Nigeria: In need of dreamers, of a certain kind Presented at Harvard University on March 5, 2014 By Babs Omotowa (FCIPS)

1. Nigeria: In need of dreamers, of a certain kind
Presented atHarvardUniversity on March 5, 2014
By Babs Omotowa (FCIPS)
Babs Omotowa is currently Managing Director/Chief Executive
Officer of Nigeria LNG Limitedand the Vice President of Bonny
Gas Transport Limited.
Prior to this he was at various times Vice President, HSE,
Infrastructure and Logistics for Shell companies in Sub-Sahara
Africa, a Director of the Shell Petroleum Development Company,
Nigeria and also a Director of the West Africa Gas Pipeline
Company.
Babs has worked in Shell for over 20 years, starting his career
in Warri Nigeria, before proceeding to Europe, where he worked
in the United Kingdom, Holland, Norway and Ireland in various
Managerial and Operational/Production roles.
Babs is a graduate of the University of Ilorin, Nigeria in
Industrial Chemistry and holds an MBA from the University of
Leicester, UK.

2. "There is a huge, untapped potential here. Nigeria is an enormous market for investors; a
market where telecommunications grew, with the explosion of mobile phone subscribers
from 60,000 to 125 million today". -- Christine Lagarde, Managing Director, IMF
Salutations
I am honoured to be here today, and grateful for allowing me to be part of the on-going
dialogue about Nigeria, my beloved country.
I realise that discussions about Nigeria and its place in the world arouses deep interest
because of the unique sense of expectation that it has always infused; the cautious optimism
and earnest prayers that one day all its controversies, all its contradictions, and all its
contrarian impulses will resolve nicely, even if miraculously, and it will rise like the mythical
phoenix and take its rightful place in the comity of nations.
Crossing The River of Myths
I will like to start by quoting from a lecture by Hans Rosling,at the Pickard Memorial Lecture
for the Harvard Statistics Department in October 2012. In that lecture, Rosling, a famed
Swedish physician, master statistician and development expert, refuted some of the popular
myths about Africa, sayingthe dismissive attitude towards developing nations is unhelpful
and a result ofmisperceptions.
According to Rosling, the world is a complicated quilt of nations without rigid structures or
patterns; we must only judge development on case by case or country by country basis. To
illustrate, he said that the misconception that Africa is universally behind by every measure

3. of progress is inaccurate. ―Rural Tanzania might conform to that view, for instance,
buturban Tanzania resembles much of Asia‖. We should use facts to override myths,
statisticsthat dispel myths among the community of nations also can dispel geopolitical
ignorance‖, he said.
I will similarly like to note that much of the commentaries on Nigeria are clouded by
characterisations and myths. Without clearing up what these myths symbolise, we will never
have fruitful dialogue.
Speaking of mythicism, every country has self-serving (or self-destructive) myths. Some of
these have been elevated orthodoxies. These myths when needed, serve as battle-cry to
galvanise their nations to achievement of their goals - for good or evil. For the United
States, it is American exceptionalism, Jews (chosenness), Germans (supremacists).
United States presidents always allude to American exceptionalism, a myth that iconic
historian and public intellectual, Richard Hofstadter celebrated, when he wrote that America
is the only nation in history that believes it was born perfect and strives for improvement.
The American, you could say, is a dreamer who holds steadfastly to a myth. That myth has
not only made America the richest nation in the world, but also has sired other myths: the
American perfection at home and exceptionalism in the world. Good myths beget good
destiny.
Let’s return to Nigeria, we have some pernicious myths that even our people have elevated
to orthodoxies. The prime one is that Nigeria was a ―mistake; a mere geographical
expression.‖

