I\u2019m delighted to be here today to join in welcoming the Honourable<\/li>\n<\/ol>\nPenny Pritzker, the U.S. Secretary for Commerce, for what is a very special, perhaps<\/p>\n
even historic visit to Nigeria, also known as Africa\u2019s largest economy.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
There is clear evidence that Nigeria has a strong relationship with the United<\/p>\n
States of America:<\/p>\n
* America buys more of our oil than any other country;<\/p>\n
* Many of our citizens have pursued higher education and professional careers in the<\/p>\n
U.S.;<\/p>\n
* We\u2019ve collaborated on numerous peacekeeping initiatives;<\/p>\n
* We have a U.S.-Nigeria Bi-National Commission;<\/p>\n
* Even as we speak, the U.S. military is lending us their expertise to help recover<\/p>\n
our precious daughters from the hands of violent outlaws.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
We\u2019ve also been visited in the past few years by various Secretaries of State and<\/p>\n
Members of Congress.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
And when such senior officials visit us, it says \u201cYour country is important to us\u201d<\/p>\n
and \u201cYou are our friend.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
However, when the U.S. Secretary for Commerce comes to visit, it says \u201cWe see<\/p>\n
economic opportunities in Nigeria\u201d and \u201cWe want to do business with you.\u201d So I am<\/p>\n
especially pleased that Secretary Pritzker is here with us.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A native of Chicago, Illinois, prior to being sworn-in as Secretary of Commerce, the<\/p>\n
Honourable Penny Pritzker had distinguished herself as a business leader in her own<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
As an entrepreneur myself, I am particularly happy to learn that we have similar<\/p>\n
business interests. In her business career, the Secretary has been involved in the<\/p>\n
financial services, real estate and hospitality industries.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
She\u2019s also served on the U.S. president\u2019s council to increase U.S. jobs and<\/p>\n
competitiveness, as I\u2019m doing with the National Competitiveness Council here in<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The key take away for all of us here, is NOT how much Tony Elumelu and Penny<\/p>\n
Prtizker have in common, but how much U.S. and Nigerian businesses have in common.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
We\u2019re already doing some business together. And while the Nigerian people are proud<\/p>\n
that our oil is helping to power the biggest economies in the world, we are about so<\/p>\n
much more than our oil resources.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
We are about agriculture; telecoms; real estate and hospitality; entertainment;<\/p>\n
banking and financial services and much much more.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The era of brain drain is coming to an end in Nigeria.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Every day Nigerian diasporans are returning home because they recognize their home<\/p>\n
country to be a place of opportunity.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Everyday new businesses are cropping up and others are evolving to adopt the high<\/p>\n
standards of corporate governance well-established in the US, and other developed<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
And every day we are increasing our awareness that the Nigerian and African<\/p>\n
private-sector has a vital role to play in our continent\u2019s development. I call this<\/p>\n
Africaptalism. And we are making real progress.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Our government has been focused on sectoral reforms, rebuilding our regulatory<\/p>\n
capacity and institutions, and investing in key sectors that drive the economy. The<\/p>\n
Nigerian private sector has similarly responded to these sectoral reforms and public<\/p>\n
investments with massive investments in the power, agriculture and financial services.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Next we will tackle the manufacturing sector, which at just 5% of the national<\/p>\n
economy has a lot of room to grow.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
We need investors and partners and technical expertise to develop our supply chains,<\/p>\n
infrastructure and workforce skills.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
And American firms and entrepreneurs can help us accomplish this and gain<\/p>\n
significant value for themselves.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
This is why this visit is not only important, but also strategic at this time.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
And it\u2019s why I want to urge our business visitors, accompanying Secretary Pritzker,<\/p>\n
not to be deterred by negative press reports.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
We in tend to march on towards prosperity.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
And together, we can grow Nigeria\u2019s economy while helping U.S. economic recovery.<\/p>\n
And growing Nigeria\u2019s economy is what will reduce poverty and create jobs, and drive<\/p>\n
out extremists from our society intent on disrupting peace and stability, and the<\/p>\n
new Nigerian, and African, story of economic prosperity.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I\u2019ll finish by saying, Secretary Pritzker thank you for your faith and friendship.<\/p>\n
More importantly, thank you for your business acumen and for betting on Nigeria,<\/p>\n
especially at this time. You should always bet on Nigeria.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I know we are all looking forward to hearing your ideas for increasing US- Nigeria<\/p>\n
commercial ties. So the floor is yours.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
OPINION: US-Nigeria Bi National Relationship! Tony Elumelu Hosts US Sec of Commerce in Lagos\u2026Echoes \u2018Our Govt focused on sectoral reforms, rebuilding regulatory\u00a0capacity\/ institutions & investing in key sectors that drive the economy\u2019 *Pleads: \u201cI want to urge our business visitors, accompanying Secretary Pritzker not to be deterred by negative press reports regarding Nigeria\u201d \u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1481,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[110],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1480","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nigeriastandardnewspaper.com\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1480","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nigeriastandardnewspaper.com\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nigeriastandardnewspaper.com\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nigeriastandardnewspaper.com\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nigeriastandardnewspaper.com\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1480"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nigeriastandardnewspaper.com\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1480\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nigeriastandardnewspaper.com\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1481"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nigeriastandardnewspaper.com\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1480"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nigeriastandardnewspaper.com\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1480"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nigeriastandardnewspaper.com\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1480"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Tony](\"https:\/\/nigeriastandardnewspaper.com\/a\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/Tony-Elumelu-1.jpg\")
<\/a>BY TONY ELUMELU\/Chairman, Heirs Holdings<\/strong><\/p>\n