CHAIRMAN, African Business Group, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, has predicted a boom in the national economy in the next half a decade, given the increasing interest of foreign investors to do business in Nigeria.

Against this background, Tukur urged the Federal Government to start setting templates for the expected influx of international investors into the country, most especially in the area of security and conducive business climate for interested investors.

Tukur, a former state governor, said international investors have been considering the option of moving into Nigeria en-masse, in view of the chronic economic recession in most developed economies, even as they felt Nigeria has one of the biggest markets in the world to promote international trade.

He said he had had talks with some of the investors who sought his view about the business climate in Nigeria and had assured them that the country remained one of the safest to do business, notwithstanding the security challenges confronting the country.

“Having toured most parts of the world, having attended business summits in Europe, Asia, America and other places, and having engaged many of the international investors in dialogues, I can say that many of them have been longing to come to Nigeria to do business.

“Nigeria is a big attraction to the foreign investors because of our huge market and natural endowments. Some of them had actually been here to survey the ground, while they went back to make preparations on full return. From indications, Nigeria would emerge Africa’s biggest economy and one of the best in the world in the next five years if we encourage this people to come. “The secret of the progressive growth of economies of some Asian countries lies in their resolve to globalise and allow foreign investors to have footholds in their countries. China is a typical example. Nigeria too can take a cue and set standards for encouraging and accommodating foreign investments in the country,” he said.

He said the success of the Global Satellite for Mobile Telephone (GSM) in Nigeria had excited most of the investors, including the untapped avalanche of natural resources in the country, as he listed the oil and gas, telecommunications, housing and habitat, agriculture, aviation and other key sectors, as areas where foreign investors have been considering to do business in Nigeria.

Tukur, one of the most favoured to cling the chairmanship of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), however advised the Nigerian media to be wary of portraying the country as a crises ridden nation, insisting that most countries in the world have their own crises, the type of which, he said, were even worse than Nigeria’s.

He urged the Federal Government to handle its desire to remove the subsidy on petroleum with scientific method such that Nigerians would see the sense in its efforts, opining that once Nigerians approved of a government policy, they usually support such whole heartedly.

He said the government should not relent in its drive to engage all relevant groups in the country in dialogue over the fuel subsidy issue, noting that dialogue with all segments of the country would make them see the reason behind the desire by the government.