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Tag: Okechukwu Enelamah

  • A scorecard on business environment, sustainable growth

    In all his nearly four years at the helm of the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, Okechukwu Enelamah has been driven by the need to improve Nigeria’s business environment for sustainable economic growth.

    “When I became minister, I promised that my vision for the Ministry is for it to be seen as the Ministry of Enabling Environment,” he says. “We aspired to make Nigeria one of the most attractive places to do business in Africa and even the world by improving the business environment.”

    Backed by President Muhammadu Buhari’s commitment to a more conducive and attractive business environment in Nigeria, the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) was established under the chairmanship of Vice President Yemi Osinbajo. As Vice Chairman of PEBEC, the Minister is actively involved in Nigeria’s ongoing efforts to achieve a sub-100 ranking by the World Bank on Ease of Doing Business.

    Recently, he was in Lagos to launch the REPORTGOV.NG App, an official public service feedback and complaints platform to support business climate reforms implemented by the Council since 2016. The platform is to facilitate the escalation and resolution of issues encountered with Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) towards ensuring a more business-friendly environment.

    PEBEC has also commenced the fourth 60-day National Action Plan (NAP 4.0) on Ease of Doing Business (EoDB).

    The NAP 4.0 aims to further reduce the challenges encountered by SMEs and businesses in areas such as starting a business; access to credit; paying taxes; enforcing contracts or trading within and across borders; amongst others, by eliminating critical bottlenecks and constraints.

    The first, second and third National Action Plans resulted in significant progress, and the fourth National Action Plan is anticipated to strengthen these ongoing reforms.

    The concerted efforts at improving the ease of doing business have paid off. Among the achievements are improvements in Nigeria’s business regulatory environment. The country rose 24 places from 169 to 145 in the World Bank’s 2018 Ease of Doing Business Index; its highest jump in the history of the rankings.

    And although Nigeria ranks 146 in the latest Doing Business rankings, the country’s Distance-to-Frontier (DTF) score, which is the absolute metric, improved from 51.52 in Doing Business 2018 to 52.89 in 2019.

    In all areas of the Ministry’s mandate, there are ongoing reforms but Enelamah is able to keep his eye on all the balls.

    The mandate of the Ministry is creating an enabling business environment for businesses to thrive; implementing the Nigerian Industrial Revolution Plan (NIRP); attracting long-term local and foreign investment; encouraging expansion of MSMEs; and promotion of global and regional value chains that enhance trade.

    One of the silent reforms of the Ministry is in intellectual property, such as trademarks and patents, an area key to ensuring an enabling environment for business. It entails the development of a National Intellectual Property Policy for Nigeria; modernisation of the legal framework to capture existing treaty obligations of Nigeria; extending the coverage of the law to more recent developments; and the modernisation of the administrative regime for IP in Nigeria.

    In the past, stakeholders were encountering problems such as delays and lack of clarity about processes, poor state of records, which were not digitized, making for ease of destruction and loss, as well as difficulties with access and retrieval of records. These necessitated urgent transformation of the administrative processes within the Commercial Law Department of the Ministry and, indeed, the structure and operations of the Department.

    Among the early achievements are streamlining of the Registries as separate Registries (Patents & Designs, and Trademarks) with different registrars in accordance with the Acts establishing them. This has made for better accountability; and the backlog of applications for registration and issuance of certificates for accepted and unopposed applications dating back to 2014 has been cleared by the registries. It has also relieved stakeholders of frustrations and restored their confidence in the registries.

    For the first time since the Trademarks Act came into force some 51 years ago, an Annual Report on Trademarks has been issued. Total files digitized as at October 31, 2018 was 266,318: made up of 16,650 files from the Registry of Patents and Designs; and 249,668 files from the Registry of Trademarks.

    The importance of industrialisation in Nigeria’s economic growth has never been in doubt, yet its contribution to Gross Domestic Product has been low. With a commitment to making Nigeria competitive for local production and thereby increasing the contribution of manufacturing to GDP, the Ministry has been leveraging the country’s comparative advantage and factor endowments.

