From Basil Obasi, Abuja
The Federal Government has called on Japanese companies to take advantage of business opportunities that will be presented by the Special Economic Zones being established in various parts of the country.
The Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma, who disclosed this in Abuja, during a working visit by the Japanese Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr Sadanobu Kusaoke, reiterated that the Federal Government will grant incentives to encourage investments in the priority sectors listed in the recently released Economic Recovery and Growth Plan of the Federal Government.
According to a statement released by the media aide to the Minister, Mr. James Akpandem, Udoma explained that the plan is focused on achieving macroeconomic stability, transforming agriculture, driving sufficiency in energy, improving transportation infrastructure and growing industrialisation with attention on small and medium scale enterprises.
Udoma said: “Implementation is paramount in the realisation of the Plan objectives; therefore attention will be on prioritising the identified strategies, establishing a clear system of accountability, allocating resources to prioritised interventions, creating an enabling policy and regulatory environment and developing an effective monitoring and evaluation system to track progress.
The Plan is driven by some fundamental principles, including a focus on tackling constraints to growth; leveraging the power of the private sector and promoting national cohesion and social inclusion as well as allowing markets to function. “We believe in using the markets to drive the engine of the economy and allowing markets to work” he stated.
Ambassador Kusaoke in turn disclosed that Japanese companies have already indicated interest in investing in new areas and expanding existing ones in Nigeria’s business sector and pledged his country’s continued support for the Nigerian economy.