By Nafisat Bello
The Secretary to the Government of the Federation, George Akume, has said the present administration is poised to transform the country’s oil dependent economy into vibrant agriculture and technology driven economy as highlighted during the just concluded ministerial retreat, hosted by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
The SGF said this at the 7th Annual National Conference and Investiture Ceremony of the Institute of Business Development in Abuja.
The theme of this year’s edition of the Dialogue is “Analysing Market Trends and Opportunities for Agribusiness in Nigeria.”
“Considering the theme of this conference “innovation in Agribusiness – unlocking the value chain” which is to ginger our aspirations for national development, especially in the area of diversification into agriculture, the present administration, as part of its Renowed Hope priority Agenda, has been consistently committed to various policies and reform efforts geared towards enhancing the Economic Growth and Development.
“These can be achieved through investment in infrastructure , Agriculture and Human Capital . The Focus extends to both hard and soft infrastructure particularly trade facilitation, quality infrastructure and ease of doing business.
“Nigeria as a nation is known for active participation in international and regional integration programmes known as vital and important tools for mordinising national economy. This promoted the robust support of the membership of World Trade organizations (WTO)which saw Nigerians former finance minister and former World Bank Managing Director as the Director. -General of WTO. Also worth mentioning is the signing of the African Free Trade Zone(AFcTZ)Agreement,” the SGF said.
He noted that the conference creates neutral environment for both the big, medium and small enterprises “thereby facilitating, widening, promoting and strengthening business, trade, tourism and investment opportunities that promote development.”
He continued: “Permit me to state that in order to boost our nations economy and Development, measures should be put in place to attract investors in the abundant diverse natural resources embedded in Nigeria. I invite all business men here present to explore the enormous opportunities embedded in this long-neglected sector.
“As you are all aware for the past decades, Nigeria depended precariously on oil revenue. However the fall in oil price has led to recourse to economic diversification to stimulate growth and Development
“This is demonstrated by the on-ongoing central bank of Nigeria’s Anchor borrower programmer (ABP) geared towards creating linkage between small household farmers and large scale processors of agricultural products with a view to increase agricultural output. The programme is harnessed to increase bank’s financial support in all relevant sectors to boost production and provide the needed the needed development with sufficient credit to both private and public sectors.
“Another measure sustained by the government is the Economic Recovery Growth plan (ERGP) with key execution priorities on stabilizing the micro-economic environment, achieving agriculture and food security; ensuring energy sufficiency and driving industrialization with focus on micro, small and medium scale enterprises. These measures are aimed at restoring growth by stabilizing and improving the balance of trade to achieve economic growth and Development in the nation.”
The SGF congratulated those who were decorated as members and fellows of the institute on the
night, urging them to use the experience garnered over the years as Entrepreneurs and Business developers to bear on tasks ahead to move our nation forward.
