Nigeria To Grant Incentives To Investors

The Federal Government will grant incentives to encourage investment in the priority sectors listed in the recently released Economic Recovery and Growth Plan.

The Minister of Budget and National Planning, Sen. Udoma Udo Udoma, said this in a statement signed by his Media Adviser, James Akpandem.

Udoma gave the assurance in Abuja when he received the Japanese Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr Sadanobu Kusaoke in his office.

He said the plan focused on achieving macroeconomic stability, transforming agriculture, driving sufficiency in energy, improving transportation infrastructure and growing industrialisation with attention on small and medium scale enterprises.

According to him, implementation is paramount in the realisation of the plan’s objectives, therefore attention will be on prioritising the identified strategies and establishing a clear system of accountability.

He said attention would also be given to allocating resources to prioritised interventions, creating an enabling policy and regulatory environment and developing an effective monitoring and evaluation system to track progress.

The Plan, he explained, would be driven by some fundamental principles, including a focus on tackling constraints to growth.

He said it would also be driven by leveraging the power of the private sector and promoting national cohesion and social inclusion as well as allowing markets to function.

“We believe in using the markets to drive the engine of the economy and allowing markets to work.”

The minister, however, invited Japanese companies to take advantage of the various business opportunities that would be presented by the Special Economic Zones established in various parts of the country.

He said that the zones which would serve as manufacturing hubs would have the necessary infrastructural facilities to support the country’s industrialisation drive.

Udoma pointed at the gradual reduction in the rate of inflation, the economy which had stopped contracting and the narrowing in the gap between the official and parallel market exchange rates.

He said he was delighted at the information that a delegation of Japanese businessmen would be in Abuja on May 4, to explore more areas of investments and partnerships.

The minister acknowledged the Ambassadors efforts in promoting Japanese interest in the country as well as his country’s support in humanitarian assistance and other areas.

Earlier, Kusaoke observed that Nigeria’s economic trajectory had been trending upwards recently and disclosed that Japanese companies were interested in investing in new areas.

He said that the country would expand the existing businesses in Nigeria, listing a number of companies that were already investing in Nigeria.

(NAN)