Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr. Doris Uzoka-Anite said Nigeria had secured an investment commitment of over $30 billion in the last one year.
She spoke on plans to establish commercial courts across the country to adjudicate business cases.
She said the government had approved ₦430 million to fix the Lagos International Trade Fair Complex, adding that the complex would host the next trade fair, which it last did in 2010.
The minister said the government had sent a strong message that Nigeria has become a big player for investors.
Uzoka-Anite further explained that the Federal Government has invested $3.5 million to unlock the textile and apparel industry.
She also said it would introduce the ‘light up‘ campaign to boost the power situation for Small and Midsize Enterprises (SMEs).
The minister said the country would build a strong capital market for the creation of a robust economic and industrial base to catalyse a £1 trillion GDP
Anite said: “Nigerians in Diaspora remit between $20-25 billion annually according to the World Bank.
“We are now set to host the Nigeria Investment Summit, which is a platform to connect domestic and global investors to Nigeria.”
Anite added: “A lot of our industrial clusters are still not connected to efficient and affordable power supply.
“We are flagging off our ‘Light Up’ campaigns starting with the Agbara Industrial zone, which is not connected to the power grid. We are connecting it to the power grid.
“We will connect the Danwanu market in Kano to captive gas power. We are connecting the Nnewi Industrial Cluster to gas.
“There is gas in the Southeast and Southsouth, yet many of the clusters in the region are not connected to efficient gas supply.
“The government will continue to focus on supporting industries until all industrial hubs have electricity and gas to manufacture cheaper and be more competitive.
“Many industries generate their own power with their diesel generating sets, but when these industries are connected to a captive power, their distributed cost lowers the cost of production by two- third.
“The ministry’s mandate is focused around six pillars of growth, which are; support and facilitation to improve ease of doing business, development of policies and reforms, increased access to financing, increased access to global markets, driving investments, and increasing job creation which all play a significant role in the delivery of Mr President’s 8-Point Agenda.
“Towards this end, the ministry is implementing initiatives which are focused on improving the business environment and competitiveness, driving innovation, boosting exports, increasing domestic and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and enhancing regional and global trading by leveraging international cooperation.
“In creating an enabling environment for businesses to thrive, we re-launched the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) under the office of Vice President Kashim Shettima, demonstrating our commitment to supporting and growing businesses.
“Under this council, we are striving to ensure that doing business in Nigeria is easier than ever, as we focused on improving infrastructural capacity such as power and transport, as well as soft infrastructure such as policies and frameworks to ensure accountability, transparency in regulation, policy consistency, the rule of law, and to create a culture of efficient collaboration and synergy among various government agencies and offices.
“This, we believe, will facilitate an environment where business operations are not hindered by red tape but rather can continue to thrive.
“Nigeria’s investment landscape is now witnessing a significant influx of foreign capital, aligning with the Renewed Hope agenda.
“We have secured investment commitments of over $30 billion so far across multiple sectors of the economy.
“In addition, the ministry is taking decisive and structured steps to attract capital investments which will transform our homegrown enterprises and industries into global players.
“We have concluded stakeholder engagements with our domestic private equity and asset management firms towards the launch of an Investment Mobilisation Initiative aimed at increasing local and foreign investment as a catalyst for economic growth.”
She said with the abundance of debt capital for MSMEs to access as loans, there is still a paucity of equity capital which is the real investment capital that will unlock ideas into unicorns.
“Globally, MSME growth is witnessed in countries where private equity capital is readily accessible to businesses.
“The President has laid the foundation to boost the growth of industries and we are building on this foundation to increase private equity capital formation, hence the reason for initiating the Nigeria diaspora fund,” Uzoka-Anite said.
