The Nation Newspaper

Tag: confidence

  • Sanwo-Olu: Coalition expresses confidence in judiciary

    A coalition of 70 rights group has expressed confidence in the Nigerian Judiciary over the case filed against the Lagos State Governor-elect, Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu, challenging his eligibility to occupy the exalted office.

    The coalition, under the aegis of Campaign for Dignity in Governance (CDG), in a statement from its National Convener, Comrade Razaq Olokoba said his group does not entertain any iota of fear that the Judiciary would do a thorough job on the matter enthusing that Sanwo-Olu would come out victorious.

    According to Olokoba, the rigorous screening the Governor-elect passed through before becoming his party’s candidate that eventually won the governorship race would see him through adding that, “the unshaking trust we have in the Judiciary has given us the confidence that it is Sanwo-Olu that would utilise the mandate freely given to him overwhelmingly by the good people of Lagos State.”

    The Coalition, through the statement however praised the political maturity and patriotism of the plaintiffs in the case for toeing the legitimate path of honour by channelling their cases through the legal procedure saying, “this shows that they are peace-loving members of the society, who prefer settling grievances the civilised way.”

    While awaiting the outcome of the matter in court, the coalition hails the people of Lagos on the way they are eagerly awaiting the change of baton on May 29 with anxiety, enthusing that, “the in-coming new actors would not disappoint them.

    Olokoba therefore urged the people to remain law abiding as usual reminding them that no progress comes out of any chaotic atmosphere.

     

  • Financial inclusion 2020: Role of customer trust, confidence

    The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in 2012 launched the National Financial Inclusion Strategy.  This ambitious programme seeks to increase financial inclusion from 53.7% in 2010 to 80% by year 2020. By that year, the financially – excluded was estimated to stand at 46.3% of the 99.6 million adult Nigerians.

    Based on Enhancing Financial Innovation and Access (EFInA) survey findings in 2018, this translates to moving an approximately 36.6m of Nigeria’s 99.6m adult into the formal financial platform.

    The launch of the Strategy in 2012 was premised on the fact that financial exclusion of citizens to the nation’s formal financial sector was inimical to the nation’s economic stability and growth and could easily frustrate the nation’s developmental efforts.

    Cognisant of the fact that several factors accounted for this abysmal low rate of financial inclusion in the country, the Central Bank of Nigeria set out to remedy the situation by setting up a Financial Inclusion Secretariat to coordinate activities geared towards reversing the trend.

    The Bank, in concert with various public and private sector agencies, development partners and civil society organisations had set in motion several frameworks towards the realisation of this national target as the bank was convinced that only an integrated multi-sectoral approach could deliver the desired goals within the shortest time possible.

    Although, the survey indicated that appreciable gains have been made towards achieving the target since the launch of the strategy in 2010, with the formal financial inclusion increasing from 36.3% in 2010 to 43% in 2012 and 48.6% in 2016, a lot remains to be done, if the target is to be met as the total inclusion rate had only moved marginally from 53.7% in 2010 to 58.4% in 2016.

    In 2016, 58.4% of the nation’s adult population were financially served, leaving 41.6% financially excluded. The proportion of those who banked was 38.3%, those in the formal other category was 10.3% and those served by informal sector 9.8%.

    Over the years, the CBN has realised that several factors account for financial exclusion of the adult citizens.  These factors range from low financial literacy, cultural / religious barriers, difficulties in profitably serving excluded groups, high level of unemployment, security challenges, continuing high levels of informality in the economy, dearth of financial service points, to citizens’ distrust and lack of confidence in the system among many others.

    Consequently, since the launch of the strategy, the CBN, in conjunction with other stakeholders, has continued to fine tune her strategies towards meeting the national set target.

    In furtherance of such efforts, the CBN in January organised a two-day National Financial Literacy Stakeholders’ Conference in Abuja, with the aim of exposing participants in this national effort to Strategic policy documents, the bank, through the Financial Inclusion Secretariat, had developed to further enhance the financial inclusion agenda.

    Welcoming participants drawn from the financial sector regulators, banks and other financial service providers, development partners, organised consumer advocacy groups, partner Government Ministries, Departments and Agencies among other stakeholders, the Director, Consumer Protection Department, CBN, stated further that the conference was called to keep participants abreast with the growing sophistication of the financial market, the competitive environment in which financial service providers operated, among others.

