Boris Johnson cracks a joke: L-R, Johnson, Osinbajo, Patel, Foreign Minister Geoffrey Onyeama and Senator Udoma Udo Udoma, Minister of Budget and Planning
The federal government would work with government of the United Kingdom to stimulate more direct private sector investments into Nigeria.
The Minister of Budget and National Planning, Mr. Udoma Udo Udoma, said this in Abuja at a meeting with a delegation from the British government led by the Secretary of State for International Development, Mrs Priti Patel.
He told the delegation that Nigerian Government was intensifying efforts at ensuring the ease of doing business in the country and would welcome more foreign investments.
Patel and her team are in Nigeria to have an on-the-spot appraisal of the situation in the North East to enable the British Government to decide on how to assist the Nigerian government in addressing the situation in the region, as well as other development initiatives.
Acknowledging the various interventions by the British Government in aid of Nigeria, the minister said the nation would appreciate more foreign aid from the British Government.
He said that Nigeria would be looking more in the area of investments from companies in UK.
Aside government’s efforts in ensuring the ease of doing business, he said the government has created industrial hubs in the six geo-political zones with basic facilities required for manufacturing to thrive smoothly.
The British government, he said, could help in encouraging manufacturers in the United Kingdom to take advantage of the special economic zones.
The minister said that the Federal Government was committed to creating a successful economy, pointing out that the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan launched early this year was meant to serve as vehicle to drive government’s diversification policy.
Udoma said Federal Government had constituted an Inter-ministerial Task Force under the chairmanship of the Minister of State for Budget and National Planning to properly handle and coordinate humanitarian assistance efforts in the North East to ensure proper delivery and effective utilisation of funds and materials.
In her comments, Patel gave the assurance that the British Government would continue to assist Nigeria in addressing its humanitarian and developmental challenges.
She said her team would discuss further with the Federal Government to look at more proactive ways of dealing with the fallouts of the North East crisis.
She added that more work would be done in the areas of investment in education, international partnerships, capacity building, scaling up of farming in local communities among, other development issues. (NAN)
