This is the Time to Invest in Nigeria, Udoma Tells Investors in London

The Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma, yesterday told participants at the United Kingdom-Nigeria Trade and Investment Forum in London that now is the right time to invest in Nigeria “with economic policy initiatives yielding positive results coupled with a stable political climate’’ in the country,

The Special Adviser (Media) to the minister, Mr. Akpandem James, quoted Udoma as stating this while speaking at the plenary session of the forum, saying Nigeria’s outlook for 2018 was very positive as the country had since exited recession and the economy was steadily growing again.

He explained that as part of government effort to transform the economy and deliver sustained, diversified and inclusive growth, the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) was put together and several initiatives in the plan are being implemented to remove constraints to investments, adding that some of the initiatives include the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) and the Focus Labs.

Enumerating the reforms and initiatives introduced across various sectors of the economy, Udoma said the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had established Investors and Exporters Foreign Exchange window to deepen the foreign exchange market, boost liquidity and accommodate all foreign exchange requirements.

‘’The establishment of the Nigeria Industrial Policy and Competitiveness Advisory Council as a vehicle for partnering the private sector on the industrialisation agenda, completion of 60-day National Action Plan on Ease of Doing Business, including the visa-onarrival policy and issuance of Executive Order on Ease of Doing Business, are other initiatives of government which the minister mentioned,’’ the statement added.

He was also said to have mentioned the establishment of Special Economic Zones (SEZs) with budgetary provision of N46 billion in the 2017 budget and N46.39 billion in the 2018 proposal; and partnering the private sector on infrastructure development, including the Road Trust Fund Scheme, Concessions’ arrangements, Public Private Partnerships (PPP) among others.

Pointing to the on-going Focus Labs with initial focus on agriculture and transportation, Power and Gas as well as Manufacturing and Processing, the minister said the labs were being conducted to unlock private investments and tackle constraints to investments.

While stressing that growth had been restored in the economy, Udoma explained that signs of recovery from recession were observed in the third quarter of 2016, and by the third quarter of 2017, real GDP grew by 0.72 people, indicating the economy’s exit from recession.