FG Seeks Japanese Investments in Special Economic Zones

• FG Seeks Japanese Investments in Special Economic Zones

The Federal Government has called on Japanese investors to take advantage of the various business opportunities that will be presented by the Special Economic Zones being established in various parts of the country.

The zones, which will serve as manufacturing hubs, according to the government, will have the necessary infrastructural facilities to support the country’s industrialisation drive.

The Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udo Udoma, stated this when the Japanese Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Sadanobu Kusaoke, visited him in Abuja.

The minister explained that the Federal Government would grant incentives to encourage investments in the priority sectors listed in the recently released Economic Recovery and Growth Plan of the Federal Government.

He said the plan was focused on achieving macroeconomic stability, transforming agriculture, driving sufficiency in energy, improving transportation infrastructure and growing industrialisation with attention on small and medium-scale enterprises.

Udoma noted that implementation was paramount in the realisation of the plan’s objectives, noting that the attention of the government would be on prioritising the identified strategies, establishing a clear system of accountability, and allocating resources to prioritised interventions.

Other areas that will get the attention of government, according to the minister, are creating an enabling policy and regulatory environment, and developing an effective monitoring and evaluation system to track progress.

The minister told the Japanese Ambassador that already, the government had started seeing signs of economic recovery with the gradual reduction in the rate of inflation, among other parameters.

Udoma said the government was focused on transforming Nigeria from a consuming nation to a producing country; noting that this would require working closely with development partners for necessary support, especially in the area of technology.

Kusaoke said that Nigeria’s economic trajectory had been trending upward recently and disclosed Japanese companies’ interest in investing in new areas and expanding existing ones in Nigeria’s business sector.

He pledged his country’s continued support for the Nigerian economy, particularly in terms of funding of more development projects as well as providing humanitarian support and social stabilisation in the North-East and the Lake Chad region.