    Highlighting further on the reason for the conference, the Director noted that it was for stakeholders to understand and seek ways of enhancing consumer confidence and trust in the financial services and to facilitate progress towards meeting the national set-target, as well as obtaining customer feedback on how best to implement policies set out to achieving the set targets.

    As noted by stakeholders at the conference, understanding the core reasons behind citizens’ absence in the nation’s financial ecosystem was very fundamental to the development of strategies towards reversing the trend as well as the success in the implementation of such strategies.

    This was more so as indications showed that over 270 Local Government Areas of the nation had no banking facility – the nation’s flagship and most patronised and accessible products among the financial inclusion services.

    The absence of banks in these Local Government Areas translates to the near-total absence of citizens in these Local Government Areas being included in the nation’s formal financial ecosystem.

    Reports by Enhancing Financial Innovation and Access (EFInA) survey in 2018 also indicated that not only were in access to financial services a hindrance to achieving the national target, a higher proportion of the financially-excluded, translating to about 46.5% resided in the rural areas, with varying levels in the different geo-political zones.  Yet, and paradoxically, these are the least likely areas to attract financial institutions and services, due to several factors ranging from sociological and security challenges to economic- scale from the financial service providers.

    The conference also noted that getting customers trust and confidence was fundamental to getting more citizens into the formal financial sector.

    This is because, except people believed in the message urging them to avail themselves of the opportunities in the formal sector – due to cultural and other related issues – the impact of the national drive could be minimal, since most of the excluded were women and rural dwellers with low literacy level.

    Even with the CBN’s launch of the Shared Agent Network Expansion Facility (SANEF) in collaboration with the Body of Bank Executives  which aims at deepening financial inclusion in rural areas, through nation-wide deployment of Agents, Licensed Mobile Money Operators and Super Agents, customer trust and confidence will still remain at the core of the success of the scheme.

    This deployment seeks to enable rural dwellers open bank account of their choice, deposit and receive money through a dedicated Point Of Sale (POS) points as well as other financial services within their locality.

    Despite the objectives of the scheme, as well as other efforts at reducing the financial-exclusion gap, each effort and plan must elicit trust and confidence if they are to make any meaningful impact.

    This is because trust and confidence are pivotal to the success of any effort meant at reducing the financial-exclusion gap because experience from failed community bank policies and other financial schemes whereby many citizens who had patronised such community banks and services in the rural areas lost their hard-earned money, had continued to have  a hang-on effect on patronage of the Money Agents who are seen more as individuals than as agents or representatives of the Deposit Money Banks.

    Trust and confidence must also be elicited if the financially-excluded are to patronise the efforts meant to bridge the gap in the formal financial gap because it takes trust and confidence in the authenticity and workability of a system for it to be patronised – especially, by those who are at the lower rung of the literacy ladder.

    Consequently, the regulatory bodies and service providers must,  as a matter of priority, put all necessary measures needed to engender trust and confidence in the nation’s financial sector.

    As stakeholders at the National Financial Literacy Conference agreed, other financial services like the Insurance Sector were not being patronised, mostly due to ignorance and other human and socio-cultural barriers.

    Similarly, these other products and services were not being patronised, despite the derivable benefits in these sector due, largely, to lack of trust and confidence in such products and services.

    It is therefore imperative that all the stakeholders in this national task put all it would take to elicit the trust and confidence of the people on the need to be financially-included, if this national target is to be met.

    Also, the service providers and regulatory agencies must ensure that disputes and challenges arising in the course of transactions in any of the services are expeditiously and faithfully resolved with the least room for distrust and lose of confidence by the citizens.

    Only by doing these will the millions that are yet to be enrolled into the nation’s formal financial sector be successfully accommodated before the year 2020.

     

    • Mohammed wrote from Abuja

  • ‘ISO re-affirms confidence in BoI’s processes’

    The Bank of Industry (BoI) has been re-certified to be ISO 9001:2015 QMS-compliant by the certification agency. This, it said is for adhering to Quality Management System (QMS) principles in delivering top class financial and advisory services.

    This ISO 9001:2015 QMS re-certification provides the Development Finance Institution (DFI) with world class platform to drive its business management tools to deliver efficient and effective business services to its customers.

    It is also an affirmation of its vision to be the leading African DFI operating under global best practices.

    To achieve this re-certification, BoI went through a painstaking and a rigorous process of reviewing, revamping and documenting its business processes, which helped to achieve the initial ISO 9001:2015 QMS certification in 2017.

