FG to Provide Incentives to Investors in Critical Sectors

Ndubuisi Francis in Abuja

The federal government will provide incentives and the necessary logistics support to investors whose areas of interest are in the development of agriculture, energy  as well as industrialisation.

These are also the major execution priority areas of the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) being developed by government to get the country’s economy out of recession and put it on a path of growth and sustainable development.

The Minister for Budget and National Planning, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma, told a group of foreign investors coordinated by the Renaissance Capital Group yesterday in Abuja that although government would appreciate investments in any sector of the country’s economy, emphasis of government for now is on areas that will lay a solid foundation for self sufficiency in food production and raw materials’ provision, power and petroleum resources development as well as industrialisation.

A statement released yesterday by the minister’s Media Adviser, Mr. Akpandem James, said Udoma explained that these three, coupled with massive infrastructure development, will give the economy a head start towards growth and sustainability as agriculture will not only provide food security but also raw materials to feed local industries; and in the process reduce demand on foreign exchange on imported raw materials.

According to him, Investment in the energy sector will boost the economic well-being of the country as power is a major driver of industrialisation, adding that investment in industrialisation, especially using local raw materials will have a ripple effect on all sectors of the economy.

He said the federal government was committed to achieving the proposals of the recovery and growth plan through the Ease of Doing Business initiative and by assisting investors with necessary incentives which would be tied strictly to performance and results rather than on intentions, as has been the case in the past.

The plan, he said, is rooted in the core values that define the Nigerian system including discipline, integrity, dignity of labour, social justice, self reliance, and patriotism, among others.