4. There are others, good and bad:
Nigerians believe thatnothing works in Nigeria.
That Nigeria makes great plans, but there is always a problem with execution.
That Nigerians show individual brilliance, especially in the Diaspora, but are unable to
produce good leaders in home government.
By far the most spiteful myth about Nigeria was one peddled by its colonial midwife Sir
Fredrick Lugard.Lord Lugard, the former governor-general of Nigeria, in 1926, wrote his
unfiltered thoughts about Nigerians. From his book, The Dual Mandate In British Tropical
Africa, comes these excerpts:
―In character and temperament, the typical African of this race-type is a happy, thriftless,
excitable person, lacking in self-control, discipline and foresight. Naturally courageous,
courteous and polite, full of personal vanity ... He lacks the power of organisation, and is
conspicuously deficient in the management and control alike of men or business. He loves
the display of power, but fails to realize its responsibility ... Perhaps, the two traits which
have impressed me as those most characteristic of the African native are his lack of
apprehension and his lack of ability to visualise the future‖
What can be further from the truth?
True, Nigeria has a chequered history, but which country hasn't?

5. In the early 1800s, two major developments occurred that had a major influence on the
region that would become Nigeria. Between 1804 and 1808, an Islamic holy war established
the Sokoto Caliphate. Over time, this new governmental body spread the rule of Islam in the
region and created one of Africa's largest empires.
Around this time, Britain, as the largest global colonial power in the world, enforced the ban
on slave trade, promoting 'legitimate' trade. It also established an active presence in West
Africa -a major source of slaves. Britain quickly increased its domination of the Lower Niger
Basin to protect its mercantile interests and rebuff the threats of other European powers
with interest in establishing colonies in the area.
To consolidate its hold, the British established the Northern and Southern protectorates in
1901. Fredrick Lugard as High Commissioner (until 1906) and Governor General (from 19121918) was tasked with transforming Britain's commercial sphere of influence into a viable
British Colony. He moved the territory towards this objective by forcibly and diplomatically
subjugating local leaders to Britain's authority and governing through them.
In forcing them into a union, none of the many ethnic groups in Nigeria was consulted – this
may be at the root of constant agitations for a Sovereign National Conference. However, to
lessen religious turmoil, Christian missionaries, who were the providers of western
education, were discouraged from trying to convert the Muslim North to Christianity. As a
consequence, almost all of Nigeria's western style schools were built in the south and
southerners dominated business both in the North and South. By contrast, northerners
mainly staffed the army.
In a way, Nigeria is politically an imperfect union – because the component parts have not
been able to negotiate the terms of co-habitation. This is perhaps why one must shudder

6. atNigeria’s hard-headed realism – we were born imperfect; so we must erase that mistake
–
that has sired sectarian violence, prebendal politics, terrorism, destruction, corruption,
ethnicity, and religious bigotry.
Therefore Nigeria needs its dreamers – dreamers of a certain quality: nation-builders
willing to see Nigeria beyond its chequered history, willing to put national aspirations
abovepersonal, religious or tribal interests; men and women who will respond to yearnings
of thecitizenry for a platform to make a mark in the world. Nigeria needs leaders and
compatriots who believe in the myth of Nigeria’s specialness, if for nothing else, by virtue of
Nigeria being the biggest black nation on earth.
This yearning has been demonstrated in many ways by my compatriots. Nigeria established
the first television station in Africa; produced Africa's very first Nobel laureate and Africa's
richest man from humble environments. Arik is currently the fastest growing commercial
airline in the world. Rag-tag film producers, directors and half-baked actors and actresses,
have taken on the world with their cheap brand of low-budget films and created an
international brand called Nollywood. Nigeria LNG Limited rose from the ashes of 30 years of
local and international politics to become a world beater, in the process earning for the
country $25bln from $2.5bln investment and helping to put out 40% of gas flaring.
Also take the story of a Nigerian Jason Chukwuma Njoku, 33, a jobless graduate who started
a business (iROKO) in his bedroom in London with money loaned from a friend, and has
become the most talked about internet business in Africa in less than three years with over
5,000 collection of African content films online . He has high profile mentions in Forbes,
Financial Times, CNN and Wall Street Journal. iROKO has been able to raise $21million in two
years of doing business, and its library content is dubbed the Netflix of African movies
reaching 178 countries with over one million visitors a month.

