By Valentine Amanze
Nigeria’s Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Mr. Okechukwu Enelamah, has said that his priority was to make Nigeria the best place to do business in Africa.
The minister spoke at a public lecture by the Commerce and Industry Correspondents Association of Nigeria (CICAN), titled, “Beyond 2019: Leveraging politics for Nigeria’s industrial transformation,” held in Lagos at the weekend.
To achieve the objective, he said that his ministry has created the enabling environment for business to strive by boosting public /private sector partnership and
reducing the cost of doing business in Nigeria.
The minister also disclosed that the Federal Government built industrial parks in Kano and Calabar to boost the private sector participation in the economy.
He further said that the Federal Government through his ministry has made serious bilateral business ties with Chinese and German investors, who have indicated interest in the nation’s economy.
While saying that the development of the country was dependent on the national resources, he promised to work with CICAN to boost the activities of his ministry.
Besides, CICAN Chairman, Toba Agboola, had said that the lecture was one of the efforts of the association to contribute to the economic growth.
He also urged the government to urgently ensure the effective implementation of the economic growth and recovery plan (ERGP) as a means of putting the industrial sector in the front burner of the nation’s quest to be in the list of the highly indstrialised nations, while pleading to the government to
give more support to SMEs in the country and reduce youth unemployment.
Agboola also reminded the minister of his promise to assist the association in its annual capacity building, while
appealing to both the private and public sector to always intimate journalists with what is happening in their outfits.
Contributing, the Director General,
Industrial Training Fund (ITF), Sir Joseph Ari, called for the transformation of Nigeria through industrialisation.
He said such could be realized via more investments in technical manpower development and establishment of more technical schools and vocation training centres. He called on the government to find a lasting solution to dumping of foreign goods in Nigeria.
But the National Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture
(NACCIMA) President, Iyalode Alaba Lawson, appealed for a conducive political environment for business to grow, while the
President, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), Babatunde Ruwaase, advocated
strong economy to save democracy and reduce restiveness.