    To accelerate industrial development, the ministry, which has embarked on an aggressive implementation of the Nigeria Industrial Revolution Plan, initiated the establishment of the Nigeria Industrial Policy and Competitiveness Advisory Council aimed at increasing the contribution of the manufacturing sector to GDP by 250 per cent over a five-year period, and establish Nigeria as the manufacturing hub for West Africa, by implementing initiatives aimed at accelerating industrialization,  leveraging private sector expertise and capital.

    In the last four years, there have been sustained efforts to build capacity, increase access to finance and eliminate bottlenecks to conducting business in Nigeria. Some of the achievements in support of MSMES include the inauguration of the National Council on Micro Small & Medium Enterprises (NCMES) for more focus on MSMES.

    The Ministry has increased access to finance for MSMES by providing capital for both start-ups and expansion through the interventions of the Bank of Industry and the World Bank-funded Growth and Employment (GEM) Project.

    The Bank of Industry, which is an agency of the Ministry, provides relatively low-interest rate and innovative financing solutions as incentives towards stimulating interest and growth of entrepreneurship.

    The bank’s disbursements are to 11 sectors, including food processing, agro- processing, healthcare and petrochemicals, solid minerals, N-Power, the creative industry and gender business amongst others.

    The capital needed to transform Nigeria to the country of our dreams cannot be funded entirely by the government so the ministry has reached far and wide across the globe for the needed capital through active partnership with the private sector.

    Investment sourcing capabilities of the Nigeria Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC) have been strengthened with a focus on proactively targeting and attracting domestic and international investors and investments. NIPC is also actively providing after-care support for businesses in Nigeria.

    Recent achievements include the attraction of US$73.08 billion proposed investments for 65 projects in 18 states and the FCT; and the signing of MoUs with United Kingdom, Germany, and China for investment commitments totaling several billions of dollars.

    To accelerate the Nigeria Industrial Revolution Plan, a project to develop world-class Special Economic Zones to position Nigeria as the pre-eminent manufacturing hub in sub-Saharan Africa, and a major exporter of made in Nigeria goods and services regionally and globally, was initiated.

    Called Project MINE, (Made in Nigeria for Exports), it is to aid structural transformation of the Nigerian economy by increasing the manufacturing sector’s contribution to GDP to 20 per cent by 2025; contribute to sustainable inclusive growth by creating 1.5 million new direct manufacturing jobs in the initial phase; and to increase and diversify non-oil foreign exchange earnings to at least US$30bn annually by 2025, by increasing manufacturing sector exports.

    In February, the Federal Government signed investment agreements with three Development Finance Institutions; Afreximbank, Bank of Industry and the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) for the development of the project.

    The three DFIs are among the five to partner with Nigeria SEZ Investment Company Limited (NSEZCO) and the Ministry of Finance Incorporated. The other investment partners are Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) and African Development Bank (AfDB). NSEZCO intends to raise at least US$500million in equity over the first five years in order to execute its ambitious strategy of becoming the leading investor in special economic zones in Africa.

    The projects in the pilot phase include Enyimba Economic City, Funtua Cotton Cluster and Lekki Model Industrial Park. Pre-development studies have also commenced in other locations such as Benue, Kwara and Sokoto States and are about to commence in other locations such as Ebonyi, Edo and Gombe States.

    In recognition of the interrelationship between industrialisation and trade as key drivers for economic growth, the Ministry established the Nigeria Office for Trade Negotiations (NOTN) to address challenges arising from the absence of a coordinated and integrated approach to trade policy negotiations.

    Laudable as these reforms are, the proof of their desired relevance in the socio-economic development of the country will be their continuity in an environment plagued by policy reversals.

     

    • Daniels is the Strategy and Communications Adviser of the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment.

  • ‘Why Enelamah couldn’t attend Abia APC activities’

    The inability of the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr. Okechukwu Enelamah, to attend day- to- day activities of the All Progressive Congress (APC) in Abia state was due to his tight schedules, an associate has confided.

    The associate pointed out the minister in the last four years operated a very tight work schedule given the nation’s desire to diversify the economy, which has compelled him to lead the foreign investment drive.

