* Investors undeterred by litany of disasters in Nigeria
* Gov’t interference bigger risk than insecurity
* Telecoms sector shows money to be made despite environment
By Tim Cocks
LAGOS, July 1 (Reuters) – Bomb blasts, gun attacks, airline
crashes, kidnappings, industrial-scale oil theft, armed
robberies and fraud costing billions of dollars.
Such things might give pause to anyone thinking of opening a
business. In Nigeria, they happen with alarming frequency, and
yet investors just keep coming.
The reasons are many: alluring returns in this high-risk
frontier market; a huge and growing population with latent
potential for a consumer boom; light crude oil ideal for making
motor fuel; and sophisticated financial markets.
“We know it’s not risk free,” says Charles Robertson, global
Chief Economist at Renaissance Capital. “But look around the
world and find another economy with 160 million people growing
at 7 percent with such potential. It’s a struggle to find them.”
Nigeria can look like it’s teetering on the cusp of chaos,
but it is also Africa’s second biggest economy and top oil
producer.
Continued…
