Feeling fulfilled by the remarkable feats his administration has recorded in business investment development, ICT innovation and creativity, start-ups, product acceleration and wealth creation for the youth of Enugu State, among others, Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State, yesterday, said that the state government has continued to play its leading role as a business and investment enabler.
Gov. Ugwuanyi disclosed that his administration has been able to continue to play the role through provision of robust infrastructure; peaceful and secure operating environment for business and investment; consistent and favourable policies; and facilitation of all bureaucratic processes required for starting and doing business “through our One-Stop Investment-Centre (OSIC) under the Enugu State Investment Development Authority (ESIDA)”.
The governor added that the role his administration has continued to play as a business and investment enabler was also achievable through “friendly tax regime and professional regulatory oversight as significant co-factors for investment inflow”.
Speaking during the ground-breaking of the Godfrey Okoye (GO) University-European Business Park, Centre for Practical Skills and Start-Ups, Gov. Ugwuanyi described the outfit as “a public-private initiative with unique value proposition for economic expansion, skill infusion, job creation and wealth creation for our people”.
He stressed that considering the challenges of the younger generation which transcend from underemployment, unemployment to unemployability due to inadequacy of opportunities as well as poverty of skills because of non-functional education, the emerging digital economy governed by disruptive technologies including the Blockchain, makes the Godfrey Okoye University Business Park initiative both visionary and compelling. On his administration’s progress in investment development and innovation, Gov. Ugwuanyi revealed: “Our administration, mindful of the rapidly changing world order, organized the first-ever Enugu State Investment Summit in 2016 (Organiru Enugu) wherein we opened up Enugu State to investors and showcased the investment opportunities in the state”.
He maintained that the progress is “self-evident in the leapfrogging of our state from its 2014 World Bank Ease of Doing Business ranking as 27th out of 37 states (including FCT, Abuja), to the 2nd most improved state in the 2018 World Bank Ease of Doing Business sub national ranking.