7. Nigerians are eager, restless, and impatient to take hold of history and change its course;
defiance and resilience are the hallmarks of their history. The can-do spirit is the lifeblood
of all our progress. It is the reason why Nigeria is one of the very few countries that
successfully moved from a painful civil war into a ―no-victor-no-vanquished‖ space. Indeed,
Nigeria with its can-do spirit and specialness is waiting for the right environment to flower.
Resources, Potentials and More
The good news is that Nigeria has abundant resources in natural minerals (top seven
reserves in the world - 36bboe oil reserves, 187tcf proven gas, 600tcf unproven gas, etc),
huge 84million hectares arable land suitable for agriculture (only 40% in use), excellent
weather, a huge population (young and vibrant - 120million+ below 30 years) projected to
become 3rd largest in the world by 2055 after India and China. Its economic fundamentals
are strong as evidenced by the ratings of Fitch, Standard & Poor’s and Moody.
The potential is also further evidenced by the following:
2013 GDP Growth at 6.87% (CBN)
IMF forecast of 7.4% by 2014 – additional 2-3% potential when electricity resolved.
Return of Foreign Investment of 36% versus 6.6% global average
Sectors like telecommunication have been growing by 30% annually.
Cement production grew from 2m tons in 2000 to 28m today, 39m target by 2015.
Non-Oil Sector grew by 7.9 per cent in 2012 and 7.6 per cent in the first half of 2013
Single Digit Inflation (About 9%)

8. Power (electricity) key to growth– Average watt per person is 12 versus 450 in South
Africa, 1,400 in US.
Indeed, the smart money has been on Nigeria's rise as world's super power. But for utterly
self-inflicted, avoidable circumstances, economists believed that Nigeria (and may be South
Africa) would have been part of the BRIC union. That desire was often expressed in such
acronyms as BRINC (Brazil, Russia, India, Nigeria & China), BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China
& South Africa) or BRINCS (Brazil, Russia, India, Nigeria, China & South Africa).
Unable to make that league, Nigeria seems to have seized the limelight as a leading member
of Goldman Sachs' Next Eleven, the countries expected to be the next economic power
houses. The economic team of Price WaterhouseCoopers recently suggested that Nigeriahas
the potential to be the fastest growing economy in the world
Nigeria has also been named as part of the MINT economies, a term coined by the British
economist Jim O'Neil who coined BRIC. These countries - Mexico, Indonesia, Nigeria and
Turkey are said to be the next big economic giants
The report stated that with a projected GDP of nearly US$4 trillion by 2050 and an annual
average real GDP growth rate of around six per cent, as well as a youthful and growing
working population, Nigeria should rank 13th among the world’s largest economies by 2050.
The report’s projections rely on Nigeria using its oil wealth to develop a broader-based
economy with better infrastructure and institutions which will support long term
productivity growth.
PwC’s Chief Economist John Hawksworth, a co-author of the report, said: ―The shift in the
global economic centre of gravity is clear. The E7 could overtake the G7 before 2020, and by
2050 China, the US and India could be by far the largest economies – with a big gap to
Brazilin fourth place, ahead of Japan.

9. By the same time, Russia, Mexico and Indonesia could be bigger than Germany or the UK;
Turkey could overtake Italy; and Nigeria could rise up the league table, as could Vietnam and
South Africa in the longer term. There are huge opportunities for Western companies in the
emerging markets – but also great competitive challenges from fast-growing emerging
market companies."
Let The Giant Rise
With a litany of woes, of betrayed hopes as the world's largest black nation, as a regional
super power, whose rise would lift the Sub-Saharan region, the question on everyone's lips
is "will Nigeria, once proudly revered as The Giant of Africa, make it this time?"
My answer is a resounding YES.
To clarify my answer, I will like to align with the four factors expounded by Paul Collier, the
director of the Centre for the Study of African Economies at the University of Oxford in
England and author of The Bottom Billion (Oxford, 2007), that will be responsible for the rise
of emerging market nations: - stability, favourable world policies, profits and opportunity.
Permit me to add to the list, Education.In addition, Nigeria must also overcome such
enervating issues as: Infrastructure void, Diversification of the economy, Oil Sector Reform
(and passage of PIB), Oil Thefts, Security, Global Competitiveness Index DropsIndeed,
Nigeria’s rise will depend on how its fundamental challenges are resolved. It will also require
visionary leaders who can execute Transformational Agenda, men and women, who like the
biblical Joshua, will take Nigeria to the promised land - dreamers, of a certain kind.

