burundi and explore the investment opportunities because we feel like there’s something this country, (Nigeria) as an African power can do in terms of trade investment with other part of Africa.”

On the attractions on ground for investors, the envoy said: “Well, I mentioned that we have a legislation and an investment legislation and this one is very clear any investor coming into our country can repatriate there profit and their money provided that they comply with all the local policies, especially in the area of taxation. So they pay taxes like everyone else and they will have equal treatment and be able to repatriate their profit.”

On his visit to Nigeria, the envoy said: “We thought it would be proper to come down here and have a face to face interaction with the private sector of Nigeria so that we can understand exactly what they can do in this region.”

On his part, Engr Mustapha Bello, former Minister of commerce and industry who was part of the Nigeria business community that met with the visiting envoy, commended the Burundian government for the audacious move.

He said: “First I must commend the Ambassador. I think he has done extremely well. I can’t remember when last I’ve seen any head of embassy in Abuja inviting business community members to interact with them. I think he has done well, he has started well by bringing a high level delegation from the president of Burundi to Abuja to come and make a presentation to us.

So, I think what is left for us as Nigerians is to take advantage of the opportunity we’ve been exposed to and then to see how we can build the bridge and that bridge is exactly creating Nigeria- Burundi business council.

“Then the two sides will now continue interacting, organizing trade delegations, investment missions and the like.

“I think the most important thing is, we have the market, the capacity and the people who have the resources, this are the key things we require to be able to begin to engage with the country and I’m not sure within the continent if you begin to look at the statistics and the data that the number of rich people we have in Nigeria, I don’t think there’s any country that has half of that in the continent of Africa. I’m not sure, so for Burundi to expose its opportunities to Nigeria is to say the list that they have started whatsoever the embassy should be doing that the normal diplomatic work that ambassadors should do. I think very soon the Burundians will come to understand that the ambassador is doing something good for them as their representative in Nigeria.”

The former minister also explained his role in the meeting, which he said involved sharing information and inviting serious minded investors. He said: “My responsibility is to facilitate sharing the information and invite those who are serious business people and then take them over so that they can share their resources.

“We too, we are looking at the area of agriculture and doing the analysis of food sectors that will be good for us to put our own resources into, then when we meet again we will be able to tell you which sector we are in, that is key for us.”

Michael Olugbode