Why foreign investors choose Ghana ahead of Nigeria – Tunde Lemo

A former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Tunde Lemo, has stated why foreign investors would rather go for Ghana as an investment destination over Nigeria.

Lemo, who is also the Chairman of the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA), established that infrastructure decay, insecurity, poor ease of doing business, amongst other factors are the reasons foreign investors opt for Ghana and not Nigeria.

This was disclosed by Lemo, while featuring on a Channel’s Television programme, Business Morning, on Monday.

Lemo said, “Our infrastructure is in decay, it is very seriously impacted negatively. Look at the textile industry for instance. When we had independence, the first 10 years, the Chinese and the Indians came here and set up textile companies.

“At the peak, we had over 170 textile companies but today, all of them have folded up, only six or seven are in operation, albeit marginally.

The reason is because the infrastructure in those climes is much better than what we have now. So, we need to free up resources beyond what government can do, and then harvest all of these and put aggressively into revamping our infrastructure.

 

“Let’s take ease of doing business for instance, we have improved by one or two notches but again are we as competitive as our comparators in Africa? Look at Ghana, Egypt, Kenya, I believe we are still far behind.

 

“Some of the regional economic activities that are happening, you will be surprised that even Ghana is a better destination for foreign investors than Nigeria.