10. Stability: The periods of catastrophic government action that slowed growth in past
decades in Africa have become less frequent. The failures in Ghana, Uganda, Tanzania, and
Nigeria in the 1970s and 1980s were profound learning experiences for these countries,
which have joined the list of today’s success stories. Nigeria, for instance, had paid off its
external debts, enacted prudent fiscal rules, and cleaned up its banking system. It has now
had democratic government for 15 years and maturing, for example, it iscurrently
witnessing growing opposition party, although clear party ideologies are yet to fully emerge.
Policy:In 2013 the government unveiled the Nigeria Industrial Revolution Plan (NIRP) with
atwo-fold objective: to increase industry’s contribution to GDP and to create a competitive
advantage for the country. It is the nation’s first strategic, comprehensive, and integrated
roadmap to industrialisation. The plan focuses on developing sectors, where Nigeria has a
natural comparative advantage, and creating an enabling environment through reducing the
barriers to development.
The first phase of NIRP focused on six sub-sectors within the priority areas - palm oil,
textiles, basic metals, automotive, base petrochemicals/plastics and rubber. Great strides
were also made in policies towards manufacturing sector with approval of zero per cent
duty on importation of equipment, machinery and spares for agricultural products and sugar
production to encourage retooling and diversification. The government granted 30 per cent
tax relief to companies that incur expenditure on infrastructure or facilities of a public
nature such as power, roads and bridges, water, health education and sporting facilities.
On automobile, Nigeria’s historical levels of producing 70,000 vehicles in 1980s, had
declinedto less than 2,000 per year, despite the large population and latent demand. The

11. NIRP fiscal policy actions hiked tariffs on imported vehicles by 70% which has caught
attention of global motor manufacturers since$3.451 billion worth of cars were sold in
Nigeria last year.
Local auto manufacturing Companies like Innoson Limited are teaming with Chinese
companies to produce mini and midi buses, pick-up vans and sports utility vehicles (SUVs) in
Nnewi, Anambra State..Stallion Motors has struck partnership with NISSAN and Renault for
local production of cars. Indian motor companies (TATA and TVS) plan to set up plants in
Nigeria. Toyota, Volkswagen, Honda, and Kia are conducting feasibility studies. These have
the potentials to create up to 1 million direct and indirect jobs in the sector.
Profits: The study of 2002–2007 financial data from Africa-based publicly traded companies
for which data were available (a total of 954, mostly in manufacturing and services) shows
that many of these firms are highly profitable. In part, because of low labour costs and gains
in operational efficiency, the average annual return on capital of the companies studied was
65% to 70% higher than that of comparable firms in China, India, Indonesia, and Vietnam.
Median profit margin was 11% –better than comparable figures for Asia and South America.
Coming home, Nigeria's biggest listed company, Dangote Cement made a pre-tax profit
ofN143 billion naira ($910 million) in 2012 on strong local demand, compared to 118 billion
naira in 2011. "Nigeria has a low per capita consumption ... so we believe there is a huge pent
up demand in Nigeria ... which will drive growth," Chief Executive Officer, Devakumar Edwin
said.
Today, filmmaking employs a million people in Nigeria, with sales $2-300m a year. Nollywood
is the world's third largest producer of films behind Hollywood and Bollywood,a phenomenon
made possible by two main ingredients: Nigerian entrepreneurship and digital technology.
Opportunity:The market for telecom in Nigeria expanded to over 125 million subscribers
in2013 and is projected to reach 150 million by 2016. To date one of the providers, MTN, has

