Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on Tuesday assured local and foreign investors that the present administration remained focused on improving the business environment to accelerate Nigeria’s economic growth and job creation.
He gave the assurance at a roundtable on job creation, skills and employment at the ongoing 22nd Nigerian Economic Summit in Abuja.
Osinbajo said it could be achieved through active private sector participation.
He explained that the present administration was seriously tackling issues relating to local production, employment generation and all that would be needed to re-energise the economy.
“We are talking practically to everyone, talking to big investors, talking to big businesses, small businesses, to youth groups that are interested in technology, talking to farmers, talking to market women and men.
“There is a great deal of enthusiasm, everybody knows that this country has tremendous potential and there is so much that can be done.”
The vice president added that the administration was engaging its agencies responsible for facilitating trade and facilitating businesses.
“They have to be up to scratch; they’ve got to encourage business.
“It is our business to make sure that we promote enterprise because the way to create employment is not by direct employment by government.
“It is by private sector being encouraged to create these opportunities, so that is our focus.”
Osinbajo also gave the assurance that beside improving the environment for doing business, government was also focused on increasing the opportunities for the employment of the vast majority of young people.
“We will encourage big businesses, encourage small businesses, encourage cottage industries, that is our focus and it will remain our focus.’’
He said that although there might be challenges with the present duty waivers and tax regimes, the Federal Government was working hard to correct the wrongs.
According to him, it is with the view to encouraging the growth of small businesses and attracting foreign investments.
The vice president added that government’s emphasis on agriculture and agro-businesses was premised on its agenda on diversification and self-reliance in food production for domestic consumption.
He noted that the enormity of the challenge with tax holidays and waivers could not be addressed by a ‘one-size-fits-all’ tax holidays initiative, stressing that there were areas that tgovernment would
revisit.
The Presidential Enabling Business Council (PEBEC), a special initiative of the Federal Government, in collaboration with the private sector, was looking at incentives and issues related to waivers, he said.
Osinbajo, who spoke extensively on the administration’s economic policies on Day 1 of the summit,
also emphasised what government was doing to support funding of small businesses in the country.
According to him, there are complications around funding and that is why in the short term, intervention funds are what might work.
“We are looking at intervention funds in agriculture, we have the anchor borrowers’ programme, we are resuscitating the Bank of Agriculture, and recapitalising it.
“We expect that the Bank of Agriculture and a few other banks will be able to provide some cheap funds for agriculture; we are already seeing that in the anchor borrowers’ programme.
“We also think that intervention fund in setting up areas like health, before we are able to get the overall monetary environment right, is necessary.’’
Gov. Ibikunle Amosun, a panelist, suggested a reduction in interest rate from 25 per cent to three per cent “so that investors will not ask for tax relief any more.”
According to Amosun, the `haves’ will not be able to enjoy what they have now if they are unable to take care of the `have nots’.
Another panelist, Gov. Atiku Bagudu of Kebbi, hailed the diversification programme of the administration, adding that Kebbi State had accessed N17 billion on the Anchor Borrowers scheme,
with N100 billion value added and over 300,000 jobs created.
The Minister of Agriculture, Audu Ogbe, said that the response to the call on Nigerians to invest in agriculture was massive and thanked citizens for the prompt response.
However, Industrialist Aliko Dangote said he started hearing about diversification since 1988 and expressed the hope that the recent hype on it would achieve the objective.
Dangote warned that those expecting the price of oil to rise to 80 dollars per barrel might not get it as so many countries were already producing crude.
He said the Dangote Group had supported farmers with incentives, adding that it would add three million tons of fertilizer to the market next year for massive farming.
Mr Jay Ireland, the President and CEO of General Electric, Africa, who was also a panelist, said “Nigeria is in a cycle but in the long run, it is the place to invest in.” (NAN)