Emir of Kano angry with ministers for missing investment meeting

According to The Cable, the meeting was organised by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The following ministers were supposed to handle sessions at the meeting: Audu Ogbeh, Ogbonnaya Onu, Lai Mohammed, Babatunde Fashola, Ibe Kachikwu, Kemi Adeosun, and Kayode Fayemi.

Also, Godwin Emefiele, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Executive secretary of Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission, Yewande Sadiku and Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo were also absent.

According to Sanusi, who also served as Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), said that Nigeria might lose investments because of carelessness.

He also alleged that the ministers were in Washington DC, but did not attend the meeting.

The Cable also reports that only the Transportation minister, Rotimi Amaechi present at the meeting.

Sanusi said “For the person sitting in London and who has a billion dollars to invest, he’s got Nigeria, he’s got Ghana, he’s got Rwanda, Kenya, South Africa, you may be the biggest economy, but he may decide that rather than go through the hassle of investing $500 million in Nigeria, why not put $100 million in Ghana, $100 million in Rwanda, $100 million in Cote d’Ivore, just to have diversification benefit and the benefit of reaching out.

“We had a meeting today with investors, we were supposed to start by 9am we started at 10. When I came in, they took me to the ambassador’s office to sit down, when investors were waiting down there. We had a list of people who were to be here, vice president, ministers, some of them are in town, but they haven’t come up.

“You invite top investors, your ministers are in Washington and they do not come to talk to the investors about Nigeria. That is not how you attract investors. If you have this forum in the Rwandan embassy, I assure you President Kagame himself would be there telling people to come to Rwanda.”

Meeting started late

Sanusi also expressed displeasure that the investment meeting started an hour late.

The monarch said “Sometimes it is about how we market ourselves, how we package ourselves. There is absolutely no reason for the Nigerian embassy to arrange a Nigeria is open for business forum with ministers in town, with governors in town and not have the coordination that they are actually here to meet with these investors.

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“There is no reason why we should start one hour late, and there is no reason why the public address system should not work. Because at the end of the day, this is the first point of the country, he hasn’t even come to Nigeria so what will be his experience in Abuja and he is saying if I am having this experience in Washington, what will happen when I go to Abuja, when I go to Kano, how do I get to see the governor will it take me 10 hours?”

Slash ministers’ salaries

The former CBN Governor recently called for the salaries of ministers and legislators to be slashed by half.

According to him, “If the salary of each member of the National Assembly was divided into two, it would go a long way to provide more jobs for 70,400 jobless Nigerians at between N90, 000 and N92, 500 monthly salary.”

The Emir also called on public office holders to make sacrifices so that Nigeria can come out of the current economic challenges.