Vice-President Kashim Shettima, on Tuesday night reassured the Royal Commonwealth Society of the Federal Government’s resolve to create an environment conducive to doing business in the country.
Shettima gave the assurance in Abuja while addressing participants at the maiden edition of the Commonwealth High Commissioners’ Banquet in Nigeria.
The event, with the theme: “Nigeria and the Commonwealth Advantage” was jointly organised by the Royal Commonwealth Society, Nigeria branch, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC).
The vice-president was represented by Dr Jumoke Oduwole, Special Adviser, Office of the President on Enabling Business Council (EBC).
According to him, there is a lot the Federal Government is improving.
“I thank friends of Nigeria. You have been supportive all the while.
“A lot of businesses from your country operate within our borders. We will continue to provide an environment conducive for business and strive to make Nigeria a progressively easier place to grow a business.”
Shettima said that President Bola Tinubu has an eight-point agenda and that six out of the items on the agenda are directly to make the ease of doing business in Nigeria a reality.
Tinubu’s eight-point agenda includes food security; poverty eradication; growth and job creation; access to capital; inclusion; rule of law; and fighting corruption.
“We have regulatory interventions. We have legislative and judicial interventions. We have an elaborate national intervention.
“We have continued to work on strategic communication to make sure that we remove bureaucratic and legislative bottlenecks from the economy so that we enable small and medium enterprises to thrive.
“We know that many of the businesses that are multinational and coming from other shores are more in the medium to large scale cadre.
“So, we have a new program to support those interventions. We have been having talks with friends of Nigeria in recent times,” he said.
He explained such talks focus on the fact that although there are pinpoints, such pinpoints are being systemically tackled.
Also speaking, Dr Richard Montgomery, British High Commissioner to Nigeria, praised the organizers of the event and said that a lot could be achieved through collaboration between the Royal Commonwealth Society member countries.
“The society plays an important role in bringing together business and government leaders to tackle Commonwealth issues.
“This includes issues on education, environment, and business networks. The Commonwealth is a unique organisation that originated through a shared difficult history.
“At this moment, we draw on some initiatives that have been going on around the world.
“We must realise a commonwealth, and we can do this through collaboration” Montgomery said.
Also speaking, the Minister of Youth Development, Dr Jamila Ibrahim, explained the role of young people in nation-building.
“I express appreciation to the Royal Commonwealth Society for facilitating trade relations and investment promotion between Nigeria and Commonwealth partners.
“This initiative is profound given President Tinubu’s renewed hope agenda – a vision that seeks to uplift our nation,” Ibrahim said.
Meanwhile, Mr Blackson Bayewumi, Country-Director of the society, described the group as an association of governments and people built around shared language, challenges, aspirations, and values.
“Unlike most other international associations, the Commonwealth works on a consensus model, and membership is voluntary.
“It is predicated primarily on a country’s commitment to upholding shared values and principles, including protection and promotion of human rights, democracy, and the rule of law.
“There are now 56-member states with a combined population of 2.5 billion people, approximately 30 per cent of the world’s population,” Bayewumi said.
