Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, has said the Muhammadu Buhari administration has spent N3.5 trillion on infrastructure in the last three years.
The vice president disclosed this, yesterday, when he spoke at the first Nigeria-UK Economic Development Forum (EDF), hosted by the Federal Government, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Speaking on government’s efforts to boost investor confidence in the economy and improve the business environment, Osinbajo said, “as a government, we are not unmindful of the challenges that have hindered the business and investment environment in our country.
“We have taken these challenges as opportunities and have made the extensive build-out of modern infrastructure (both hard and soft) as the main thrust of our Administration.
“In the last three years, the government has allocated and disbursed over N3.5 trillion from the National budgets to infrastructure.
The Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council has made significant progress in reducing bottlenecks and eliminating redundancies and increasing transparency across government ministries, departments and agencies.
“There is undeniable evidence that the Buhari administration is repositioning the Nigerian economy for true growth and shared prosperity.”
According to Osinbajo the investor-interest is on the rise in Nigeria, adding that the tracking of investment announcements indicated a 37 percent increase from 2017 to 2018.
Earlier in his remark, UK Foreign Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, said the importance of the Nigeria-UK Economic Development Forum cannot be over-emphasised.
He noted that Nigeria’s current demographics require government and other stakeholders to improve efforts and other interventions aimed at tackling unemployment and other challenges.
Hunt advised government to adopt steps aimed at improving the investment climate one of which is the approval of the revised Companies and Allied Matters Act.