PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari has said that his administration is committed to creation of a prosperous economy for Nigeria, and that his government would continue to support private sector to provide the investment to drive the economic growth.

Buhari stated this in a goodwill message sent to the Kaduna Economic and Investment Summit, KADInvest 2.0, held at Umaru Musa Yar’adua Hall, Kaduna on Wednesday, April 5.

The KADInvest 2.0, a brain-child of Governor Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai, is the second in series since his coming on board as Kaduna State Governor.

In his message, the president said his government considered as urgent priority the creation of a prosperous economy where talents of Nigerians could thrive and sustainable jobs and opportunities for youth in the country.

Nevertheless, he assured that, his administration would continue to support the private sector to provide the investment to drive the economic growth.

He said: “That is why we launched presidential committee on the ease of doing Business early in life of this administration.”

In the same vein, he said had given the mandate to simplify the processes and procedures for starting and running a business so that the cobwebs of archaic bureaucratic and administrative tradition would not stifle initiative exacerbate the cost of doing business

While commending Kaduna State government for replicating the ease of doing business committee, the president said, the action reflected the state government’s understanding of the responsibilities of the sub-national actors have in the quest for national rebirth

“If we succeed in making our state governments adept at attracting investments, creating jobs, providing infrastructures and delivering much needed public goods like education, health and potable water, then we would have delivered a country that works for all our citizens”, he said.

He similarly expressed the hope that, KADinvest 2.0 with the theme making Kaduna the investment destination of choice would result in a reliable partnerships can promote economic prosperity for people of Kaduna and Nigeria at large.

In his own message to the occasion, El-Rufai said, Kaduna State realised highest ever Internally Generated Revenue, IGR, of more than N18bn in 2016 due to its investment promotion moves.

He said, his government was overwhelmed that, major investments resulted from Kaduna Investment Summit 2016, especially the Olam $150m poultry and livestock feed project, while exploration work has continued for gold, nickel and other minerals.

According to him, “last year, we unveiled the first Kaduna Economic and Investment Summit as a practical statement that, Kaduna is open for business; that we view investment by private sector as the surest platform for job creation, improved revenues and development in our state.

“Our credentials as an investment destination are anchored on the human and natural resources in our state, as well as the policy and legal environment our government has created.

“At the inaugural edition of Kaduna Investment Summit, we presented the state development plan, explained our new, transparent tax code and demonstrated how digital land registry we are developing is critical to supporting investments. In 2016, these efforts earned us over N18bn in IGR, the highest ever in the state.

“As a sub-national actor, we established the link between our state development plan and the decision to prioritise agriculture and minerals as main investment sectors. And we are glad that, major investments resulted from Kaduna Investment Summit 2016, especially the Olam $150m poultry and livestock feed project. In mining, exploration work continues for gold, nickel and other minerals.

“Kaduna Economic and Investment Summit 2.0 seek to consolidate on the gains so far made. We shall be presenting our new Ease of Doing Business Charter, reflecting the hard work of our MDAs have put into simplifying the process of obtaining licenses and shortening the time it takes to get a business running in Kaduna State”, he said.

The governor seized the occasion to give highlights of major achievements his administration had so far achieved across all sectors of the economy as well as the social sector and unveiled the plan of the government between 2017 and 2019.

—  Apr 5, 2017 @ 16:48 GMT

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