Posted by From Josephine Lohor in Mexico on
President Olusegun Obasanjo yesterday took his investment drive to Mexico City when he met with the Mexican business community to discuss how Mexican entrepreneurs could tap into areas like solid minerals security, tourism, information communication technology (ICT), rural construction, oil and gas, and road construction in Nigeria.
President Olusegun Obasanjo yesterday took his investment drive to Mexico City when he met with the Mexican business community to discuss how Mexican entrepreneurs could tap into areas like solid minerals security, tourism, information communication technology (ICT), rural construction, oil and gas, and road construction in Nigeria.
The breakfast meeting which held at the Marriot Hotel was also attended by the Governors of Bauchi State, Alhaji Adamu Muazu, and Jigawa State Saminu Turaki, Nigeria's Ambassador to Mexico, Iyorwuese Hagher, Minister of Commerce Alhaji Adamu Waziri and several other senior government officials.
On the Mexico side were Valentin Diez Morordo, President of COMCE, Dra Irma Gomez Cavazos, Head of the Economic Relations and International Cooperation from the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs, among others.
During the meeting, Obasanjo who said that Nigeria wanted to learn from Mexico on how it was able to move from developing country to being a member of the North Atlantic Free Trade Association, NAFTA and member of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, OECD, also urged Mexico to like the United States of America, Canada and other countries, invest in Nigeria.
'I do know that Mexico is a member of North Atlantic Free Trade Association (NAFTA), now you are a member of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, (OECD). We want to know how you left developing nation to being a member of the OECD. What is the miracle, we want to learn from you? If the United States and Canada are exploring investment situations in Nigeria, there is no reason why Mexico should not be looking in our direction", he said.
The President also invited the Mexican businessmen to come to Nigeria to 'see the market, feel the market and just come in a big way", adding that the matter of security should be the concern of all countries of the world because, 'even in settled democracies, security was an issue, otherwise what happened in Britain in July wouldn't have happened and 911 wouldn't have happened also".
Meanwhile, Obasanjo has said the revenue accuring from the rise in oil prices which would not be a permanent thing should be used judiciously to affect the lives of the people.
The President, said this when he visited the President of the Senate of Mexico, Senator Enrique Jackson.
'Mexico and Nigeria have resources that are non-replenishable. Oil and gas are wasting assets. They cannot be replaced. I believe that we should use them to create what will be renewable. This is by physical development which includes infrastructure and human development like education, health and agriculture. Skill and experience will then be acquired and people would be able to do things on their own", he added.
President Obasanjo advised that while the high oil price lasts, we should make sure that the extra fund is judiciously utilized. In Nigeria it is being utilized for power and energy".
He added that the 'The present situation of oil price in the international market is an aberration. It cant just be sustained and continued. We should ensure that the extra fund generated is judiciously utilized", he told the lawmakers who sought his opinion on wide ranging issues which include the place of women in government and the society at large.
President Obasanjo had while emphasizing that there was no discrimination in the salaries of men and women in Nigeria, however, said his administration has been able to achieve great success by increasing the number of women in positions of authority.
He said 'we have achieved some success but the key area in the equality between men and women is the education of the girl child. We must ensure that girls are educated like boys. The Universal Basic Education, UBE, encourages this. I now have about 30 per cent women in my cabinet and that is deliberate.
It took us a long time to get a woman as judge of the Supreme Court but we did it".
Earlier on Sunday Obasanjo said indications that Nigeria was emerging as a prosperous nation attest to the fact the reforms of his administration were indeed on course.
The President said this during a meeting with leaders of Nigerian community in Mexico. He however admitted that the problem of the Nigeria Electric Power Authority (NEPA) when he assumed office in 1999 was greatly underestimated, saying 'in the past six years we've been trying to correct, ameliorate, improve and change the conditions that we met in 1999. But now we are on top of the problem of NEPA".
The President who emphasized that the Federal Government was very serious about the reform programmes it has embarked upon, said the reforms were'meant to correct, change, alter and transform oursociety politically, and socially, " he however said this must gowith pains.