By Kingston Obung Calabar
Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Okechukwu Enelamah, has insisted that the federal government was poised to diversify the economy through partnering with General Electric and other critical stakeholders. Enelamah, who disclosed this in Calabar yesterday during a facility tour of Calabar Free Trade Zone, added that such diversifi cation would create more jobs for Nigerians and stabilise the economy. “We want to emphasise the importance of the partnership with the private sector in order to diversifying and growing the Nigerian economy and in creating jobs,” he said.
Th e minister said his visit to the Free Trade Zone, where General Electric is located, was to encourage GE as a trusted partner supporting the development of Nigerian economy through sustainable investment with advanced infrastructure, technologies and solutions.
He said the vision of the federal government is to work with all relevant stakeholders, – government, private sector and agencies to boost Nigeria’s investment attractiveness which, he said, “entails improving the ease of doing business, attract foreign direct investment and grow the non-oil economy to boost the gross domestic product, GDP.” In his remarks, the President, GE Nigeria, Lazarus angbaso, said with over four decades of corporate presence in Nigeria, GE had remained a long standing partner of the Nigerian government and its people and that the company would continue to demonstrate commitment to the development of multiple sectors through partnership with government and the private sector. Angbaso assured the Minister that the facility would create direct and indirect jobs through supply chain, adding that it would off er business opportunities to Nigerian suppliers and professionals
