Government to ensure enabling business environment

(L-R) Dr. Abubakar Muhammad, PS, HMTI Olusegun Aganga and Exe. Gove. Peter Obi.

Government to ensure enabling business environment
Hauwa Noroh Ali, Abuja

Nigeria’s Minister of Trade and Investment, Olusegun Aganga, has said that his Ministry will collaborate with the state governments in the quest to ensure enabling environment that would attract foreign investors.

The Minister stated this when he received the Governor of Anambra state Mr Peter Obi in his office in Abuja.

The Minister pointed out that the Ministry is the driver of the economy and will continue to ensure that the productivity of local industries in the country is enhanced by providing the enabling environment.

MAN’s commendable contributions to Nigerian economy

In a related development, the Minister commended the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) for their contributions to the real sector of the Nigeria economy.

The Minister gave the commendation on Wednesday when he received a delegation of MAN, led by its President, Dr. Kola Jamodu.       
 
The Minister described MAN as “the most organized Association and the people that move the economy.” 

He noted that despite the hash operating condition, the manufacturers have put their faith in the country and put their money to work undermining the risk that is associated with some of these businesses.

 In his words;”if we talk about GDP growth, they contribute to that growth; these are people who know where it pinches.  These are people that will tell us whether our policies are working or not. Therefore in any country these people should be celebrated and be encouraged at all times”

The Minister explained that the new Ministry had been refocused with a wider mandate to grow the economy and bring investors to the country.  He said the new Ministry will focus in the areas of trade, investments, export, growing the SME’s sector and industrial clusters.

Ministry’s focus

He lamented that Nigeria imports a lot of chemicals and pharmaceutical products and pointed out that instead of importing them, the Ministry will now encourage investors to come and set up processing plants based in Nigeria.  He said that this would result in availability of labour and market.   

The Minister said the Ministry will partner with both local and international investors and will work closely with MAN to measure the progress the country is making by looking at the contributions of the private sector to the country’s GDP.

“What we want to achieve and develop is a road map on how to get there in 4 years MAN has to actively support and assist the Ministry to move forward. To this effect, the Ministry will be holding meeting with MAN on a quarterly basis to share their views and experiences,” Aganga said.

 The Minister stressed that the Ministry will also focus on all the businesses in the country in each sector and region and will do a survey of them. 

He said this would enable him to understand and identify the barriers to increased productivity in each sector. 

“We want to know what the barriers are, what government can do to remove or reduce those barriers.  We want to be able to measure the progress we are making; we want to look at your contributions to GDP,”

Accelerated development

Earlier, the President of Manufacturer Association of Nigeria (MAN), Mr Kola Jamodu presented a blue print for accelerated development of the manufacturing sector which will facilitate productivity and provide sustainable jobs to the teeming unemployed Nigerians.

The MAN President remarked that Nigeria should focus on being a producing nation rather than a consuming nation noting that if the government adheres strictly to the blue print, it would help in achieving the transformation Agenda of President Goodluck Jonathan.

Mr Jamodu urged the Ministry to intervene in the newly introduced SONCAP permit approval charges, Non-Acceptance of Negotiable Duty Credit Certificate (NDCC), Anomalies in the Current Common External Tariff (CET), lack of adequate information on Sugar Policy and Incentives, concessions and waivers to Manufacturers as well as Rural Investment Allowance and vat Exemption on raw materials.

    
Williams