The Federal Government says it will strengthen the ease of doing business in Nigeria and revive the Export Expansion Grant (EEG).
President Muhammadu Buhari said this while speaking at the opening ceremony of the Lagos International Trade Fair (LITF) in Lagos on Friday.
The President was represented by the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Mr Okechukwu Enelamah.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Nigeria moved 24 places higher in the recent World Bank Ease of Doing Business Report.
The country was rated 145th position out of 159.
According to the report, Nigeria introduced initiatives aimed at improving the business environment such as new systems to speed up the processing of visas for investors.
It said that Nigeria made the process of starting a business faster by introducing the electronic approval of registration documents, improved access to credit information and introduced a centralised electronic system to pay federal taxes.
“The nation’s improvement in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business Report is an encouraging one which shows the commitment of the Federal government in staying true to its promise of further industrialisation, improved investment and job creation.
“There are major areas where the government has shown and is still committed to, and one of them is agriculture.
“The agricultural value chain, which includes growing, harvest and post-harvest management, and processing, would go a long way to boost food security, create jobs and enable the nation further feed itself,” Buhari said.
He said that these policies and infrastructural development, especially power supply and sufficient road networks, were critical to turning the business environment around.
The president said that MSMEs should leverage the clinics and industrial clusters that the government had provided in states.
He noted that the clinics have relevant agents that would assist MSMEs in major business decisions to increase their capacity and contribution to GDP.
Buhari said that government had been intensifying efforts to revive the Export Expansion Grant (EEG) and clear off the backlog of payments in order to revive the export sector.
He mentioned that the delay in implementation of the EEG revival was due to the process of clearing the backlogs which had been underway.
The president added that the backlog would be cleared soon as the programme was essential to increasing the capacity of non-oil exports in the nation.
NAN reports that the 31st LITF had 15 countries in attendant and 1, 000 exhibitors.
(NAN)
