‘FG adopting legislation-backed policy to promote ease of doing business’

Minister says AfCFTA implementation plan ongoing in MDAs

Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Adeniyi Adebayo, has said the President Muhammadu Buhari administration is adopting legislation-backed policy to promote the ease of doing business in the country.

He added that the revised Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA) 2020 and the Petroleum Industry Act 2021 have repositioned the country as an investment destination of choice in Africa.

Addressing the French Week 2021 economic summit in Lagos, Adebayo said the Federal Government had instituted mechanisms and adopted various approaches to address critical security concerns in addition to improved allocation to strengthen regulatory agencies.

Earlier, the Regional Economic Counsellor, French Embassy Lagos, Pascal Furth, who lauded the France-Nigeria relations, appealed that French companies needed the support of the Federal Government as their Nigerian counterparts do.

RELATEDLY, the minister said the African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement (AfCFTA) implementation plan is undergoing adoption by the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).

According to him, the move is geared at ensuring that existing policy frameworks maximise benefits to the advantage of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises  (MSMEs).

Adebayo spoke at the opening of the National Action Committee on AfCFTA sub-national strategy workshop, with the theme, “Creating economically viable communities,” in Abuja.

Represented by the Director-General, Nigerian Office for Trade Negotiations, Ambassador Yonov Agah, the minister said based on the work done so far, “the successful implementation of the AfCFTA will require active involvement of the state governments as the national implementation must cascade to the sub-national and grassroots levels.

For optimal result, he added: “Each state needs to develop and executive its own AfCFTA, which is why the National Action Committee, in conjunction with the state governors, is hosting the workshop which is the first of its kind.”

Adebayo, who is chairman of the committee, pointed out that the objective of the workshop was to “kick-start the development of states’ AfCFTA strategies, access requirements for successful implementation and management of challenges that might arise from the Agreement.”