President Muhammadu Buhari has on Sunday reiterated that his government will sustain concrete measures aimed at diversifying Nigeria’s economy by devoting more resources to agriculture in the 2017 budget saying that discussions are on-going over the possibility 0f adopting Japan’s model to develop the agricultural sector of the nation’s economy.
The president was quoted in a statement from his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu as saying extra votes would be allocated to agriculture in next year’s budget which would cover areas such as procurement of machinery for land clearing, fertilizers, pesticides and training of less-educated farmers.
Granting an interview on the side lines of the sixth Tokyo International Conference on African Development in Nairobi Buhari also said African countries, including Nigeria, must learn from Japan how to develop agriculture.
Worthy to note that there was a “Dialogue with the Private Sector” at the sixth Tokyo International Conference for African Development holding in Nairobi, Kenya where the president also dropped the hint that Nigeria would be one of the top countries on the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business index in the next three years.
Nigeria is currently ranked 169 out of 189 countries on the bank’s 2016 Ease of Doing Business report. But Buhari said the Federal Government was committed to ensuring that the country moved up 20 places in the first year and be in the top 100 within the next three years.
And one of the areas where investors funding and expertise is strongly needed is in the agriculture, he explained that his administration was implementing policies and measures to create the right and enabling environment for business and investors in Nigeria.
He told the gathering that included several African leaders, the Japan Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, and international business executives that his administration’s vision was to make Nigeria one of the top investment destinations in the world, within the shortest time possible.
He said his administration had therefore established the Presidential Enabling Environment Council and Inter-Ministerial Council with the responsibility of driving the move.
The President said, “One of the most important priorities of our government is to create the right and enabling environment for business and investors in Nigeria.
“Our vision and objective is to make Nigeria one of the most attractive and the easiest places of doing business in the world. We believe government has a particular responsibility to create the right and attractive environment for business and economic activities to thrive.
“In furtherance of this vision, we have launched the Presidential Enabling Environment Council, and Inter-Ministerial Council to oversee the efforts of the government to remove various bottlenecks that stifle businesses and economic activities and thereby creating economic activities, the right enabling environment and investment climate in Nigeria.
“The secretariat will include strong private sector representation that will be led by experienced business professionals from the private sector. We are committed to moving up the ranking of the World Bank’s ease of doing business index 20 places in first year and be in the top 100 within the next three years.”