    The ISO 9001:2015 QMS certification in 2017 is the latest version in QMS; a process made possible by BoI’s executive management’s commitment and disposition towards adoption and specialisation of best practices within the Institution.

    As a strategy-focused organisation, BoI said it will continue to re-invent and benchmark itself with global trends towards enhancing its service delivery profile to all its stakeholders.

    The Managing Director of BoI, Mr. Olukayode Pitan, said: “The re-certification marks the beginning of another three year QMS cycle within which we are expected to maintain and continually improve our management system. We have developed a framework to ensure that we maintain high standards and pass both the internal and external ISO audits as they take place within the cycle and beyond.”

  • Buhari: we must avert collapse of public confidence in judicial system

    Buhari: we must avert collapse of public confidence in judicial system

    President Muhammadu Buhari has asked the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) to work with the Federal Government to avert the collapse of public confidence in the justice system.

    Speaking while receiving the NBA National Executive Committee (NEC) at the State House yesterday in Abuja, the President warned that a collapse of public confidence in the justice system would have disastrous consequences for the entire country.

    In a statement by the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, the President said: “Let me reiterate that the collapse of public confidence in the justice system will have disastrous effects on our democracy and will negatively affect the capacity of the legal profession to thrive and flourish in the country.”

    In making a request to the NBA to ensure the highest form of discipline among its members, Buhari urged the body to ensure that all cases of indiscipline and corruption are tackled effectively.

    He expressed worries about allegations of the roles of some senior lawyers in attempts to corrupt judges and the judicial system.

    The President also gave assurances that his administration will keep operating on a foundation of the Rule of Law.

    The President urged the members of the legal profession, whom he described as opinion builders in their various communities, to work for the public enlightenment of the citizenry and to support the initiatives of government in sanitising the public services, improving standards of public accountability and the insistence on the normal standards of judicial integrity.

    He emphasised that government will continue to dwell on its programmes of a vigorous anti-corruption campaign; ensuring the recovery of looted national assets; prosecution of an effective and sustainable anti-terrorism war; and the institutionalisation of law and order in all aspects of our national life.

    Buhari thanked the NBA members for their support so far and urged them to do more in that regard.

    He noted the concerns raised by the NBA President and assured of his readiness to work with the Bar association and the Judiciary to achieve needed reforms.

    NBA President Abubakar Balarabe Mahmud, SAN, lauded Buhari for his confidence in the members of the association, considering the number of lawyers in high places in the administration.

    These included Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN; Secretary to the Government of the Federation Boss Mustapha; Chief of Staff to the President Abba Kyari; Attorney-General of Federation, Abubakar Malami, SAN, and five other ministers as well as the Permanent Secretary in the State House, Jalal Arabi.

    The NBA President also lauded the administration for its efforts and expressed the Bar’s continued support in the war against corruption, terrorism and general insecurity as well as the ongoing work to institute good governance and revamp the economy.

    He, however, brought to the attention of President Buhari NBA’s concerns on prisons’ congestion, the need for compliance with judicial decisions and the modus operandi of some of the anti-corruption agencies.

  • Tinubu: I’ve confidence in Buhari

    Tinubu: I’ve confidence in Buhari

    All Progressives Congress (APC) stalwart Asiwaju Bola Tinubu yesterday reiterated his confidence in President Muhammadu Buhari.

    He also denied any rift between him and the President.

    The former Lagos State Governor spoke with reporters at the State House in Abuja after a meeting with President Buhari.

    The meeting was a prelude to the party’s National Caucus meeting last night. Tinubu is a member of the Caucus.

    Today, the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) will meet.

    Tinubu said the APC government “is on course”, adding that there are a few steps left to attain happiness and Nigeria’s development.

    He said: “I just met with the President. Our discussion was fruitful, productive and it was about the country and leadership. And that got him excited and happy.”

    On the alleged crack in his relationship with the President and being sidelined by “a cabal”, Tinubu said: “Fake news. I have confidence in this President. There is no doubt about that. We worked hard to bring about the government. There are certain things that are unpredictable and those are things that can lend themselves to gossips, insinuations and all of that.

    ”But once you create leadership and it is functioning, you don’t have to babysit that leadership, unless there is a loss of confidence and I don’t have that.

    ”You know me. I’m not known to shy away from talking my mind and rebelling if it is necessary and taking charge of things that I believe are necessary. What is the myth in this leadership thing? What is cabal? It’s a myth. We are the party of the people for the people and by the people and this is a democratic environment.

