Posted by Kelvin Egerue on
MORE than a dozen multinational corporations hitherto based in South Africa are at the point of investing in Nigeria and opening their business in Nigeria.
MORE than a dozen multinational corporations hitherto based in South Africa are at the point of investing in Nigeria and opening their business in Nigeria.
The newly appointed managing director and chief executive officer of AIICO Insurance Plc, Mr. Jon Quirk who made the remark recently in Lagos also urged support for President Olusegun Obasanjo's economic reforms arguing that it would require a high degree of stability in policy directions for the country to enjoy the confidence of foreign investors.
But the AIICO Insurance boss who came into Nigeria after 10 years stay in South Africa stressed the need for a sustained effort at stabilising the nation's financial sector, a zone he described as the hub of the country's re-engineering strategies.
Although Mr. Quirk had acknowledged the capability of the on-going banking reforms to reduce the numerical strength of banks operating in the country, he had contended that the desire should be geared at building stronger and more solvent financial houses.
"This is the dividend of confidence and certainly in the financial services sector, and our president's anti-corruption efforts must be seen in this context aimed at achieving this same dividend that enhances our country's overall wealth, and which we all should be striving for", Mr. Quirk stated.
Urging the Nigerian state to seek more of what he described as virtuous cycle of growth, the new chief executive officer of AIICO Insurance Plc argued that the only road map to economic development is through confidence in the financial integrity of both the country as a whole and its financial institutions.
"It is common knowledge that Africa as a whole has gone back wards as compared to the rest of the world over the past 40 years. We have all read about various initiatives aimed at reversing this slide and eradicating poverty by the year 2015," he added.
Mr. Jon Quirk who assumed leadership of AIICO Insurance Plc following the death of Mr. Francis Hargety, spoke at an interactive session with newsmen in Lagos on Thursday.
An economics graduate of Liverpool University, Mr. Quirk said that his mission at AIICO is to raise the company to the status of the best and biggest insurance establishment in Nigeria.
He stated that he would be depending heavily on the company's human and material resources in pushing it to the front burner.