Nigeria is open for business, Trade Minister tells global community

The Minister Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr Jumoke Oduwole has called on the global community to come and invest in Nigeria.

Speaking while on an interview with CNN, Oduwole said the country is going digital.

“I am telling the world, Nigeria is open for business.

“We are digital, five out of nine (9) unicorns in Africa are Nigeria, Nigerians are talented, our youths are incredible. Don’t miss the wave, we are resourceful, we are resilient. We are agile, in spite of deficiency in power, look at our economy”.

“For the last nine years, I have been working on business climate reforms. In fact, that is why I got this job, ease of doing business. With over 200 verifiable reforms implemented or verified by the World Bank, Nigerian businesses have learned to trust the processes.

“The Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (BEPEB) has delivered on that mandate. So now it’s time to take it further. Move it to investment promotion, move it to exports of services because it needs less infrastructure. So it’s a quicker win for Nigeria,” she added.

Oduwole explained that there is no shortcut. “It’s the people, issues, the processes and infrastructure. We need to start making sure there is more transparency and efficiency to make it a progressively easier place to start and grow a business”.

She also noted that the country’s Aviation sector has put in impressive reforms. “Nigeria was a signatory to the Cape Town convention, but we hadn’t done the procedural rules at the Federal High Court.

“So that has been done last year, and so now the aviation sector is payingore attention to investment” with opportunities for cheaper planes for lease.

“Those are the things that bring open up new routes and connectivity. So it’s services, services, services. Nigeria’s GDP makes it good towards services and it is growing,” the Minister stated.

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