President Muhammadu Buhari has assured investors in Nigeria and other countries that his government is determined to remove various bottlenecks that have been stiffling businesses and economic activities in the country as a way of attracting investments.
He is sure that by the time he is through with the solutions to the impediments, Nigeria would be the easiest country to do business.
President Buhari, who spoke on Sunday at a plenary session on “Dialogue with the Private Sector” at the sixth Tokyo International Conference for African Development (TICAD VI), said that his administration is implementing policies and measures to create right and enabling environment for business and investors in Nigeria.
He told the session, attended by several African leaders, Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and international business executives, that his administration’s vision and objective is to make Nigeria one of the top investment destinations in the world, within the shortest possible time.
“We believe government has a particular responsibility to create right and attractive environment for businesses and economic activities to thrive.
“In furtherance of this vision, we have launched the Presidential Enabling Environment Council, PEEC and Inter-Ministerial Council to oversee the efforts of government to remove various bottlenecks that stifle businesses and economic activities and thereby create economic activities and the right enabling environment and investment climate in Nigeria.
“The secretariat will include strong private sector representation that would be led by experienced business professionals from the private sector.
“We are committed to moving up the ranking of the World Bank’s ease of doing business index 20 places in first year and be in the top 100 within the next 3 years.”
Nigeria is currently ranked 169 out of 189 countries by the World Bank, according to the Bank’s 2016 Ease of Doing Business report. [myad]
