Press Releases

Chissano Stresses Good Governance As Condition For Investment In Africa
• As Fashola urges reversal of capital flight from Africa

Apr 21, 2010 - Former President of Mozambique, Mr. Joaquim Chissano on Wednesday in Lagos stressed the need for African leaders to work towards establishing good governance in the Continent saying it is the only condition for attracting foreign investment into their countries.

President Chissano, who spoke at the City Hall, Lagos venue of the Ehingbeti 2010 Gala Dinner organized by the State Government in honour of Guests to the State’s 2010 Economic Summit, noted that attracting investment has always been on the agenda of every African country, but lamented that not many countries in the Continent have been able to fulfill the necessary conditions.

In his Dinner lecture, titled “Linkages between Good Governance and Investment”, the former President said, “The internal dynamics for attracting investment is mostly driven by the desire to develop the country. Indeed, the fundamental consideration at the internal level is essentially the relationship between investment and development. These countries are fully aware that without investment, no development will ever take place”.

The Guest Speaker, who is the first winner of the Mo Ibrahim African Leadership Prize, related his experience in governance as President of Mozambique when he had to rebuild a nation which was ravaged by over a decade’s civil war, lamenting, however, that “while investors are looking for countries with sound macro-economic management to invest in, most African countries are grappling with efforts to facilitate and ensure political stability which is one of the core conditions for investment”.

He said the approach of Mozambique to attracting foreign investment has been anchored on overall efforts to ensure political stability and create a strong macro-economic and regulatory framework for development adding that these should not be seen as “magic wand”.

Underscoring the imperatives of good governance as basis for creating the conditions for investment, the former President, however, declared, “Good governance is an ideal that is too difficult to achieve in its entirety. But it is not impossible. Very few countries have come close to achieving good governance in their locality. But to ensure sustainable development and attract investment, efforts must be deployed to ensure that good governance becomes a reality”.

President Chissano expressed joy that “most African countries, including Nigeria, are working very hard to create conditions to attract investment” which, according to him, “include the establishment and maintenance of political stability, sound macro-economic management and performance, liberal and institutional framework including the establishment of one stop investment promotion agencies”.

Noting that the Economic Summit will help Lagos State “to position itself in the ever increasingly competitive global economy to attract investment and address the needs of its people”, the former President declared, “I suggest that Lagos should share its experiences with other African cities so that Africa can move together in the quest for poverty eradication towards an effective economic integration”.

In his remarks later, Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola (SAN), called for a reversal of the huge capital flight from Africa to parts of Europe saying for Africa to attract foreign investment, her people must begin to return all the investible capitals that have been taken out of the Continent to other economies across the world.

Governor Fashola said the time has come for the huge capitals which, according to him, are enriching other economies, to begin to come home.

He declared, “We cannot look for investment if we cannot put our money where our mouth is. We must lead the investment drive; we must lead the rebuilding process; we must lead the process of recovering our planet and harnessing all of her enormous potentials to free our people from poverty”.

The Governor, who said investment drive is not all about looking for investment outside the Nigerian Economy or the African Continent, said, “It is a lot of unrewarding capital owned by Africans making unrewarding returns to most parts of Europe and America”, adding, “This is the time for all that capital to begin to come back home”.

Commenting on the paper presented by the former President of Mozambique on the economic and democratic progress of his country, the Governor said the important lesson to be taken away from the Mozambican experience is the dire need for electoral reform in Africa.

“Electoral reform stands at the pivot of the message I take away from His Excellency’s speech. It stands at the pivot of our political stability as a basis for liberating our people from poverty”, the Governor said.

According to him, “It is not just enough to go through the cycle of elections every four years; it must be a cycle in which our people believe that their efforts at the polls will reflect their decisions. Truly, these are seemingly basic things, but if every vote counts, not just in Nigeria but across the whole of the African Continent, only then can we begin to strike decisive blows on poverty that ravages the Continent”.

Governor Fashola thanked the former Mozambican President for accepting the invitation to the Economic Summit and to come and share what he described as, “a very rich and remarkable experience in building a nation, an African nation, from nothing to anything”.

“I can only attempt to relate to what you went through; no judiciary, no police, no economy. Really, it must have been an uphill task, but I think you have come out a worthy and shining example that the African cause is not a lost cause. Your story brings a lot of hope, a message of hope to us that if countries like Mozambique and Angola can come out of war and begin a rebuilding process, nothing is impossible on the Continent and, really, the Nigerian cause is not a lost cause”, he said.

Also present at the well attended Dinner at the City Hall Lagos were the Deputy Governor, Princess Sarah Adebisi Sosan, Chairman, House Committee on Appropriation, Hon. Kolapo Oshusanya, who represented the Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Adeyemi Ikuforiji, the Commissioner for Economic Planning and Budget, Mr. Ben Akabueze, his Information and Strategy counterpart, Barrister Opeyemi Bamidele, other members of the State Executive Council and Legislature, both local and foreign participants at the Summit, members of the Diplomatic Corps and top government functionaries. The Summit ended on Thursday.