    ”Each of us has our roles to play and that is why we are playing it. I don’t believe in the myth, I believe in confidence-building, the trust that we have in the President. In the journey of democracy you are going to have twists and turns, you are going to have conflicts.

    ”Conflict resolution mechanism is inbuilt on how you handle your party and the governance and the party are joined by the hips.” he said

    Asked whether he was at the Villa to mend fences ahead of the NEC meeting, he said: “Did I tell you that? Why do you want to know? Are you a member of our party?”

    On whether the APC was still on course, Tinubu said: “Can you go back to the history of 16 years of the PDP? APC government is on course and will remain on course and we will remain focused to those necessary things about development, welfare and progress of our people.

    “It is not easy to face the challenges and the well that was dug, sinkhole that we inherited. But we are sorting that one out gradually, so, few steps we will find happiness and development in the future of our country.

    Asked to speak on the different groups calling on the President to run, Tinubu said: “Don’t discuss that one with me.”

  • ‘Our confidence in this govt is waning’

    ‘Our confidence in this govt is waning’

    The Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) has said that the confidence labour has in the present administration when it came to power in 2015 is gradually waning, as all efforts geared towards fighting corruption have become a mirage.

    In a press statement signed by its National President, Bobboi Bala Kaigama and Secretary General, Musa-Lawal Ozigi, the labour leaders said Nigeria’s case has become that of “one-day one-trouble-kind of.”

    “Only recently some ministers made case for ‘No Work No Pay’ doctrine. Their argument was that they want to check the public service workers in the country. Just imagine, how do you tell a worker that has not been paid for six months to continue to borrow to transport himself or herself to job? How do you explain it that a country that is broke still pays twitter lawmakers over N29 million on a monthly basis. This is inhuman, wicked, derogatory and devilish,” they said.

    The union said that one way poverty can be addressed is when the wage of workers is increased even as it lamented that the last wage increase was in 2011.

    “Though due for review but some forces who take delight in using our children as political thugs have refused. They want the status-quo to remain- (master-servant relationship),” the union said.

    On bail out funds, TUC praised President Muhammadu Buhari for telling governors the gospel truth on how he feels about their failure to pay salaries and pensions despite the interventions of the Federal Government.

    The congress carpeted some state governors for asking for the release of 50 per cent of the Paris Club loan refund, even when they cannot account for the tranches already released to them.

  • Govt urged to restore investors’ confidence in power sector

    To achieve sustainable stable power supply, the Federal Government has been urged to restore investors’ confidence in the power sector by creating an environment that will encourage investors to invest, while ensuring the safety of their investments and profitability.

    The Global Business Director, Future Energy Nigeria, Ade Yusuf, gave the advice in Lagos.

    He said the recession or paucity of funds should not deter the government from encouraging investors to come into the sector.

    According to him, Nigeria’s energy sector and economy have a bright future.

    Future Energy Nigeria is a platform for stakeholders in the power sector. Yusuf was in Nigeria to meet decision makers to discuss the way forward for the Future Energy Nigeria’s event scheduled for November.

    Yusuf, who spoke with The Nation in Lagos, said the exited recession should have motivated the government and industry operators to ensure that basic measures to stimulate economic growth were put in place, adding that reliable and affordable power supply would drive the expected growth.

    He said the Nigerian Power Sector Recovery Programme was an important message to the world  that there would be significant improvement in power, and the achievement of the desired economic change with a more diversified and inclusive economy.

    According to him, sustainability of recovery programmes creates an important foundation to showcase the enormous business and investment opportunities that the sector provides.

    He said: “I am excited about Nigeria’s energy future. Future Energy Nigeria initiative wants to boost government’s drive to achieve sustainable energy security for the populace. We all know that there is a lot of work to do. We have to restore investor confidence, showcase the myriad of opportunities in the sector; from gas to renewable, from generation to distribution and from building projects to providing specialised services, but there is need for us as stakeholders including the government to stand together and make it happen.”

    Formerly West African Power Industry Convention (WAPIC), Future Energy Nigeria is supported by the Ministry of Power, Works and Housing, Transmission Company of Nigeria, Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission, Distribution Companies and prominent generation companies, among others.

