Key Players Advocate Sector-Driven Reforms To Boost Investment, Economic Growth

[00:00:01]Other news now, key players have called for sustained business enabling reforms to improve investor confidence and boost private sector participation. This to deepen Nigeria's push for economic growth. They spoke in Lokoja, the Kogi state capital during the nationwide subnational stakeholder engagement and reform tour organized by the presidential enabling business environment council. Michael Ela has details.

[00:00:27]>> For years, businesses in Nigeria significant challenges including poor infrastructure, high operating costs, limited access to finance, multiple taxation, and policy inconsistency.

[00:00:43]But organizers see strategic partnerships with the World Bank have fostered a national drive towards improving policies aimed at reducing legal and bureaucratic bottlenecks for businesses.

[00:00:56]>> Attracting investment is [music] not only one part of the equation. Retaining investment is equally important. [music] The best advertisement for any investment destination is not a brochure, it's not a conference, it's not a website, it is an investor who is already doing business successfully in your [music] state.

[00:01:15]>> Officials in the Kogi state business enabling reforms, SEBAR, reiterated the need to bridge digital gaps across various sectors of business in line with the 32-year development plan.

[00:01:28]>> Our governor is bringing in two major landmark projects into the state. That is a special agri processing zone and the Ajaokuta Economic City, which is intended to drive the industrial development of Kogi state.

[00:01:44]>> Participants at the various technical sessions also reviewed ongoing reforms and efforts towards improving overall service delivery.

[00:01:53]>> And so the idea is to continue to encourage people to create that perception, especially the people in government, that Kogi is a place that we can come and invest and do business. And at the same time, provide that moral support to the government to continue to provide protection and security for the citizens in the state.

[00:02:11]>> Charity, they say, begins at home.

[00:02:14]So, if I were a foreign investor um to come into Kogi State, I would want to see how Kogi treats its citizens when it comes to dispensation of justice for wrongs that have been done in the course of running um businesses.

[00:02:32]>> Beyond the conversations, the initiative is expected to profile real-time responses to business threats and propose mechanisms that strive sustainable economic growth.

[00:02:44]Michael Olaleye, Channels News, Lokoja.