Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Otunba Adeniyi Adebayo has confirmed that Nigeria has been ranked among one of 14 African countries to develop an online investment guide: “iGuide Nigeria”, to help investors make better-informed decisions about investing in the country.
According to him, the iGuide Nigeria is an easy-to-use online platform which provides investors with up-to-date and pertinent information on the processes, procedures and basic costs of setting up and doing business in Nigeria.
“Further to the iGuide Nigeria platform, the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC) recently produced the “Book of States” to drive greater attention to subnational investment opportunities in Nigeria.
Delivering a keynote address at the virtual Nigeria-Britain Trade and Investment Expo with the theme: “Unlocking the Future of Anglo-Nigerian Trade” on Thursday, the Minister noted that there is a correlation between ease of doing business and economic prosperity of the country.
He said: “Given the strong correlation between the ease of doing business and economic prosperity, Nigeria believes in the value of proactive investment facilitation in encouraging domestic and foreign investments into the country.
The consistent efforts of the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) in collaborating with the relevant private and public sector institutions has resulted in the steady improvement in Nigeria’s position in the World Bank Ease of Doing Business ranking.
“Nigeria has recorded improvements in its business environment especially in the last 5 years, based on the World Bank’s assessment through its Doing Business Index. Nigeria’s ranking stood at 131 of 170 countries in 2020, up from 170 of 189 countries in 2016.
We have also recorded improvements in the World Bank’s Sub-National Doing Business assessment.”
Speaking on efforts to attract investors to the country, he disclosed that Nigeria has revised its bilateral investment treaty (BIT) model with the provision for investment facilitation inserted to institutionalise the principle of supporting investors to actualise their investments.
“This model is a ‘new generation’ BIT which highlights the economic development objectives of the government, and balances investors’ rights with obligations in a bid to ensure that Nigeria attracts Responsible, Inclusive, Balanced and Sustainable (RIBS) investments,”he said.
He said this compendium captures the competitive advantages and the key investment opportunities being promoted by each of Nigeria’s 36 States and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in an easily accessible format, to help investors better appreciate the investment potentials across Nigeria,”he added
“As part of efforts to modernize and upgrade our One Stop Investment Centre (OSIC), we are in the pilot which is aimed at achieving a speedy resolution of investors’ problems by bringing together the investors and government agencies required to resolve their issues into a “laboratory” until the issue is resolved. The OSIC Lab should help us drive practical policy reform, protect existing and prospective investments, encourage investments and create and protect jobs.
“Furthermore, Nigeria is an active player in informal engagements at the World Trade Organization (WTO) on Investment Facilitation for Development (IFD), an initiative that emphasizes increasing investments for sustainable development in developing countries through proactive investment facilitation.
“We are optimistic that Nigeria will move further up and maintain a rate of improvement of 10 places per annum to become a top 100 contender in 2023,” he said.
Adebayo said President Muhammadu Buhari was committed to improving the implementation of various trade facilitation programs at all levels, pointing out that the National Trade Facilitation Committee (NTFC) is conferred with the mandate of resolving issues affecting trade facilitation at domestic and WTO level.
“With its five-year framework for Trade Facilitation Reform, the committee is dedicated to ensuring simplification, modernization and harmonization of trade documents and procedures for easy flow of goods and services in International Trade,”he said.
The Minister said his ministry was strategically focussing on implementation of reforms and policies aimed at improving the ease of doing business to mitigate investors concern and accelerating additional inflow of investment and volumes of trade.
