By Chinwendu Obienyi
In the light of its exit from recession, the Area Sales Manager, Heinzel Group, Antoine Motte, has urged the Federal Government to create a more corruption-free business environment to ensure the economy attracts more investors.
Speaking during a business visit to Daily Sun, Motte said that corruption is everywhere but has eaten way too deep into sectors of the Nigerian economy, especially the oil sector, adding that there was urgent need for the government to address the issue. “The economy here is related to oil exports and corruption in the production of oil is on the high side. We have seen, of course, from the last two to three months that the situation is better than the previous one of last year. More facilities are open, more customers are patronising us as this was not the case before. Corruption is virtually everywhere and has to be reduced for the economy to continue its gradual rise away from recession,” he said.
Citing Ghana and Ivory Coast as examples, Motte said “at the moment, they are attracting investors because of their economy and we have the belief that these two countries are safe when it comes to corruption.”
Most importantly, a safer zone for business will attract investors but when there is corruption, the market will experience less investors coming in.”
He thereafter said more competition among industries could be beneficial to the growth of the economy.
“I will not say we are the best as my company has been in service for the last 15 years and we are one of the biggest companies because we have our own production so I won’t deny that competition is good but there are plenty of ground for everyone as this in return is good for the growth of the economy,” Motte said.