Tuggar: FG Committed to Functional, Friendly Business Environment
Nigerian Ambassador to the Federal Republic of Germany, Yusuf Tuggar, has stressed the commitment of the federal government to a functional and business-friendly environment.
Tuggar said this in his welcome address at the sixth German – Nigerian Business Forum held in Frankfurt on Wednesday.
He noted that in recent times, the narrative on Nigeria had been that of oil, corruption and Boko Haram. These, he said had in one way or another become the principal lenses through which many have viewed Nigeria.
According to the envoy, that narrow perspective – alongside long-standing erroneous stereotypes of Africa and Africans – are impediments leaders in the continent are committed to uprooting.
“I am happy to proclaim that there are many reasons for us not to despair. Where we allow negative perceptions delivered in comfortable clichés free rein, we permit narratives that are riddled with distortion. We must not be diverted and deflected from fully engaging the opportunities that abound between us.
“Transition, like other forms of change, is notoriously difficult to manage and can often be destabilising. President Muhammadu Buhari’s mandate to restore the primacy of the rule of law necessarily means an end to “business as usual”. Our president has popular support and is resolute in his determination to make Nigeria better placed than ever to revisit its development trajectory.
“My task in reshaping perceptions of the Nigerian narrative here in Germany is made infinitely easier by the passion and commitment of our government to renewing the basis of our domestic affairs as well as our global engagements. Nigeria is transitioning to a different kind of economic foundation, as well as a political culture more accepting of the scrutiny that comes with our commitment to transparency,” he said.
The ambassador noted that the centrality of oil to Nigeria’s economic disposition over the last few decades had proven to be a misadventure that policymakers are consciously working to countervail.
This, according to him, was the major reason why the Nigerian government took the strategic decision to decouple the economy from inordinate dependence on oil. Furthermore, he argued that the federal government has been breaking new ground in laying the foundation for Nigerians and others to grow into new and more future-oriented businesses in the country.
He added: “At every opportunity, the Nigerian government’s commitment to renewing the country is evidenced in its approach to new challenges. The approach to renewal through the six Special Economic Zones spread across the country to pioneer advanced research, engineering and production speak of change.
“As I stand here before you, as a representative of my country, let me reiterate the Nigerian government’s commitment to being unrelenting in the struggle against corruption. That fight will never be done until the cancer is excised from our body politic.
“Going forward, no area – not politics, not the economy, not domestic business, nor in international business and cooperation – in no area will there be immunity for corruption. Our objective is to make the business and regulatory environment user-friendly.