12. invested over $4 billion in the Nigerian economy and has paid more than $1.8 billion in
various levies and duties to the government.
Nigeria is also looking to grow its power generating capacity from 6,000 MW to 20,000
MWby 2020 with the Nigerian government actively attracting greater private sector
investment
and interest in its power sector. In addition to over $3billion realised from the privatisation
of the generating and distribution aspects of power, African Development Bank (AfDB)
approved about $190mto encourage private investments into Nigerian power sector and to
enhance capacity building to meet the country's 40,000 MW target by 2030.
Nigeria has also become a booming market for private jets. Nigeria spent $6.5bn (N1.02tn) in
the last five years on private jets. The number of jet grew from 20 in 2007 to over 150 in
2012. Nigeria and China are the two fastest growing private jet markets in the world.
Education: All the predictions on the rise of Nigeria will come true if and when Nigeria takes
firm steps to fix its educational system. The results of the Senior School Certificate (WAEC)
show the depth of the problem with the downward trend in pass rates - 2005 (27.53%),
2006 (15.56%), 2007 (25.54%), 2008 (13.76%), and 2009 (25.99%). None of the Nigerian
universities is ranked amongst the 500 best universities in the world; neither is their
ranking amongst African universities impressive. It has only few vocational colleges of any
quality. Nigeria needs to urgently do something about the poor quality of education right now
in the country, both for white collar (primary, secondary and universities) as well as blue
collar (polytechnics, technical, trade, etc.) to be able to achieve its potentials.
Path to unlocking Nigeria’s economy

13. Years have passed since investors updated their view of Africa’s promise. The time is
ripefor multinationals to rethink sub-Saharan opportunities and simultaneously to help the
region achieve its promise by contributing much-needed capital, business skills, and global
connections. Sub-Saharan Africa is in many ways the last great frontier. The region has
piqued executives’ interest, as it benefits from improving business conditions, demand for
infrastructure projects, and a strong demographic profile. Nigeria is especially
attractive,as it is poised to overtake South Africa as the largest African economy. Already,
multinationals are reacting to South Africa’s stagnant growth by looking to the hottest
frontier markets globally – Nigeria and, to a lesser extent, Angola.
In their inimitable book, Winning in Emerging Markets: A Road Map for Strategy and Execution
Tarun Khanna and Krishna Palepu argued that there is more to sizing up these markets than
just evaluating data points related to size, population, and growth potential. In fact, the
possibility to expand a company’s progress in developing economies is to first assess the
area’s lack of institutional infrastructure—and then to formulate strategies around what the
authors call ―institutional voids‖ to the firm’s advantage.
The primary exploitable characteristic of an emerging market are institutional voids (weak
institution, difficulties in enforcing contracts, politics and other extra-business concerns
getting in the way of business) and though they create challenges, they also provide major
opportunity both for multinationals and local contenders.
The rise of politically savvy businesses capable of extracting value from opaque business
environments contributed to the Asian miracle. Nigeria is currently at that stage. Besides
conglomerates like NLNG, politically savvy businesses can help bring about a new business
culture and growth. This can be seen in – Aliko Dangote (leveraging politics to move from
trading to manufacturing) Tony Elumelu (leveraging politics to move from banking to Power);
OandO (politically savvy businessmen), Johnson Arumene (leveraging politics to grow the
fastest growing airline in the world - Arik), etc, all breaking new grounds daily.