  • ‘Government should restore confidence in Nigerians’

    ‘Government should restore confidence in Nigerians’

    Convener of the Coalition of Democrats for Electoral Reform (CODER) Ayo Opadokun, in this interview with MUSA ODOSHIMOKHE, explains why government must restore confidence in the people and tackle other urgent challenges facing the country.

    The Britain administration has been criticised for non performance. What is your assessment?

    I sympathised with Nigerians for understanding of the situation. I believe that people have good reasons to be unhappy with the situation. But, I also understand from my knowledge of the state of the country, when President Muhammadu Buhari took over power, that the degeneration in the living condition of our people and state of poverty had become so worrisome. Perhaps, if the last administration had remained in power for another six months, only God know what could have happened. As for President Buhari and state of the economy,  it is a fact that the measures being put in place have yielded immediate positive dividends. I think the government recognizes this fact and sympathized with Nigerian people, who are clamouring for a better deal. Therefore, economically, I think they need to think outside the box, to rescue the situation. That is not unmindful of the fundamentals that were not within the control of the Buhari’s government. It was not the Buhari’s government that instigated the upstaged agitation of the Niger Delta Avengers, that totally brought about the only mean of foreign exchange to the nation to the lowest ebb. When they broke pipes, they made it impossible and difficult for the economy to proceed as it ought to be. If that is the major means of the earning of our foreign exchange, the consequence could only be imagined. To make matters much difficult again, Nigeria operates a money economy as a result of the dubious, irresponsible and criminally minded economic policies of past administrations; Nigeria was only exporting crude oil which is responsible for over 80 per cent of its earnings. The price is controlled by the international market and whatever happened is due to market forces which Nigeria could not determine. So, we can understand that why such consequences are being faced by Nigeria each time the price of oil goes down at the international market. The recession that we are in now, I just want to sustain the hope of our people, what they claim is being done with 2017 budget, if it is judiciously implemented, perhaps we shall see Nigeria will be gradually lifted from recession. There are some Nigerians in the Buhari’s administration that can deliver and are already doing so. The Lagos State government for instance has been able to strike an anchored with the Kebbi State government to the extent that we now have the LAKE Rice. I can only image that if they continue and what Dangote Conglomerates are bout doing in rice, the Abakiliki rice production, I believe that matters of domestic food supply will be well tackled.

    What is your personal assessment of Buhari?

    The Buhari we used to know as military head of State can no longer be said to be the same Buhari. One can understand that there is a difference in age when he first came on board in December 1983 and he came back 2015. So, one can understand the gap. My first from all that I have seen is that perhaps he is no more in control of his government. What has happened over the confirmation of Ibrahim Magu as chairman of the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) is an indication that perhaps President Buhari is no more in control of his administration and he has a divided Presidency. We are all being treated as nonentity as a result of the disastrous consequence we had in the rejection the nomination of Magu by the Senate, in respect of one panel headed by the Attorney General of Nigeria (AGN). What this means is that Buhari did not do enough background check on Magu before he nominated him. That is an indictment on his leadership. Secondly, it does not help his image, that the Presidency sent a name to the Senate and yet, another arm of the Presidency went ahead to write very pretentious and dubious report on the nominee of the President. They should not imagine that some of us are fools, the AGN is part of the divided Presidency and you are asking him to the report of your divided Presidency. That is one part of the story, again when I look at the way President Buhari has handled security matter and people being beheaded, people being killed massively who say they are herdsmen in some instances like in Benue, Adamawa, Taraba and Kaduna, it is like ethnic cleansing. They will set fire to the homes of the indigenous owners, when they try to escape, they shot and kill them or slaughter them like fowls. They carried out this heinous act for many months until the belated action of the General Officer Commanding the First Division of the Army came to the rescue of the people of Southern Zaria. They have been telling us that they are on top of the situation, being in there normal rhetoric. The most important function of government in any modern state is the protection of lives; if it get to a situation where people had to resort to self help them government must have lost value.  You can understand the kind of agony some of us undergo because of the need to bring about decent society. The current republic we are in did not come so easy, some of us paid with their lives. Some paid with their blood, some with their liberty, and some with a lot of sacrifices. Because of our dedication to the restoration of democracy in Nigeria, we fought better living condition for our people. There is no doubt we have had a raw deal with the Nigerian Army generally. When they are not there directly, it is their agents, accolades, loyalists that they have sponsored. So, they are still in control and have done so much damage to our country.

    The President anti-corruption stance has been criticized as one-sided. Where did government get it wrong?

