Privatising downstream petroleum sub-sector, unlocking natural gas potential, agribusiness and other businesses have been identified as ways forward to attract foreign direct investment (FDI) into the country, according to Dick Kramer, chairman, Capital Alliance.

Achieving this will rightfully place Nigeria in the global top 12 to 15 ranking, Kramer said.

“Our number 1 GDP position in Africa shows we can aspire to be in the top 15 global economies. We have all the vital ingredients, land, water, natural resources, location and, most importantly, people”, he said, while presenting a paper on ‘Making Nigeria a Major Destination for FDI’ at the 2014 Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) investiture in Lagos.

He said the major way to attract FDI is to close all the gaps and earn the right to be in the top 15. Consequently, government needs to get out of business and incentivize the private sector by implementing rules of the game that attract both FDI and local players, he said.

The quantity and quality of FDI will be largely determined by the way Nigeria plans and implements for the long term, he said, adding that specific rules of the game which it follows in practice can attract all the FDI it needs.

Kramer believes that privatisation like the one carried out in the power sector and deregulation of the telecoms sector would be highly attractive to the private sector generally and will attract FDIs specifically. Both FDI and Nigerian private capital would become available and the drain on public finances would stop, he noted.

He was concerned that oil prices are in decline and there is no larger drain on finances than petrol subsidy, including kerosene, saying the benefits of subsidies to the overall economy are minimal.

Furthermore, he said if natural gas was privatised and prices made attractive to private investment, there would be a double benefit, such that power sector privatisation would be enhanced significantly and both local gas based production and exports (including diesel fuel) would be stimulated significantly.