Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Mr. Adeniyi Adebayo, yesterday assured investors from the Netherlands that the federal government was addressing the issue of insecurity in the country.
Speaking during a visit by the Netherlands Ambassador to Nigeria, Ambassador Harry van Djik, the minister said President Muhammadu Buhari recently changed his service chiefs and took other security measures to assure Nigerians and the business community of his desire to ensure that the country is safe for all and sundry.
Djik who visited the minister to seek his consent on the revival of bilateral trade consultation between the two countries had wanted the government to address the issue of insecurity and foreign exchange for investors in the country.
He also spoke on the need to revive the bilateral consultation between the two countries which he said the spread of covid-19 pandemic forced a postponement of further meetings.
But the minister said his ministry has already set up a working group on the bilateral consultation, hoping that before the end of the year the meeting would be revived.
He said he had gotten a commitment from the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on the issue of forex, saying a meeting on the issue would be held soon on the matter.
Adebayo called on Netherlands’ investors to take advantage of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) to invest in the country so that they can benefit from the huge continental market worth N4.23trillion and cheap labour in the country.
He also urged them to take advantage of the free economic trade zones in the country, saying the government is providing necessary infrastructure, particularly power supply at Kano and Calabar free trade zones.
He noted that the federal government recently signed an agreement for the provision of 25mw of power to each of the free trade zones in Kano and Calabar.
Djik, however, congratulated President Buhari and Adebayo on the emergence of Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala as the Director General of the World Trade organisation, describing it as “diplomatic victory for Nigeria”.
