U.S. envoy, CBN gov didn't flee over outage

NIGERIA has the potential of growing its yearly revenueto $902 billion and a per capita earning of over $4,411 by 2020, according to the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG).But this will be possible only if the country can optimise its Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs), the NESG said, as it ended its 2011 dialogue in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) at the weekend.But the Federal Government at the weekend expressed displeasure with the organisers of the summit for importing plaques from China for dignitaries despite the government's local content policy and job creation initiatives.The Minister of National Planning Commission, Dr. Shamsudeen Usman, said the government would investigate the circumstances leading to the importation of plaques that could be easily sourced locally.Nigeria's current Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and per capita stands at $267 millionand $1,670. The NESG says that this has the capacity to grow to $460 million and $2,572 by 2015 before reaching the $902 billion and $4,411 mark by 2020 based on the assumption of a 14.46 per cent annual growth rate per annum and a population growth rate of 2.75 yearly.The NESG said that more of investors' conferences should be held. It pledged its commitment to assisting the government.Meanwhile, Director General of the NESG and former Information and National Orientation Minister, Mr. Frank Nweke (Jnr), has said the American Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Terrence Macaulay and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Mr. Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, didn't flee the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, venue of the summit in fear following outage, which lasted for over 30 minutes on Thursday afternoon.Nweke, who made the clarification at a briefing at the close of the summit, maintained that there was no panic to warrant the fleeing of the two officials, among others, who were not seen again after electricity was restoared at the venue of the summit.But he didn't explain why the U.S. envoy, who the NESG had arranged to brief journalists on the impressions of the summit and the security alert advisory on Nigeria and particularly some Abuja hotels,shelved the briefing as he had departed before electricity could be restored.
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