We’re Reforming Economic, Business Environment To Promote Efficiency – Tinubu

President Bola Tinubu says his administration is working assiduously to reform the nation’s economic and business environment to promote efficiency. Tinubu said this on Sunday during a bilateral meeting with the Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, Olaf Scholz and his entourage, in the Presidential Villa, Abuja. Tinubu and the chancellor engaged in three separate meetings before addressing a joint press briefing. According to the Nigerian leader, the country has a very high deposit of gas availability and the investment environment as well as liquid natural gas is improving. Tinubu said his administration had improved the nation’s business environment, saying, “we are going through several reforms.” He also said that Nigeria was ready to encourage investment in gas pipelines and that the LNG would facilitate the shipment of liquefied gas to Europe. According to him, the government will continue to promote the opportunity for the growth of businesses and their partners. Tinubu said, “We are reforming our economic and business environment to promote efficiency. “You might have read or been aware that we have removed oil subsidy. “We’re going through tax reforms to eliminate double taxation and give you better returns on investments.” According to the president, there are principles that will ensure that investment grows well and is protected. He added, “We definitely welcome you to the collaboration; we’re happy this is happening to us. “I believe that my friend will add more to the value of Nigeria’s environment; we have discussed that. “I’ve made a commitment to you that we’ll promote efficiency, ease of doing business and remove all conflict areas that might be possible immediately.” On the Federal Government’s alleged refusal to retrieve over 12,000 Nigerians who were unable to make Germany’s asylum provision and were at risk of deportation, Tinubu said that such persons were welcome to return home. He, however, disclosed that both countries were working on regularising the stay of those who were economic refugees.” The president said there was a very deep discussion in this direction, urging the separation of economic refugees from real refugees. “We have a programme, to work in partnership, to really ensure normal migration and deepen the relationship in that area. “I’m not making any demands; if they are Nigerian citizens, they are Nigerian citizens and they are welcome back home. “Nothing should send them away; we are ready to enter into a partnership to improve the migration situation. “Since other young and vibrant people can go through the process according to the immigration law of the country, to accept them as long as they are of good behaviour and good character. “We are ready to work together in that direction,” Tinubu said. Also responding to the migration question, Scholz said the debate was on and, very soon, the grey areas would be addressed. He said, “The first is yes, there is a need, in Germany, for people that have talent and that want to work in our country in a way which is a regular path for migrants. “We are working intensely in this field and we want to get (make) more progress and get things agreed in detail. “The second part of this is also an agreement that those who do not have the right to stay in my country can go back and should go back. “But this is where cooperation is also important; we will do so and it will be an important aspect of our work together.” The German chancellor regretted that minerals were ‘just about extraction’ as they ended up in other countries rather than for Nigeria’s development. “It is also important that we use the way of developing your economy in the fields of the minerals you have. “I think that the investments into this structure must be easy but also beneficial for your country. “It is something that bothered me a lot in the past that, sometimes, it is just about extraction which is not enough. “There should be one bit more for making it feasible that some parts of the economic development can be used in the countries of origin. “This is not the case today in our world but, if we change this a little bit, it will change a lot and work on this field is also important for us.” According to Scholz, a lot of investments have to be taken, adding,” looking at infrastructure; it’s not just about roads and railways. “It is also about electricity, the infrastructure using the grid, making it feasible that all the produced energy or the power that is already there could go to the people. “Finding a way how we can develop the economy in this field will also be important.” 

Address Nigeria’s structural issues, Oloyede Tells FG

The Registrar of the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Professor Is-haq Oloyede, has said that for the country to make any meaningful progress, there is need to address the structural issues that continue to retard the country’s growth. In his opening remarks at the 7TH Annual Conference of the Guild Of Corporate Online Publishers (GOCOP) on Thursday in Abuja, Oloyede insisted that authorities must show leadership in the drive to put the country on the path of sustainable growth and development. The GOCOP conference has as its theme: “Nigeria: Roadmap for Socio-economic Recovery and Sustainability.” The JAMB registrar noted that with the country undergoing tremendous pressure from numerous socio-economic challenges, it was obvious that the new administration and newly elected and appointed persons at various levels have their jobs cut out for them. According to him, these economic phenomena have further put pressure on the well-being of Nigerians. He noted that the foreign exchange market volatility, insecurity, kidnapping and a host of other vices and crises have conspired to rob the country of realising its potentials in productivity and economic growth and development and have contributed significantly to the rising level of poverty.  “The issues confronting us as a nation have resulted in loss of earning assets, decline in the capacity to earn and curtailment of purchasing power,” he said.   The Professor of Islamic Studies explained that in planning a roadmap for economic recovery and sustainable development, “we need to address some issues that have confronted us as a nation which have contributed to negative and slow growth, overtime. Some of these factors have contributed in not small measures to high levels of corruption and low productivity in the public sector. While noting that the removal of fuel subsidy, managed float of the naira among other policies by the new administration has further worsened the living conditions of Nigerians, he was however hopeful that the new policies will help in turning around the economy and put the country on the path of sustainable growth and prosperity. Oloyede, also called on the government to overhaul the wages and compensation structure in the public service to discourage deep- rooted corruption in the society. “Unless we are pretenders, we all know that some things do not just add up in the compensation of public servants and most of the public office holders. These phenomena encourage corruption and lack of accountability. It gives room for malpractices, financial impropriety, and malfeasance.  When officers and executives are not well paid and they are entrusted with huge resources of the state, some may resort to helping themselves. “I recommend that the code of corporate governance be extended to all major actors in the Nigerian economy. Specifically, the government should come out, without further delay, with a code of corporate governance and make it mandatory for public sector institutions, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and small and medium enterprises that represent over 97% of businesses operating in Nigeria. “When this is done, I believe there would be improvement in governance of government, non-governmental and private entities in Nigeria which would help to unlock their values for prosperity of Nigerians and sustainable development of the country. “It is important that our economists should not shut their eyes to the many alternatives to the template of Bretton Woods’s institutions. Not a few people believe that some austerity measures and curtailment of our high taste for foreign products are absolutely necessary in view of the current realities,” he explained. He therefore urged the media to partner with the government in order to “attain the socio-economic and political progress we badly need as we cannot treat the media as adversaries and as entities whose health or ill-health shouldn’t concern us.”