How Abuja Investment Company is being transformed for greater impact – Tamuno
Ambassador Maureen Tamuno is the first female Group Managing Director of Abuja Investments Company Limited (AICL), a milestone achieved 30 years into the company’s history. In this interview with OWEDE AGBAJILEKE, the diplomat, former lawmaker and local council chairperson speaks on her one year of heading the investment arm of the FCT.
The AICL under your leadership has achieved so much in just one year in office. What’s the secret behind this?
Well, I’m working with a very pragmatic leader, His Excellency, Ezenwo Nyesom Wike; a man who likes progress. Even from his antecedents in Rivers State as governor, you would find out that a former vice president of Nigeria actually named him ‘Mr. Project’. And coming into Abuja, you can see the transformation in terms of infrastructure. So, he’s a man who is very particular about the people he works with. He’s a man of capacity. He tries to look for people with like minds, people who have passion for what they do. And I think that prompted him to locate me and graciously give me this appointment one year ago. And I’ll use this medium to appreciate him for finding me worthy to serve here in this office.
As an investment arm of the FCT, we are meant to drive the economy. We are meant to stimulate the economy. We are meant to cause job creation and growth in the economy. And how do you do this? By doing Public Private Partnerships (PPP) with people who are interested in investing in the federal capital.
And now, especially in the area of infrastructure the minister is doing, we are having a lot of inquiries. People are coming in to find out what could be done.
Before the inception of this administration, everybody perceived Abuja from the government angle – policies, legislative business, contracts. People were not looking at its viability in terms of other areas in the business sector.
When I took the helm of affairs of Abuja Investment a year ago, it was all about estates and markets. And I was like we can’t just be so. We must look at our mandates, the portfolios. So we have different sectors. Right now, we are going into other sectors that are not really markets. We are going into sustainable sectors like renewable energy, CNG or electric buses, which we will see on the streets of Abuja very soon. We are going into the Abuja Film Village – entertainment – and other areas that will create wealth and stimulate the economy of Abuja, which in turn will stimulate the economy of Nigeria in line with Mr. President’s Renewed Hope Agenda.
There are calls in some quarters for the replication of these projects in the city centre across all area councils of the FCT. What is the company doing about it?
You know that there is an Abuja Master Plan. And my joy today is that the FCT Minister likes to follow what is in the master plan. Abuja was designed to have everything in different locations, for the interest of decentralisation. So, like you see, if you go to Jabi, you will see Jabi has a market, malls, things that will not make you leave Jabi to go shopping elsewhere. So of course, we are working with the minister, with the master plan. As soon as we make our intentions known, he will definitely allocate those areas to AICL, and we will drive the economy. We will also decentralise those assets in locations that will enable people to have very quick access, rather than driving from probably Kubwa to come and shop in Garki or Guzape Mall or so.
So, it’s work in progress. And remember that we cannot achieve everything in one administration or under one year. So, we are working very hard, looking futuristic to make sure that the Abuja Master Plan is achieved.
Last year, AICL held the first Abuja Business Summit. But in June this year, you are taking this same summit to the United Kingdom. What is the drive behind this?
After the first Abuja Investment Summit, we actually did post summit roundtables. One of those roundtables we had was with the diplomatic community and also with our people in the diaspora. And so we had calls, not only from the UK but from different regions, to come and tell them what they can invest in Nigeria; the largest country in Africa and a fast growing economy with a lot of potential. So, we looked at the first place we can step out to and then the demand. We had a lot of people that were more interested in the UK from our feasibility study. So, we are partnering with the Diaspora Commission that did their Diaspora Summit as well.
So, we are going there together; the Nigerian High Commissioner there, who is acting at the moment, is also very enthusiastic about it. In fact, he told us that Lagos actually did theirs in February or March this year. And people were asking about Abuja even in that summit of Lagos. So we are doing it to enable our citizens living in the UK to have an opportunity to have assets or investments in their country, Nigeria, which they have been yearning for.
Most of them have complained that they did send money to their relatives to invest for them, but when they got back home, neither did they see the money nor did they see any investment. But with Abuja Investment Company, you are sure. People that invested 30 years ago still have their investments in place and intact. Most times, when people resell to others, they still come to us to verify if this is an investment that stemmed from us here. So we are reliable. We are very dependable as a company.
What is your message for investors who are still skeptical of investing?
We will just let them know that Abuja is the gateway of investments in Nigeria. And also to let them know that in 30 years of the company, nobody has screamed that he or she did investment with AICL and he or she can’t find it.
So we are calling on those people that are standing on the fence to say it’s time to delve in. They should look at how to invest in the shops we have done at the Green Farmers Market at Utako. Look at the shops we have done at Kugbo Market and so on. And even the Kaba Housing that we just laid the foundation stone, where we hope to do some very gigantic and beautiful, medium density housing for people who want to own houses in Abuja. I’m sure we will come up with payment plans and all of that, which would make it affordable for those who want to invest.
As the first female GMD of AICL in 30 years, what do you think this means for the female folk?
It just means that gender is not a barrier. Like I tell people, there are successful women; so are there successful men. There are men that have failed. So also are women that have failed. It’s just that you must drive whatever you are doing with passion, commitment, resilience, and then leaving your footprints in the sands of time.
That’s the message I will leave for the women folk. To let them know that the sky is actually the stepping stone and just keep doing what you know how to do best. Because talking about gender for me, yes, we need to encourage women; but I think we need to encourage both men and women alike. But for leadership, if you look at the banking sector today, you have many women that are managing directors, driving the financial economy of the country. So, what are we talking about? It does not have to do with gender; it has to do with the individual. So people should know that whatever is given to you to do, you must do it to the best of your ability.
What would you want to be remembered for?
Impact! Because I cannot tell you I would like to be remembered for the many estates I have built. But by the time I leave, it will be remembered that it was in my time that new innovations came in – renewable energy, the green markets, probably the CNG buses, electric buses. And then the visibility of this company will be such that it will be a household name that people talk of. Then those that will come after me will know that they have some little bigger shoes to fit into, and it will not be business as usual. I want to leave that mark that it is government business, but it is your business.
