Minister of Trade and Investment, Mr. Olusegun Aganga,

By Yemi Akinsuyi 

The Federal Government has inaugurated two Technical Committees to tackle the problems militating against the ease of doing business in Nigeria

The Doing Business and Competitive Committee and Investor-Care Committee are also to address the inflow of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and ultimately improve the country’s ranking in the Global Competitiveness Index.

Minister of Trade and Investment, Mr. Olusegun Aganga, who inaugurated the committees in Abuja, said the exercise was a follow-up to the earlier inauguration of the Doing Business and Competitiveness Committee and After-Care Committee (formerly known as Committee on Problems of Investors), done by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation a few months ago.

The two committees have the Minister of Trade and Investment as the Chairman, while the membership of the committees were drawn from Ministries, Departments and Agencies of the federal government including Finance; Power; Mining,  Justice; the Central Bank of Nigeria; Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation; Nigeria Immigration Service; Federal Inland Revenue Service and  Nigeria Customs Service, among others.

However, Aganga explained that the new technical committees were expected to address policy issues inhibiting Nigeria’s competitive business environment; instil fair and transparent business operational procedures; enhance the image of the economy, and build investors’ confidence. He said the committees are expected to meet twice a month to review their performance.

The minister said members of the two Technical Committees were selected by the Heads of their respective MDAs, which constitute the Doing Business and Competitiveness Committee and Investor-Care Committees respectively.

He added that the inauguration of the committees came in the wake of various social and economic reforms being embarked upon by the federal government to transform the nation’s economy.

He therefore charged members of the committees to work assiduously to ensure that the country significantly improves its investment climate and Doing Business ranking as soon as possible.