Impact

Work across institutions, finance and investment promotion

01 — Investment promotion

Building a more coordinated approach to investment promotion

A fragmented system

Nigeria's investment-promotion landscape includes the national investment agency, federal ministries and regulators, state investment agencies, diplomatic missions, investors and private-sector support organisations. During Saratu's second tenure at NIPC, a recurring concern was that activity across this ecosystem was fragmented and not sufficiently coordinated.

The Masterplan

Saratu initiated development of the Nigerian Investment Promotion Masterplan and the National Investment Promotion Coordination Framework.

The Masterplan was intended to draw from national and sector plans and translate investment requirements into more targeted promotion by sector, country, region, investor type and investment type.

Saratu Umar with a visiting international delegation

National and state coordination

The Coordination Framework was intended to create clearer collaboration across the investment ecosystem, including between NIPC and state investment promotion agencies.

At the state level, the work also included proposals for a National Council of Investment Promotion, capacity building for state investment functions, a standardised approach to collecting investment-grade project information and a future investment dashboard / geomap.

Stakeholder engagement

The wider programme included engagements with Ministries, Departments and Agencies; investors and investor-support organisations; the media; state investment agencies; and the diplomatic community.

The aim was not simply to run more investment campaigns. It was to make investment promotion more coordinated, better aligned with national priorities and easier for different parts of government and the investment ecosystem to work together around.

Related media

Vanguard — 15 February 2023; Daily Trust — 15 February 2023; Voice of Nigeria — 15 February 2023.

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02 — Institutional reform

Strengthening institutional systems at NIPC

Returning to NIPC

When Saratu returned to NIPC in 2022, she set out a reform agenda alongside the Commission's investment-promotion work.

The reform agenda

The agenda covered sound corporate governance, accountability and institutional discipline, operational and administrative effectiveness, standardised processes and policies, risk management, stakeholder engagement, structured investment-promotion strategy, technology and service delivery.

Governance and operating systems

Her record also includes work on a five-year strategic plan and a broader effort to strengthen institutional systems, workforce capability and process maturity. NIPC's ability to coordinate investment promotion depended partly on the quality of its own governance, processes and service delivery.

Saratu Umar delivering remarks at a public event

Saratu Umar among guests at a diplomatic reception

03 — Development & export finance

Two decades in development and export finance

Before her NIPC leadership, Saratu spent 22 years inside Nigeria's export credit and development-finance institution.

Her NEXIM career moved across credit insurance and guarantees, business development, strategic planning, human resources, administration, trade finance, project finance, regional operations and Board support. That meant exposure not only to lending and credit assessment, but also to how an institution develops products, manages people, implements strategy, supports exporters, manages risk and governs its operations.

This long-form institutional experience explains much of the breadth of her later work. Her investment-promotion and reform roles were built on decades spent working inside finance, export development and organisational systems.

04 — Governance

Governance and board service

Saratu's governance experience extends beyond public institutions.

She served as an Independent Board Member of Transcorp Hotels Plc from October 2016 to April 2021 and was a member of the Statutory Audit Committee.

She later served as an Independent Board Member of BUA Foods Plc from December 2021 to July 2022, chairing the Board Audit Committee and the Governance, Establishment and Remuneration Committee, while also serving on the Risk Management Committee.

Her wider committee work has included roles connected to investment, competitiveness, export development, risk, credit, tax incentives and institutional reform.

05 — Economic diplomacy

Economic diplomacy and international investor engagement

Across more than a decade of international assignments on behalf of Nigeria, Saratu participated in trade missions, bilateral and multilateral discussions, investment forums and engagements with investors and development institutions.

Her assignments ranged from the Annual Investment Meeting in Dubai and UNCTAD's World Investment Forum in Geneva to the US–Africa Leaders' Summit in Washington, investor-targeting work in Japan, the Africa–Singapore Business Forum, and business and investment forums in the United Kingdom, Turkey and Canada.

During her most recent NIPC tenure, this international work was also visible in engagement with Nigeria's diplomatic community and investment discussions involving Japanese and Chinese representatives.

The common thread was the practical use of government, diplomatic and investor relationships to support investment attraction, investor information and stronger economic links.

Saratu Umar in a bilateral meeting at the Commission

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