With October 1 fast approaching, every week from now is most likely to witness one event or the other as part of the celebration of Nigeria’s 50th independence anniversary. Certainly, most of these events will take the form of dancing and wining and other forms of merry-making. But Nigeria’s Jubilee Business Summit held in London, United Kingdom last week, was a deviation from this mean of events. It was simply a novelty. It was a celebration of Nigeria’s 50th independence anniversary in style – from a business perspective. But the Cultural Gala Dinner which came in between the two days that the summit lasted served as leisure sweetener for the event.
The objective of the summit was simple: to look at Nigeria’s past and project into its future, with the Nigerian economy and the good of its people in focus. That is arguably the best way to celebrate Nigeria at 50, especially now that every effort is geared towards growing the country’s economy rapidly so that it becomes one of the 20 largest economies in the world in 2020. It was a rare opportunity for Nigerians, Nigerians in the Diaspora and friends of Nigeria from different parts of the globe to look at the country’s past and also point the way forward for a country which, unfortunately, at 50, has not lived up to the dreams of its founding fathers.
The business summit kicked off with a presentation by Professor Barth Nnaji, chairman of the Power Committee of the Presidential Advisory Council. That was expected because adequate supply of electricity to homes, offices and industries is believed to be the key to Nigeria’s socio-economic progress. In his presentation titled: “A Road Map to Power Sustainability in Nigeria: Fast Tracking Power Reform”, the erudite professor said Nigeria needs to transform its power sector to be able to make appreciable progress. To do this, he said the country must be able to attract investment funds from abroad because government cannot do it alone. But investors who are interested in Nigeria’s power sector insisted that the government needed to move its financial guarantees beyond the present commitment to 3,000 megawatts only in order to spur additional investment in the sector.
Mutiu Sunmonu, Shell Petroleum country chair reviewed Shell operational experiences over the past 50 years and gave insights into its future strategic thinking. Sunmonu stated in very clear terms that Shell is committed to stopping gas flaring in Nigeria, and would be committing a princely $5 billion to this purpose.
The panel on Niger Delta comprising Prof Pat Utomi, co-founder of Lagos Business School and chairman of Social Democratic Mega Party (SDMP), General Owoye Azazi who chaired the panel supported by Emeka Ihedioha, Chief Whip, House of Representatives and chairman of the South-South and South-East Professionals, Emeka Ugwu-oju reassured investors on the security situation in the Niger Delta, but also urged for a strong focus on a sustainable development agenda for the region.
Sarah-Jane Wagg, UBS’s managing director for Africa, spoke on the global financial markets and the outlook for Nigeria. She concluded that the future is bright for Nigeria and that UBS, which had invited 24 different fund management clients to attend the summit, would increase its investment commitments into Nigeria capital markets.
Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, group managing director of Access Bank Plc, made a strong case for project finance and infrastructure investments. He was supported by Ahmed Mansur, director general of Infrastructure Concession and Regulatory Commission. The case for infrastructure investments was strengthened by views from Citibank, Standard Chartered Bank, Dunn Loren Merrifield and HSBC.
Travelex and the global remittance association, International Money Transfer (MTI) made a case for the modernisation of payment systems in Nigeria to integrate its economy to the global digital economy.
Dr. Joe O’ Neil, director of Global Health Initiatives from the University of Maryland, Baltimore, USA led the discussion on the eradication of malaria, AIDS and hypertension in Nigeria while Dr. Paul Orhii, NAFDAC director general made a classic presentation on the new strategies that NAFDAC has adopted in its effort to combat drug counterfeiting. 
In respect of transportation, Adeseyi Sijuwade, managing director of the Nigeria Railway Corporation made an integrated presentation on behalf of the Transport Minister, showing the future of transportation in Nigeria as proposed by the various agencies of the ministry from the NPA, NIMASA, Inland Waterways, etc. while FERMA demonstrated new opportunities that abound for the transformation of Nigeria by variable forms of Public and Private Partnership deals.
The business summit climaxed with a panel session on the next 50 years, and it featured some of the most exciting minds including the minister of Lands, Hon. Nduese Essien; chairman of Nigerian Economic Summit Group, Mazi Sam Ohuabunwa and Prof Chukwuma Soludo, former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria. Soludo, in his presentation, called for a return to a more competitive regional governance structure for Nigeria to replace the current oil-rent sharing arrangement for non-viable states. 
A remarkable statement of change came from the PDP National Chairman, Dr Okwesilieze Nwodo who declared that he would work relentlessly to “break the chains” that hold Nigerians down whether it be done by changing, repealing or modifying legislations in the ruling party and that within the PDP he would ensure that only the “best and brightest” amongst Nigerians are encouraged to aspire to legislative, executive, and other political offices. This, he said, should help Nigeria to rise beyond mediocrity in the next 50 years.
Speaking on the summit, Christian Udechukwu, founder and chief executive officer of BusinessinAfrica Events UK Limited, the organizers of the business summit said: “Over the past 15 years, BusinessinAfrica Events (BIAE) has always promoted trade and investment into Africa by providing live events platforms such as sector specific conferences, government and business roundtables; and other interactive forums for business leaders and policy makers to attain better understanding of the competing interests. So it was not unusual that when Nigeria’s Golden Jubilee came up, the management of BIAE considered it very necessary to invite core investors in Nigeria who have been doing business in the local environment for the past 50 years; prospective investors who are seeking new opportunities for business, Nigerians living abroad who now occupy decision making positions in global investment banking and related businesses, project finance and private equity fund management industry to come meet with legislators and government officials to focus their minds on where Nigeria has been as a nation; and what it should strategically position itself to become over the next 50 years”. He said the business summit was entirely an initiative of BIAE, and was not in any way funded by the Federal Government of Nigeria. The summit, he said, was completely funded by the finest organisations at the forefront of promoting Nigeria’s economic growth and development namely Access Bank, First Bank, Travelex, Central Bank of Nigeria, Shell, Afrinvest, Laurent Perrier, Shebah Petroleum, A-Z Petroleum, Capital Oil, Anabel Group, Zenith Bank, UBS (Union Bank of Switzerland), British Airways, Africa Finance Corporation, GTBank, Eko Atlantique City, Societe Generale Bank and many more with Thomson Reuters, BusinessDay, Daily Independent, BusinessWorld, New African, African Business, BEN TV and African Banker as the leading global media partners.