    However, the associate added, this has not stopped him from playing his roles as one of the party leaders from the state.

    He pointed out the minister has always been represented in all activities of the party in his state.

    Some party chieftains in the state have advised against his reappointment accusing him of not committed to the party and exhibiting indifference to party- related issues.

    Reacting to the call to the President to drop the minister, the associate said: “I don’t know the reason for all the noise and being sponsored by clandestine people.

    “There are some party leaders who are gingering this bickering of the political machinery of the state.

    Read Also: Ambode hails Lagosians for remaining steadfast with APC

    “He has supported the state in all capacities, it may not be money, but the economic dividend of his position will however manifest in the state.”

    Enelamah, the associate added, has done very well for the state in area of attracting federal government project and other investment opportunities.

    “That he does not answer to day- to- day activity of the party in the state does not make him an absent member

    “This is a man who jets out of this country making sure that foreign investment profile is internationally recognised and reasonable, but then he has his foot soldiers all over.

    “I can assure you that he is well represented in any capacity concerning the affairs of the party.

    “His physical presence may not really matter but he is well represented in all the political party activities.

    “He has done so much for the state and we looking at the dividends of democracy, I personally have brokered a meeting between him and the party executives and he has carried them all along.

    “He vowed that in the whole state in the east no state will benefit anything more than Abia state.

    “In every aspect of democracy Abia has benefitted. Among the achievements of the Minister in Abia state is the Eyimba economic free zone that has the capacity of employing more than seven thousand Abians.

    “These are projects that are beyond party affiliations irrespective of who is in power, it is for economic benefit of the state by extension the nation, he has so much laid emphasis on made in Aba products which attracted the presence of the federal government by incessant visit of the Vice President who has constantly represented President Muhammedu Buhari in that capacity knowing the potentials of Abia, Aba when it comes to Made in Nigeria goods.”

    He associate added: “He has also gone across board to make sure investors come to recognise the potentials of Aba and has laid so much foundation for complete potentials, harnessing the potentials for Aba for the near future.

    “There are so much road infrastructural facilities which he has attracted by way of Abia state being one of the states of the NDDC.”

  • Abia APC counters moves to reappoint Enelamah minister

    The Abia State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has disassociated itself from the moves by the President Muhammadu Buhari government to name Mr. Okechukwu Enelamah, current Nigeria’s Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment as a member of his new government.

    The party who accused Enelamah of being less concerned with activities of the party in the state in the last three years, also called on the National Chairman of the party, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole to ensure that Abia gets a minister who is committed to the interest and growth of party in the next Federal Cabinet.

    The APC Publicity Secretary in the state, Comrade Benedict Godson while addressing journalists said that most of the problems faced by the party in the state during the last election were due to Enelamah’s non-commitment and lackadaisical approach to the party’s issues.

    “We have a minister on paper, but nobody feels his Impact. Throughout the campaigns, he showed no interest. He supposed to help in the building of this party, but he has remained unconcerned and lackadaisical to the interest of APC. He’s practically not an APC member.

    Read Also: SAN faults transfer of Abia APC tussle suit

    “Now he is being projected again to return as a minister which should not be so. We disown him because he’s a saboteur to our party here in Abia. His attitude is serving the interest of the opposition.

    “We call for his immediate removal and as for the plans of reappointing him, we wish to tell the presidency that APC is too big with so many qualified members for us to be appointing none members.”

    Speaking further, Godson said, “Enelamah is not a member of our party and should not be appointed as a minister again. No APC member in Abia knows his way about.

    “He has never attended any APC meeting. He kept saying he is a democrat and not a politician, but the issue here is if people didn’t bring out themselves to work, campaign and mobilize for APC would he be waiting for appointment now?

    “If everyone had remained nonchalant, unconcerned and relaxed as he was and claimed that they’re all not politicians, would APC had won the election? We must call a spade a spade you cannot reap where you didn’t sow.

    “We are saying that he should be replaced with a real APC man who believes in the interest of the party and has worked for the growth of the party. He was used against us by the opposition who usually celebrate that Abia APC is missing in the Federal Executive Council and that they have the man’s support in the state.

