Credit: Gary Raynaldo /   Yemi Osinbajo, Vice President of Federal Republic of  Nigeria speaks at Council on Foreign Relations in New York June 24, 2019

By Gary Raynaldo     DIPLOMATIC TIMES

New York –     Nigeria’s Vice President Yemi Osinbajo said Nigeria is embarking on one of the largest investment in infrastructure in the West Africa nation’s history.  Osinbajo made the remark Monday as guest speaker at  a forum sponsored by the Council on Foreign Relations in New York City on Nigeria’s Economic Prospects.  Osinbajo is on a four-day visit of the United States, with meetings at the United Nations, and talks with U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, on his agenda. 

“We are welcoming private investments in concessions and projects,  rails. airports, roads, and other infrastructure,” the vice president stated.  “Nigeria has the 9^th largest stock of arable land in the world and has become a world leader in cassava, yam, sorghum, and millet production,” Osinbajo said proudly.  However, that is the good news.  Like many other nations in Africa, Nigeria is facing big challenges due to rapidly growing population, rising youth unemployment, and the spread of Islamic terror on the Continent.

“But let me say that though the challenges are huge…and in my view presents excellent opportunities for local and foreign players  in this final frontier for ground breaking investment and innovation,”

Nigeria Vice President Osinbajo said.

He also stated that what happens in Africa in the coming  years in four important areas (population, environment, climate change, and security), will, for good or bad, impact the fortunes of the  world.

DIPLOMATIC TIMES VIDEO –  Nigeria’s Vice President Yemi Osinbajo at Council on Foreign Relations June 24, 2019.

The vice president focused on the four areas including population, and environment with respect to climate change, and security, to make his case.  “A doomsday scenario is as follows, as Africa’s population grows exponentially, food production is not able to match population growth, a rise in trans-human conflicts, due  to shrinking vegetation and water ,  lack of jobs and  opportunities, a large poorly educated youth population…leading to aggressive illegal migration vulnerability to extremism, and a creation of a convenient breeding ground for extremist groups, and notorious spot to the rest of the world.  Horrifying situation in deed. It is possible if within the next three decades, Africa drops the ball in these four indicators, neither Africa nor the rest of the world can afford to have these scenarios playing out”, Osinbajo stated.  Nigeria’s role is critical in the future of Africa, the vice president maintains.

“It is certainly no exaggeration to say that as Nigeria goes, so goes Africa.”

-Nigeria vice president Osinbajo. 

Credit: Gary Raynaldo / Nigeria VP Osinbajo speaking at Council on Foreign Relations in NYC June 24, 2019

On the positive side regarding population, the  vice president pointed out that Nigeria is Africa’s most populous nation, and its largest economy by GDP.

“We will become the third most populous nation in the world by 2050 and the fourteen largest economies, of course means a huge market.  When we opened up our telecom sector for private investment about 18 years ago, many thought yes, we have a large population , but not a large enough middle class to buy and use mobile phones. They were wrong.  MTM and Econet , two telecom companies  out of Africa,  went in and invested heavily. And today, market penetration for mobile phones is about 114.9 percent, which technically means almost everyone has a mobile phone.” 

-Nigeria vice president Osinbajo. 

The vice president also said Nigeria is opening up its power sector to potential investors, and is  asking international power firms to come in and invest in power supply.  He  pointed out that Power Africa,  a USAID project ,  made a commitment of more than  $100 Million over the  next five years. 

Credit: Gary Raynaldo /  Nigeria VP Osinbajo with CFR moderator Michelle Caruso-Cabrera, Contributor, CNBC. 

Credit: Gary Raynaldo /  Nigeria VP Osinbajo with CFR moderator Michelle Caruso-Cabrera, Contributor, CNBC, during question and answer session.

The Council on Foreign Relations is a United States nonprofit think tank specializing in U.S. foreign policy and international affairs. It is headquartered in New York City.