FG records N8trn investment in key sectors –Ortom

…Says Nigeria leads Africa’s investment inflows with $23.7bn in 3yrs

As a result of the mas­sive network cre­ated by the Ministry of Trade and Investment in the past years, Nigeria has achieved an impres­sive record of N8 trillion in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in major sectors such as aviation, power, commu­nication, transport, among others.

This was disclosed by the Minister of State for Trade and Investment, Dr. Samuel Ortom, Tuesday in Abuja.

Ortom also stated that Ni­geria, for the past three years, has consistently maintained its lead in investment inflows in Africa with over $23.7 bil­lion put together.

Speaking when he hosted Benue State indigenes resi­dent in Abuja to intimate them of his governorship ambition, he explained that the sustained lead in the in­flows by the country is from 2011 when he assumed office in the ministry with his col­league, Dr. Olusegun Aganga, to 2013.

Also, he revealed that Ni­geria today has attained 115th position in the global ranking in the level of competitive­ness in doing businesses and 131th position in ease of busi­ness transactions globally.

Ortom added that as the supervising Minister of Avia­tion, he had, among several achievements, retained the CAT-1 status issued by the USA Federal Aviation Ad­ministration, which allows Nigerian airlines direct route to the US and other countries.

He said the ministry has launched the National Enterprise Development (NED) with joint efforts with SMEDAN, Industrial Train­ing Fund (ITF) and the Bank of I ndustry (BoI) to create an estimated five million jobs for the teeming unemployed Ni­gerians by end of 2015.

This, he said, has for the first time developed strategy for domestic, regional and international trade, the dias­pora export programme and established six trans-national boarder markets.

Other major achievement s at the ministry, according to him, include investment climate reforms that include tax holiday for pioneer status industries, research and de­velopment plans, relaxation of policies on company reg­istration and the amended status of the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) to gau­rantee efficiency to allow for 24 hours company registra­tion with the facilitation for the setting up of a one stop Investment Center by the Nigerian Investment Promo­tion Council (NIPC). This is expected to offer investors all services needed to start and operate a company in Nigeria.

Source : SunOnline