By Charles Nwaoguji
United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO), has called on the Federal Government to create a business friendly environment in Nigeria for the rapid industrial development of the country.
The Regional Director of UNIDO and a Representative of ECOWAS, Mr. Jean Bakole, who spoke to Daily Sun, on the sidelines of the ongoing Lagos International Trade Fair, decried the high cost of doing business in Nigeria which has resulted in the exit of notable businesses, capital flight and loss of skilled manpower.
Bakole pointed out that the provision of adequate infrastructure will help reduce the cost of doing business in Nigeria, adding that such would impact positively on the economy of the states.
He advised the government to help the business community procure cheap funding from the Bank of Industry (BoI) and other intervention funds provided by the Federal Government for the takeoff of businesses in the country.
He stressed that this will go a long way to help give the people access to cheap funds to fast track the country’s rapid economic and industrial recovery.
The UNIDO boss said that Nigeria can achieve a faster economic development under a viable and thriving Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) regime.
“The country can only develop better and survive economically under a thriving SME culture and we are delighted that we are able to provide the necessary skill-set for these promising entrepreneurs at such a significant time.” He encouraged the government to be more objective in its decisions when it comes to the development of SME in the country as this is the only way to develop the real sector of the economy. “Let us be positive and let us support SMEs because it is the engine room of any economy. We are working seriously supporting new ideals and creating a link between the big companies, small scale investors and the SMEs to have a better cluster of industrial development in the country to support the economic growth,” he said.
We are doing this to help Nigeria to be the first economy in Africa, not just being among the top 20 economies in the world but we want Nigeria to be among the top 10 in the world, because it will support other African countries in the region,” he added.