    “We are therefore calling on President Muhammadu Buhari, our Party Chairman, Adams Oshiomhole and the leader of our party in Abia, Dr. Orji Uzor-Kalu to look into this matter and safe the party from impending trouble should Enelamah be reinstated.

    “Another issue is that this minister is also from the same constituency with Nigeria’s ambassador to the Republic of Ireland, Dr. Uzoma Elizabeth Ikechi Emenike who also doesn’t do anything for the party after getting appointment with the platform of APC. There are many qualified APC members all over Abia.

    “How can this party grow to the desired level when people who ought to make things easier believe that they can get appointed to any position by sitting on the fence? We can on all those concerned to look into this matter and save our party for future opportunities ahead.”

  • Stakeholders again oppose signing ACFTA

    …It’s time to act now – Osinbajo

     

    Some business stakeholders on Monday insisted that it was still too early for Nigeria to sign the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement (ACFTA).

    They bared their minds during the 8th Presidential Quarterly Business Forum held at the old Banquet Hall of the State House, Abuja.

    President Muhammadu Buhari had last week disclosed that he will soon sign the agreement on behalf of Nigeria.

    While accepting that the agreement will be good for Nigeria in the long run, the stakeholders maintained that many things still need to be put in place in the country before Nigeria can sign the agreement.

    Read Also:Nigeria to sign ACFTA agreement in Rwanda

    Among the infrastructures they want in place, include good interstate roads, power, access to ports, efficient rail transportation in the country.

    If care is not taken, they warned that Nigeria will eventually become a dumping ground.

    Speaking at the interactive session, the Chairman of NEPAD Business Group and former President of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Chief Mrs. Nike Akande said Nigeria is not ready for the agreement until Nigeria’s goods and services are competitive enough.

    She pointed out that the government cannot do it alone, otherwise the country will become a dumping ground.

    According to her, good infrastructure is key to promoting trade and investment.

    Also speaking, the Vice President of the North-West Zone of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), Engineer Ibrahim Usman, said “We are not against signing the agreement, but if we don’t get this right, we will be in trouble.

    “We agree that the agreement is for services and not goods. If things are still work in progress, why the hurry?” he queried

    He also urged the government to urgently conduct three studies including export market survey, study on national economic industrial product survey and study of liberalization on manufacturing in the country as a whole.

    The Director-General of the National Office of Trade Negotiations, Chiedu Osakwe also noted that there are longstanding issues in the Nigerian economy that must be addressed first.

    Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, pointed out that this is the time for Nigeria to act on the agreement.

    According to him, Nigeria cannot afford to take the back seat on the issue.

    Stressing that some of the fears expressed are not out of place, he said “While the engine is running, we are not going to wait. I think this is the time to go ahead and do something about it.”

    The Vice President said that the current administration has invested massively on infrastructures in the country.

    The Minister of Trade and Investment, Okechukwu Enelamah, said that the agreement is a ticket to play.

    He also disclosed that there would be more engagements on the agreement with the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) and other stakeholders.

    The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, who noted that the government started at the point of recession, said that the government is focused and has momentum.

    The government, he said, is supporting business in Nigeria to do what it does best.

    Whether the agreement is signed or not, he pointed out that Nigeria is already doing international trade with so much goods and services already leaving the shores of Nigeria on a daily basis.

    Stressing that if other smaller countries with less infrastructures and resources are ready and have signed the agreement, he raised a poser if Nigeria wants to play in the Olympics or Paralympics.

    According to him, the present administration is making headway in critical infrastructural developments in the country.

    Stressing that power in the country has been improved, he said that the conversation has changed from lack of power to how to distribute the excess generation.

    According to him, only 14 private sectors in Nigeria have indicated interest to take advantage of getting their power directly from the Gencos.

    On road projects, he said “There is no state in Nigeria where the government is not building at least one major road or the other.”

    The roads, he said are leading to international borders around the country.

     

  • FEC okays N192.9 billion for roads, bridges 

    The Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting on Wednesday approved N192.9 billion for roads and bridges in the country.

