Nigeria’s economy strong amidst security concerns — NIPC

By Favour Nnabugwu

Despite the security problem facing the country, the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission, NIPC has said the nation’s economy still thrives after all.

The Executive Secretary of the Commission, Mrs. Saratu Umar who stated this in a keynote address entitled: Translating Nigeria’s Foreign Direct Investment, FDI Benefits into a reality, at the Nigerian Economic Summit Group, NESG  in Abuja said the country’s economy has shown a strong resilience in spite of the security concerns while stressing that the NIPC is reviewing the Pioneer Incentives currently being granted to investors to cover only critical activities.


She assured that NIPC is ever poised and positioned to give a hand-holding support to investors (both local and foreign) that have decided to make the country their preferred investment destination, adding that the Commission is putting various strategies in place to make it more pro-active to investors’ needs and demands.

She explained that NIPC is a private sector company within the Government as such, it has a big role to play in the economic growth and advancement of Nigeria. She said: “NIPC is one of the strong vehicles to drive investment into the economy and it is being re-engineered for better service delivery”.

Umar noted that the economy being the largest in Africa, is consistently among the top three investment destinations on the continent,

Speaking on the various measures being implemented by government to sustain the inflow of Foreign Direct Investment into the country, Umar said: “Government remains committed to transparent, fair and peaceful electoral process as the country is now on the threshold of her fifth democratic transition process, and is building efficient socio-economic infrastructure and strengthening the financial and insurance sector.”

She further stated that government has continued to sustain the simplification and streamlining of business entry procedures as the One-Stop Investment Centre (OSIC) of NIPC is providing platform for coordinated service delivery and the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) is committed to 24 hours incorporation of businesses across the country.

In ensuring a globally competitive business regulatory framework, she stated that “Government is committed to setting a rule- based regulatory framework across all the sectors that is devoid of discretion and a national competition and Consumer Protection Policy is at advanced stages of adoption.”

In translating the FDI benefits into reality, the NIPC boss maintained that it has continued to contribute immensely to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and National Product; enhance export potential; promote Import Substitution Industrialization; facilitate skills enhancement and human capital development; improve international image; facilitate technology acquisition transfer; increase capital stock; enhance market development and increased tax generation.


Culled from www.vanguardngr.com