Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma, has called for improved European investment in Nigeria, saying the country’s business climate is now very attractive and conducive.
The minister, who said this at a High-Level Conference on Jobs and Growth in West Africa, which took place in Brussels, added that the present administration had taken steps to improve the business climate in the country.
Udoma told the gathering that Nigeria was opened for business because the current administration had initiated reforms aimed at stabilising the macro-economic environment, improving infrastructure and removing impediments that hitherto constrained business development in the country.
He explained that the plan was part of government’s determination to deliver on these objectives as it was aiming to achieve sustained inclusive growth and attaining at least a seven per cent GDP growth rate by 2020 even as he said it was now easy to register and establish business in the country.
Sharing experience on the administration’s poverty alleviation and job creation programmes through the Social Investment Programme (SIP), Government Entrepreneurship and Empowerment Programme (GEEP) as well as the Industrial Revolution Plan, he said government had, not only created a platform for skills acquisition, but has laid a foundation for youth entrepreneurship and employment generation.
The minister said the initial labs, which ran for six weeks between March and April, identified over $22 billion worth of potential investments, with $10.9billion of those investments categorised as ‘most ready to go’. Cumulative investments that could be generated from the labs could rise to $39.2 billion by 2025 with effective implementation.
Investments identified in the labs, he pointed out, would be realized within the next two years as impediments to the proposals have been discussed and strategies to eliminate them are currently being developed.