    This was disclosed by the Minister of State for Power, Works and Housing, Mustapha Shehuri, at the end of FEC meeting chaired by President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

    Shehuri was with the Minister of State for Aviation, Hadi Sirika, Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Okechukwu Enelamah and the Senior Special Assistant on Media and publicity, Garba Shehu.

    He said that FEC approved N5.9 billion for the construction of 16.7 kilometers Suleja-Chaaza-Banguru road and spur to Rafinsayin in Niger State.

    “It also provided for 15 meters of bridge construction,” he added.

    He went on “Another memo approved is the dualization of Ilorin-Jebba-Mokwa-Bokani road in Kwara and Niger states to CGC at the cost of N130 billion. The contract’s life span is 36 months.

    “The Council also approved construction of Ibi Bridge across River Benue connecting Taraba and Plateau states at the cost of N57 billion.” he stated

    Enelamah said that FEC also approved memo for effective implementation of project ‘Made in Nigeria’ for export.

    He said that it was aimed at developing world class export oriented special economic zones in the six geopolitical zones of Nigeria.

    “The plan is to begin the development of those economic zones across the six geopolitical zones as follows: Lagos, Katsina, Abia, Calabar, Kano.

    “In addition, the Council also approved pre-development work in develop of Green Field Special Economic Zone in Akwa  Ibom, Benue, Ebonyi, Edo, Gombe, Kwara, and Sokoto states with further roll out to other states in phase two.” he said

    He said that FEC approved payments to consultations totalling N2.655 billion for various projects that will be undertaken by different consultations that will lead to implementation of these zones.

    He added “This is for one set of consultants. The aggregate amount which includes another set is N3.172 billion for all the special economic zones

    “The total budget for developing these zones will be in excess N250 billion and it will include partners.This is going to be done through something called The Nigerian Special Economic Zones Company Limited, which is a public private partnership.

    “The Federal Government is going to own 20 percent of that company and AFRIEXIM bank is going to be a shareholder and other investors like the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority and other international investors. It is going to be developed in such a way that it will be world class. We are going to see rapid implementation now that council approval has been obtained,” he said.

    He said that his Ministry also got approvals for two specific things including strict compliance with the provisions of Executive Order 001 and that all Ministries Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to respond to complains within 72 hours timeline on government portal.

    On the Brookings report that Nigeria has already overtaken India as the country with the largest number of extreme poor in early 2018, Enelamah said “I think first, we need to understand when we get these reports that there are reports that are lagging in indicators which means, people are reporting on history. There are reports that are leading indicators which means that they are forward looking and of course, there reports that capture generally what you do which is current. They are actually dealing with what is current. So, when you get reports from Brooking institutes or all sorts of people, you need to look at the context.

    “Somebody may have written a report when we were in recession. Remember that if you are in a recession, what it means is that even though, your population is growing, people don’t stop procreating, your growth fact, which means that in theory depending on how they run those numbers, you will be going the other way.

    “There is absolutely no question that there an urgency to create employment in Nigeria. And it has to be a collective responsibility. What I can tell you, with certainty based on ones background in business and economics, is that if we complete the things on infrastructure and you implement these reports we are doing, that is what I mean by a leading indicator, poverty will go down.

    “There is no magic to it. But you have to do it first, you have put in the infrastructure, you have to implement the economic programme which is what will create the opportunities, they don’t drop from the sky. So, I think we should roll up our sleeves as a people and do the work because, if we don’t do it, our people continue to bear children obviously, they would get poorer.

    “So, I don’t think we should kill ourselves that poverty is something just happen. I think comes out of the urgent need we have as a country which is why we are focusing as a government to make sure that we create the enabling environment, the infrastructure that and the things that are required to create opportunities for our people and I believe that will happen in the process of time,” he said.

    Sirika said that Council approved N993 million to build simulator house for the point 373 simulator already procured in Zaria.

    According to him, the Council also noted the seasonal rain prediction report by NIMET towards giving accurate rainfall across the country.

    Garba Shehu disclosed that the Minister of Education got one approval for JAMB.