14. Power reforms and privatisation are key in unlocking the potential and makinglocal
businesses work and bemore competitive (currently 40%+ cost is in self-power generation
that is several times the cost ofwhat public power company can deliver) and as such when
resolved will enable manufacturing competitiveness against the huge foreign goods’ inflow
($60bnin 2010, $34bn in 2011) and enable export to African countries and beyond. Its
immediate impact would be felt in ECOWAS sub-region where Nigeria would help to meet the
aspirations of the founding fathers for a powerful, united block like the European Union.
PHCN successor companies are now gradually being established, although they are still a
mixed bag of businessmen and politicians or businessmen with political connections, those
with good vision and culture will survive; those without will die off, remain stagnant or will be
bought over.
On Agriculture for example, a Central Bank of Nigeria report showed that Nigerian spent
$4bn importing agriculture products in 2011 -$1bn on wheat, $0.7bn on fish (consumes
2.66mln but produces only 700,000 tons), $0.5bn on rice and $0.4bn on sugar, etc.The
challenge, according to Dr. Judith Rodin of Rockefeller Foundation, is that the country has
not embraced agriculture as a business. Nigeria, she said has the capacity to be the
agricultural hub of Africa and the continent’s leader in food production.

15. Agriculture has huge employment potentials (23% unemployment in Nigeria and 60% of
population below 30years) not just in farms, but in processing/conversion and
distribution/sales. With huge land mass, good weather (sun, rain, etc), relatively cheap
labour, etc, this is a huge opportunity area. Olam Ltd, a Kewalram Company established in
1989 grew from cashew trading to exporting primary products and has today become a
global firm with annual revenue of $14bln, an example of the enormous possibilities in
Nigeria's agricultural sector.
The prediction is that politically savvy businesses will grow and impact the economy like
their counterparts in Asia such as Korean chaebol (whose 10 top conglomerates contribute
53.4% to GDP), Tatainfluenced India (5.5% of GDP) or the Japanese keiretsu have been
instrumental in the shift from commodities to higher-value manufacturing. Samsung started
off as a trading company, evolved to textiles and food processing, and then on to high-value
manufacturing. Today, their business spans electronics, shipbuilding and aerospace, among
many other industries. Samsung alone is responsible for 20% of Korea’s GDP.
Similarly, success of well-structured conglomerates and savvy businesses will draw others
into the mix and create a platform for rapid industrialisation. Their growth will have a
majorpull on the economy and influence the culture of business in the same manner as their
counterparts in Asia.
A TIME magazine article recently highlights China manufacturing everything but unable to
invent anything. The article concluded that China will need to develop a threshold of the
culture to query the existing set-up in order to begin to unlock the mental potential of its
people. Yet, in their challenged position, China has grossly outdone India (another waking
giant) and many others. For Nigeria, a country endowed by nature, it needs to demonstrate a
capacity to engage in organizational critical thinking so as to move the country beyond
where it is; the country is in need of dreamers, of a certain kind.

16. From Oasis To Critical Mass
Sectors where politically savvy businessmen have gained foothold in Nigeria include -Cement, Telecoms, Power, Oil & Gas (NLNG/OANDO), etc. One way multinationals can tap into
the boom and rapid business growth in Nigeria is through partnership with locals with
strong appropriate connections. It is tricky, even risky, when the partnership is not well-
structured. But this is a fact of business. Many countries and academics have spent fortunes
and countless hours studying the Chinese business environment because of the promise of
huge returns. I count this lecture as one of such measures towards understanding Nigeria's
business environment.
It is worth mentioning, however, that Nigeria never had many conglomerates. Big business,
like politics is new and just beginning to take root. So, business culture and international
business conventions are somewhat new. Only those with the mind-set of pioneers can
navigate this terrain successfully; indeed success will go to those who can work with
institutional voids which include complex web of entrenched political interests. In addition to
sustaining its on-going reforms, the government must seriously think of how to smoothen
the path of business.It must help to keep politics out of business. Too much politics (and
instability) in 1970s and 1980s was responsible for Nigeria's paltry economic progress and
inability to attain the BRINC projections. The annual GDP growth averaged approximately
2.25 per cent from 1992 to 2002 with population growing at 2.8 per cent per year; this
meant that Nigeria's GDP per capita and living standards for most Nigerians declined.
Nigeria's GDP however grew from 2003 to 2007 by six per cent, especially in the non-oil
sector.

