President Goodluck Jonathan, yesterday, described the terrorist attacks by the Boko Haram Islamic sect as "a temporary setback" which will soon be a thing of the past. This came on the heels of the nation's quest for direct foreign investment which is the high point of the 2011 Economic summit. Speaking at the on-going 17th Nigeria Economic Summit, NES 17, in Abuja, President Jonathan said that his administration was acquiring and deploying all necessary security infrastructure to defeat the sect in order to make the nation an investors' haven in her quest to be a key global economic power. His words: "We are working very hard to provide a conducive atmosphere for investors. Although we currently have the Boko Haram problem, just like terrorist activities in other parts of the globe, but I can assure Nigerians and the global community that we will soon overcome. All those involved in 2010 Independence Day attacks have been arrested. We admit that our primary responsibility is to provide security and we are working on it. Book Haram is a temporary setback. "It is important we recognize that terrorism is a global problem. It is just that the problem of terrorism is new to us in this country. We are acquiring the right infrastructure to effectively combat them. "Let me appeal, once again, to our global partners to see us as partners in progress. The investment environment in Nigeria is ripe. We are taking necessary steps to put in place appropriate legislation to guarantee and protect your investments. "We are not unmindful of the security challenges that confront us. Government is taking firm steps to address the problem. We will continue to fight crime, punish offenders and do everything necessary to make our country conducive for everyone to live in and engage in genuine enterprises. "To members of the global investor community, I want to tell you that our economy has maintained its growth, in the face of the global economic downturn. "Meanwhile, our external trade and tariff policies are being reviewed, even as we recognize the need to promote and protect domestic industries. We are committed to creating a more responsive tariff policy which will make our prohibition list more. "The ministers and other public sector officials will be providing more details in their presentations and further in depth discussion with their private sector counterparts during the course of the Summit. I understand also that a number of state governors will participate in this Summit and use the opportunity to promote available business opportunities in their states." Those who fail to invest in Nigeria now will regret President Jonathan who personally participated in the Presidential Dialogue with Global CEOs on the theme "Attracting Foreign Direct Investment through Global Partnerships" where he stated that international firms who fail to invest in Nigeria now would regret in the future. He said: "Anybody who fails to invest in Nigeria now because of these incidences of Boko Haram will regret it. Those who think that Nigeria is a place where they can always come and dump their products will eventually be disappointed because this will not continue for long". The president insisted that there was no better time to invest in the country than now and therefore urged both local and foreign investors to do businesses in the country. President Jonathan also said that with the policies being put in place by his administration, he expected those that had relocated to neighbouring countries would return, but said he hoped they would return when they could find a place in the economy. Fuel Subsidy On the controversial subsidy issue, the president said that his political opponents were playing politics and trying to misinform the Nigerian populace with an ulterior motive of bringing down his government. Dr. Jonatha singled out his rival during the presidential polls, General Muhammadu Buhari as the only opposition politician that was honest in his position about the need to remove the subsidy and that the policy required an extensive education among the people to enable them appreciate the benefits that would accrue to them from the removal of the subsidy on petroleum products. "You know in this country, people play politics with everything, even serious issues that are very critical to the survival of the nation. Therefore you have to take the stability into consideration. You have to carry along all arms of government. Unfortunately, here, people play politics with all things. Now even some of those who were arguing for the removal of subsidy before are now speaking from the other side of the mouth. Now they want to bring down the government. "It is only General (Muhammadu) Buhari who has come out openly and spoke for the removal of subsidy. We have to educate the people, otherwise, some people, for political reasons, will misinform the people. If we don't deregulate now, in 10-15 years, we will be importing fuel from Ghana, Chad and other neighbouring countries", he said. Those to buy power sector Speaking on the power sector which the investors identified as a basic necessity for the economy to genuinely blossom, the president assured that only credible firms with requisite technical know-how and financial muzzle to add value would be given the privilege to run the successor companies of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria, PHCN. His words: "Nigerians are very clear in their demand for stable power supply and we are working on this. The power sector is very key and that is why we are diligently pursuing the privatization of the companies from the PHCN. "We have discovered that some of the companies that were privatized in the past are not doing well because those to whom they were sold had no capacity to run them effectively. Take for instance the steel sector. We all have seen that the steel sector was not well handled and I don't want that to happen in the power sector. "The Bureau of Public Enterprises, I believe, has gone a long way in the process of the privatization of the power sector. One thing we have decided to do is that a detailed due diligence must be carried out on all the companies that are vying for the power sector. It is not an area for starters. We want companies that have been in the business of power generation, transmission or distribution. We want companies that will add value and satisfy the power demands of the Nigerian public". Population control The president noted that although rapid population had become an issue of global concern, with many countries now addressing theirs through birth control; in Nigeria, the issue had become difficult due to the religious connotation in some quarters. He said, however, that there was need to educate Nigerians on the advantage of lean families that they could effectively provide for rather than just raise children who would become miscreants. His words: "A large population has its advantages and disadvantages- advantages because of the large market but the disadvantage is that you have to provide for the people. In Nigeria for religious reasons, you can't talk of population. But we have to educate the people. "It is not the number of children but the quality of children that matters. If you have 20 children and all of them will be militants or Boko Haram, how will that help our nation? It is better to have one or two who will be useful to Nigeria. You will notice that those who don't have much are the ones who have many children while those who are in the middle class and the rich have fewer number of children. So we have to continue to educate the people". Nigeria best place to invest-- Dangote In his remarks, the President of the Dangote Group, Alhaji. Aliko Dangote said that he would continue to heavily invest in the Nigerian economy as according to him, there was no better economy in the globe with Nigeria's type of high return on investment. He said his investment in cement alone had hit $7 billion and that if he had access to as much as $20 billion, he would invest it all in Nigeria with a view to saturating the Nigerian large market and meeting the needs of the West African Sub-Region.