    He said “JAMB had run computer-based tests for people who seek admissions into universities in order to stop leakages and all that. They have started to set up their infrastructures for conducting those examinations.

    “Today, they requested for government to buy one of the Computer Based Test (CBT) organizations at N133 million including infrastructure and equipment.

    “The effort is that JAMB wants to take total control of all these examinations in order to avoid leakages,” he stated.

    He also disclosed that the Council approved N353 million for the procurement of 32 meter turntable ladder to fight fire up-to 12 floors in the FCT

     

  • FEC okays N185 billion for 14 roads 

    …2018 Budget to be signed next week

     

     

    The Federal Executive Council (FEC) on Wednesday approved N185 billion for the rehabilitation, construction and repairs of 14 roads across the country.

    The Special Adviser on Media and publicity, Femi Adesina, disclosed this to State House correspondents at the end of FEC meeting chaired by President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

    He also said that arrangement has been finalized to sign the 2018 Appropriation Bill into law by President Buhari next week.

    Read Also:FEC okays N1.6b for 68 anti-smuggling vehicles

    According to the Attorney General of the Federation, Malami Abubakar, Nigeria will soon get another repatriation of $500 million.

    He said that FEC also approved N500 million for lawyers who represented the Federal Government and succeeded in recovering N330 billion from MTN.

    The Minister of Trade and Investment, Okechukwu Enelamah, said that FEC approved construction of phase 2 of the industrial training fund centre in Abuja at a cost N6.5 billion.

    Details Later…

  • Minister to face House panel over breach of waiver policy

    Minister to face House panel over breach of waiver policy

    Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment Okechukwu Enelamah is to face an ad hoc panel of the House of Representatives over the concession policy for backward integration on sugar this week, it was learnt yesterday.

    The House said its intervention was necessitated by the discovery of infractions of the policy, whereby some key participants have been found to have shortchanged the country.

    The Abiodun Olasupo-led committee is expected to examine the records of the Industry, Trade and Investment to unearth the truth about the policy between 2013 and 2016.

    Speaking at a news briefing during the weekend, Olasupo said the panel is desirous of uncovering the companies that were granted the waiver.

    “Everyone involved with the policy have to explain why the policy has failed or why it has not been effective.”

  • Budget: Reps insist on minister’s appearance

    Budget: Reps insist on minister’s appearance

    House of Representatives said on Thursday it should not be held responsible for the late passage of the 2018 Appropriation Bill.

    The lawmakers said they are ready to accept the President’s request for speedy passage of the budget.

    However, to ensure early passage of the budget, the House said heads of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) must respond swiftly to its invitation for budget session without undue excuses.

    The warning followed the refusal of House Committee on Commerce to sit down with the Minister of State for Industry, Trade and Investment, Aisha Abubakar, who represented the Minister, Okechukwu Enelamah, at the Committee’s budget session.

    Before the appearance of the Minister of State, the Committee Chairman, Sylvester Ogbaga, had warned that heads of MDAs that failed to appear for budget session would put their agencies in danger of having zero allocation for 2018.

    He said Enelamah had never found it necessary to honour the Committee’s invitation for budget session.

    The Committee refused to question Abubakar on the budget despite allowing her to present the ministry 2018 budget proposal.

     

  • Quality of goods, services will no longer be compromised – Enelamah

    Quality of goods, services will no longer be compromised – Enelamah

    Quality of goods and services will no longer be compromised in Nigeria, Dr Okechukwu Enelamah, the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, has said.

    Enelamah made the assertion at the 1st Nigeria National Quality Award ( NiNQA ) in Lagos.

    NiNQA was launched on April 20 and developed within the National Quality Project in Nigeria ( NQIP ).

    NQIP is a 12 million Euros project funded by the European Union ( EU ) and implemented by United Nations Industrial Development Organisation ( UNIDO ) as part of the strategies to increase awareness on quality and standard in Nigeria.

    Enelamah, represented by Mrs Omololu Opeyemi, the Director, Nigeria Commodity Exchange, said the focus of government and enterprises should be on product quality and service delivery.

    He said that the award by UNIDO was apt, especially as the nation’s economy has stabilised, adding that such programme was needed for sustainability.