17. As unfettered business is a driving engine of growth, pro-business institutions in Nigeria
including Chambers of Commerce, Economic Summit Group, etc must work with relevant
committees of the National and state assemblies to ensure pro-business legislations and
drive the implementation of same so as to meet the nation's aspiration of being amongst the
world's super economic powers.
Although oil accounts for over 78 per cent of Nigeria's revenue and 95 per cent of its
foreign exchange earnings, however the culture of oil industry has not impacted on the
country's corporate, industrial and political culture. The rise of business will introduce,
embed and broaden the corporate culture and bring prosperity. This will be brought about by
pioneers, who if they succeed, will attract others and grow until the number reaches a
critical mass that will influence the way business and also government is conducted in
Nigeria.
The banking sector which grew from an all comers business until sanitised into strong banks
(89 - 25 banks initially) with strong governance rules in place is a good example of what is
possible when this takes root. The reformed banking sector attracted over $6 billion foreign
investments in the first six month where for example Helios Investment, a London based
private equity firm led investors to acquire 16 per cent of First City Merchant Bank (FCMB);
GuarantyTrust Bank floated $300mln Eurobond which was oversubscribed by $271 million.
The telecommunications sector is another sector similarly attracting over $1 billion foreign
investments yearly and putting strong governance rules in place.
However this is one area where more academic research work is to be done on how to best
operate in difficult developing countries (Nigeria, etc), where political interests remain
prevalent and are at odds, sometimes with western cultures and ways of working. Whilst
issues like corruption and opaqueness must never be tolerated, it is important to ensure
that the good aspects of the local cultures are also not relegated.

18. On the whole, Nigeria, for those who are genuinely interested, is not the black box academics
and international business take it to be; it is an emerging market -- in the mould of China -one with strong possibility of becoming an economic power house. Nigeria with its
hugemarket (168 million), its natural resources (including mining, oil and gas), its huge
foreign remittances (estimated at $127 billion in 2013) and on-going reforms is the place to
come.
And, take it from me; there is no better time than now to invest in Nigeria. Never mind that it
is still a country at the crossroads, with infrastructure void, grappling with leadership
problems. The Cadbury’s, Unilevers, Nestles, Patterson Zochonis, Chevrons, Shells, Mobils,
had always known that Nigeria is good for business. You only need to know how to navigate
the maze and labyrinths. Perhaps, soon, the Nigerian will be able to hold his head high and
say, this truly is a special country. This is a country with return on foreign investment
exceeding 36% as against a global average of 6.6%.
Nigeria is the place from where my company has earned $80bln since inception, $30billion
of which was in the last three years. A company that has helped convert over 4 trillion cubic
feet of gas that was hitherto being flared into wealth for the nation. A Company that has
consistently achieved 97% plant reliability,despite operating in such a difficult environment
A Company that was the world’s fastest growing plant during its construction, and is now the
4th largest LNG plant in the world. A Company responsible for 4-5% of Nigeria GDP and one
with 100% Nigerian management team
Without any doubt I can tell you that it is possible.
Thank you, for your time and patience
Babs Omotowa

19. MD/CEO, Nigeria LNG Limited
REFRENCES:
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Lyn Denend, case study for Stanford Graduate Business School, 2010, published by
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Khanna(Author),Krishna G. Palepu, Harvard Business Review Press
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Professor Catherine S.M. Duggan prepared this case with the support of Research
Associate Jonathan Schlefer, August 14, 2009.
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Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada, for Harvard Business Review.
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that the government wants to get involved. The Economist magazine July 27th
2006

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the ICAN Conference, 9 October 2013, Nigeria.
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Aviation News in Nigeria, Tuesday, January 07, 2014
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ONUBA AND OLALEKAN ADETAYO The Punch Newspaper, AUGUST 15, 2012
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Nigerian Mirror, Mar 13, 2013
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