Ndubuisi Francis in Abuja
The federal government has called on French investors to key into the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) as well as take advantage of the opportunities that the country currently presents to invest in Nigeria.

The Budget and National Planning Minister, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma, who made the call when a delegation of French businessmen paid him a visit in Abuja, stated that Nigeria’s priority was to create a better environment for businesses to thrive, as the country is focused on expanding the productive base of the economy.

While receiving the delegation which was accompanied by the French Ambassador to Nigeria, Denys Gauer, the minister said the country was more than ever open for business.
He welcomed the increasing interest in Nigeria by both domestic and foreign investors and assured that the government was determined to continue with the various initiatives that are already improving the business climate as set out in the ERGP.

A statement released by Udoma’s Special Adviser (Media), Mr. Akpandem James, said the minister indicated that as a way to monitor the progress of government’s reforms a target of moving 20 places up was set in 2017 on the World Bank Ease-of-Doing-Business rankings.

However, he noted that in the World Bank’s latest rankings, released in October 2017, the country moved up 24 places, describing it as a remarkable achievement.
He added that Nigeria has also been recognised as one of the ten top reforming countries in the world.
The more than 30-man delegation, comprising investors in the oil and gas, energy, manufacturing, banking and logistics sectors, among others, is in Nigeria to explore possible areas of investment in the country.

The minister said there exist in Nigeria ample opportunities for investment particularly in agriculture, manufacturing, oil and gas, power, rail, mining and shipping among others.
He explained that the fall in crude oil price was a wake-up call for the diversification of the country’s economy which has historically relied, almost entirely, on crude oil for its foreign exchange earnings and government revenues.

The government’s response to this, he said, was the development of an ambitious four- year plan to dramatically turn around the economic direction of the country, adding that the ERGP is aimed at increasing the productivity of the Nigerian economy by encouraging private sector investment.
Earlier in his remarks, the leader of the French delegation, Movement des Enterprises de France (MEDEF), Philippe Lebonne, told the minister that MEDEF is the largest French business confederation and the largest employer of labour in France, with an estimated 750,000 firms, 90 per cent of which, he said, is made up of small and medium scale enterprises.

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