    The minister said that the Federal Government would continue to make giant strides toward improving the ease of doing business in the country.

    He noted that the enterprising spirit of Nigerians would be more productive without hurdles in their path.

    Enelamah said that this was the government’s strategic policy for industrial development with the cooperation and partnership with international bodies like UNIDO for effective development of industrial initiatives toward impacting the economy.

    The minister said that government recently embarked on an industrialisation programme to increase the contribution of manufacturing sector to Gross Domestic Products ( GDP ) in the next five years.

    According to him, the initiative will make Nigeria a manufacturing hub for West Africa region and diversification of the economy will be driven through the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan ( ERGP ).

    He said that the plan was to periodically review economic performance, opportunities, trends and challenges within the sector toward providing innovative intervention to boost investment and productivity.

    “Confidence building for creating trust is critical in enabling environment for investment and competitiveness.

    “The Nigeria National Quality Award initiative is a veritable tool in building both local and international trust in Nigeria for enhanced development,” he said.

    In his remarks, Mr Jean Bakole, the UNIDO Director in Nigeria, said trade has been identified as a driver of economic growth and good quality was essential for local, regional and international market.

    Bakole said that the award seeks to increase awareness on quality standards, contribute to consumers’ confidence in Nigerian products and promote healthy competition among manufacturers and service providers.

    According to him, quality ensures promotion of best management practices and supports private and public sector organisations to develop and implement best management practices.

    He said that criteria for the award were based on national and international standards like ISO 9000 Quality Management System and ISO 9004.

    Bakole said that quality ensures competitiveness, economic growth and improved living standards for consumers.

    He said that UNIDO was committed to assist Nigeria in its journey to quality toward boosting participation in global trade.

    Also, Mr Babatunde Irukera, the Director-General, Consumer Protection Council ( CPC ), said that UNIDO, through its activities, was erecting a building blocks that changes consumerism in the country.

    Irukera said that the award would drive corporate obligatory responsibility that calls for quality in every facet of interaction with a product or service.

    NAN

  • Osinbajo seeks collaboration of 3 tiers of govt.

    Osinbajo seeks collaboration of 3 tiers of govt.

    Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has called for collaboration of the three arms of government to resolve issues of arbitration to further advance ease of doing business in Nigeria.

    Osinbajo made the call during the Abuja Stakeholders Engagement Forum on the Ease of Doing Business which held in Abuja on Tuesday.

    According to him, businesses face legal constraints which delay their progress in advancing their investments.

    “We have a real problem with the adjudicatory process and we have to resolve it by gaining collaboration between the legislature, executive and the judiciary.

    “The good thing is that there is a recent decision on arbitration and how you can question arbitration processes, but we need to advance that.

    “At the end of the day, if you do not have a system that can resolve disputes efficiently why should anybody worry about bringing in anything at all.

    “It is something that we need to work on and must just keep our focus on it.’’

    Cue out audio

    The Vice President also criticised the lack of understanding of business processes by officials and agencies thus creating problems for investors.

    He specifically listed customs and immigrations as the agencies that attention should be focused on to tackle the issue.

    “We have to look at our agencies carefully.

    “We have been looking at Customs and Immigration especially at the airports and the different ports and I think that we really need to ramp up that particular aspect of our work.”

    Osinbajo, who also pointed out that bureaucracies and negative attitude by personnel should be dealt with, said that no sector should do things without active collaboration with other stakeholders.

    He, however, noted that there was also the need to get more people that would make suggestions and criticise when necessary for the improvement of the business environment.

    In his remarks, the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr Okechukwu Enelamah, acknowledged that the new business indices in Nigeria was encouraging.

    Enelamah said that engagement, communication as well as political will were needed to consolidate on the gains.

    The Controller-General of Nigeria Immigration Service, Mr Mohammed Babandede, said between July and September alone the service issued 11,000 visas on arrival which was more than what was done in the past two years.

    Acting Registrar-General of the Corporate Affairs Commission, Lady Azuka Azinge, in a good will message restated the commission’s resolve to make business registration easy and fast.