Minister of State for Finance, Ambassador Bashir Yuguda
The Federal Government has unveiled plans to deepen bilateral trade relations with the United Kingdom in order to attract fresh investments into the country.
The Minister of State for Finance, Ambassador Bashir Yuguda, disclosed this during a meeting with representatives of the United Kingdom Trade and Investment Agency led by the Prime Minister’s Trade Envoy to Nigeria, Mr. David Heath.
Yuguda said the investment should be in key productive sectors of the Nigerian economy, noting that this would help ensure inclusive growth, create wealth and reduce unemployment in the country.
He said the need for more investments became imperative since the rebasing of the Nigerian Gross Domestic Product had revealed the new sectors where new investments would be needed to create jobs in the economy.
Explaining that some UK firms might have left the country in the past, the minister noted that the investment climate fostered by the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan was now more supportive and urged the UKTI to encourage more firms to return to the country.
Yuguda, who stated that the Nigerian economy was now robust, noted that some multinationals companies, such as Unilever, were already taking advantage of the prospects of huge returns by scaling up their investments in the country.
He said, “The government, under President Jonathan, is focusing on high job content areas of the economy so that we can create more jobs for our teeming population.
“On roads, we have many dualisation projects going on. In the process of executing these projects, we do not only provide jobs, but also empower our people.”
While responding, Heath expressed UK’s determination to expand business relationships between the two countries.
He noted that the agency was also interested in promoting investment as a means of providing jobs for the young ones, adding that UKTI would work towards increasing trade and more British investment in Nigeria.