    Let President Buhari be reminded that the only worthy consideration he presently enjoys from both the international and the domestic community is the significant view that he has established commitment to fight corruption, as a marathon runner rather than a relay-racer. No doubt, his government economic policy measures have not produced expected positive results. We remain within the bracket of war ravaged areas of the world in spite of our being the 8th largest exporter of crude oil for almost 25 years. We exported averagely 2 million barrels per day at 100 USA. Yet Nigeria’s Human Development Index statistics and our GDP analysis is within that of countries like Afghanistan, Somalia, Sudan, Burundi, Congo etc. Thus, Buhari should appreciate that throwing out Magu, the leader of the Anti graft agencies to be so humiliated by the Senate leadership cadre whose membership are being prosecuted for criminal offences by the EFCC is counter-productive and unhelpful to the president’s image.

    Buhari gave many former governors and other politically exposed persons an undeserved platform to vent their anger against a productive public officer. Who else will want to be so vilified for helping Nigeria to tackle the menace that corruption has caused all of us. That the Nigerian state cannot provide any commensurate social services and infrastructure is because of corruption.

  • Victory affirmation of confidence in APC, says Ambode

    Victory affirmation of confidence in APC, says Ambode

    Lagos State Governor Akinwunmi Ambode has described the victory of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in weekend’s local government election as an eloquent affirmation of Lagosians’ confidence in the party.

    The APC recorded a clean sweep, winning all the 57 chairmanship seats.

    In a congratulatory message signed by his Chief Press Secretary Habib Aruna, Ambode said the victory is not just for democracy but for the people at the grassroots, who he said would experience continuity of delivery of dividends of democracy.

    He said: “This victory for us is nothing more than a confirmation of the trust that Lagosians have placed on the party. In that regard, I like to congratulate our great party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the landslide victory at the Saturday’s election in all the 57 Councils.

    “I particularly note with joy the peaceful conduct of the electorate who came out to exercise their franchise in favour of their preferred candidates despite the heavy rain. This is indeed a welcome development and it will go a long way to strengthening our resolve to push ahead with our vision to transform the Local Government system.

    “I am also happy that we are conducting the Local Government election during my time after almost six years that the election was last held in the state,” the governor said.

  • Osinbajo: we’ve confidence in economy

    Osinbajo: we’ve confidence in economy

    Acting President ‘Yemi Osinbajo said the administration has restored investors and business confidence in the economy.

    He said the government is committed to ensuring that the robust reforms introduced into the economy are implemented and targets achieved.

    He spoke at a seminar tagged: LCCI Presidential policy dialogue organised by the Lagos Chamber of Commerce & Industry (LCCI) in Lagos.

    He urged Nigerians to exhibit character as the government is convinced that, shortly the recession would be over. He saidthe economy is on recovery path and would come out robust, resilient, inclusive, diversified and not dependent on a mono economy.

    Osinbajo said the government is committed to creating an enabling environment and building a more prosperous nation and economy despite the recession.

    He said the recession was as a result of structural weakness in the economy occasioned by maladministration of the past.

    He said: “We have produced over 36 strategic interventions in agriculture, food security, improved transportation and strategic infrastructure development on rail, air and land. We also insist on consistency and integrity of processes in local productions by the Small Medium Enterprises. This is besides ensuring insisting that we add value to products where we have competitive advantage”.

    Represented by the Minister of Industry, Trade & Investment, Dr. OkechukwuEnelamah, the acting president said the government has special interest to assist women in business and special funding is needed to keep them afloat including job creation for youths.

    In her opening remarks, LCCI President, Mrs. Nike Akande said the Organised Private Sector (OPS) is a bit relieved to note that the short to medium term outlook for the nation’s economy is much better that what it was last year. She attributed it to the outcome of the series of new policy initiatives, engagements and consultations with key stakeholders and some positive developments in the external sector.

    She commended the adjustment in the forex exchange policy which has reduced the volatilities in the forex market.

    She said: “Investors confidence is on the upswing, liquidity in the forex has increased, there is better clarity in the policy direction, forex inflows are beginning to pick up. We are very confident that recent government initiatives on the ease of doing business would impact positively on the economy. We appreciate the setting up of the Presidential ease of Doing Business Council (PEBEC), we also commend the unveiling of the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) which articulates the economic policy direction of government. The OPS also applaud the recent Executive Order which is targeted at enhancing the investment climate and improving the Ease of Doing Business in Nigeria”.