2 weeks Ago By Guardian Nigeria
Minister of Industry, Trade and Investments, Dr Jumoke Oduwole, has said the ministry’s priority in the next 30 days is driving support for export businesses and bringing in fresh Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). Speaking on a television programme on Monday, she said FMITI was pivotal and a tripod of fiscal, monetary and trade/investment policies, which, she said, would lead to job creation, poverty alleviation and deepening of the economy. “I’ve been engaging with stakeholders and what we are prioritising in the first 30 days is supporting export businesses.
Our ministerial consultation session will take place on November 26 to articulate a firm strategy because we know it is important to consult and know where exporters’ pain points are. We have a fair idea already and intend to also re-introduce commodity exchanges for agriculture. I want to see export volumes and productivity go up as well as investment retention; verifiable investment inflows; productive jobs for youths; efficiency and transparency in public service delivery and total turnaround of agencies and departments under the FMITI and we will give it what it takes.
” She said trade facilitation, ease of doing business, support for productivity and competitiveness were all interlinked. “To increase competitiveness, we will prioritise retaining domestic investments, which are the best advertisements for our economy. When you make things easier in terms of a better regulatory environment, eliminate bureaucracy, and put in place legislative and judicial reforms among others; it makes businesses more comfortable and productive.
They can also scale and this will in turn attract FDI. We will also prioritise FDIs, track the trips that the president has undertaken in the last 17 months and see what comes out of those. Just last September, some of those earlier promises were actualised on the back of some of our monetary and fiscal policies,” she said.
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