Kayode Shopekan
GROUP Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Zenith Bank Ebenezer Onyeagwu has called on Nigerians in the diaspora to invest in the healthcare sector.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelOnyeagwu made the appeal on Tuesday at the 4th edition of the Nigeria Diaspora Investment Summit 2021, organised by Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM).
The CEO of Zenith Bank, spoke on this year’s theme: “Partnership and Linkages for Post-Covid Economic Growth”, canvassing that the narrative should shift from Diaspora remittances to Diaspora Direct Investment particularly in the healthcare sector to curb the massive health tourism that drains much needed foreign exchange from the country.
Onyeagwu identified the healthcare sector as one area where diaspora investment and intervention are urgently required.
In his words, “by leveraging the expertise of our diaspora healthcare professionals in some of the emerging world-class health facilities in Nigeria, such as Evercare Hospital, Ibom Specialist Hospital and Base University Hospital, we can begin to curb the loss of foreign exchange to medical tourism”.
He, therefore, called on the various associations and groups of Nigerians in the diaspora to pull resources together and identify viable investment opportunities in the homeland.
While commending the untiring efforts of NIDCOM led by Mrs. Abike Dabiri-Erewa in supporting the engagement of Nigerians in diaspora in the country’s policies, projects, and development programmes, Onyeagwu highlighted Nigeria’s enormous investment potentials, especially the nation’s huge market and youthful population, which is a veritable source of labour and a consuming population.
He commended the Federal Government and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for leading with policies that create an enabling environment for investment in Nigeria, such as the “Naira 4 Dollar Scheme”, which according to him has contributed to boosting diaspora remittances by providing incentives for recipients of international money transfers. In his view, this and other policies encourage the senders and recipients to channel inflows through the official market, knowing that they will not be shortchanged.
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