With the efforts of the federal government to make the private sector thrive well in the country, Nigeria has become investor ’s delight.
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo made this remark on Monday at the Financial Times Africa Summit in London.
He noted that the government of President Muhammadu Buhari, in the past months, had been working assiduously to improve macro-economic conditions.
According to the vice president, the reforms carried out to make the country attractive to investors included ‘ease of doing business’ and on-oging investment in infrastructure.
“After a continuous slide in growth since 2014, the trend of growth in GDP has turned around with a modest growth of 0.55 per cent in the second quarter of this year.
“Inflation, though still somewhat high, has declined from its peak of 18.7 per cent in January 2017 to about 16 per cent today,” he stated.
He added that ‘’the outlook going forward is quite positive based on improvements in oil prices and production and the trend of leading indicators such as positive purchasing managers indices, a revived stock exchange and increasing foreign exchange reserves’’.
The vice president spoke on the achievements in the area of agriculture, power and ease of doing business.
“In the first stage, reforms were introduced under a 60-day national action plan focused on eight areas that make it easier to register businesses, obtain construction permits, get credit, pay taxes, get electricity, trade across borders, facilitate entry and exit of people and register property.
“Practical examples of success include leveraging the use of technology to fast track business registration and payment of taxes, a functioning, tried and tested 48-hour electronic visa procedure, and an Executive Order mandating greater transparency and efficiency across all government agencies.
“The reforms have led to reduction in cost and time, as well as greater transparency for small and medium sized enterprises in particular.
“Following the 70 per cent success rate achieved in the first phase of the ease of doing business reforms, we recently embarked on a second national action plan which will have 11 areas of focus and will run for 60 days from October 2017,” he added.
According to Osinbajo, Nigeria is an investor’s delight because of the opportunities which the Nigerian economy offers, specifically emphasizing that “the opportunities are enormous indeed.”
He added that the Buhari administration was “nevertheless determined and optimistic that Nigeria will along with the rest of the continent bring about an Africa that works for all its people and contributes to global growth and prosperity.”
Speaking on the theme, “What Africa Works,” he said “what makes Africa work, is what makes economies work anywhere.’’
“Honest visionary leadership and good governance, letting the private sector and markets lead, diversification from resource based revenues, developing the potential of the human resources available,” he said were the indices.
At the summit were Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State, the Emir of Kano, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, and Alhaji Aliko Dangote, among others.
