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The governor of Ogun state, Prince Dapo Abiodun Mfr. in his attempt to create an enabling environment for a public-private partnership,has created Ogun State Business Environment Council.
The governor said the council will be tasked with the responsibility of ensuring that the ranking in the Ease of Doing Business is improved significantly and sustainably in all areas of the indices that are measured in the state.
It is recalled that foreign investment into Nigeria, in the 3rd quarter of 2019 dropped to US$5.36Billion compared to US$5.82Billion in the 2nd quarter. And, out of 36 States and Abuja, 29 States did not get any investment inflow.Prince Abiodun disclosed that Ogun State is still among the leading States that attracted more foreign investment in the 3rd Quarter of 2019.
He said,”What this simply means is that the competition for investment inflows is high; investment inflow is dwindling. Therefore, we must device sustainable strategy to attract investments into our dear State.
We have formulated policies and reform initiatives to engender a ‘’pull- effect’’ for investment growth. Some of the initiatives include the establishment of Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Office and Ogun State Investment and Facilitation Agency (Ogun Invest) and the BEC we are inaugurating today.
The council was chaired by the Honourable Commissioner of Finance and Chief Economic Adviser, and has the following members:
i. The Head of Service;
ii. Representatives of the Ogun state House of Assembly;
iii. Representatives of each of these other Government Agencies:
Ministries of Agriculture; Industry, Trade and Investment; Housing; Budget and Planning; Physical Planning and Urban Development; Finance; Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs; Education, Science and Technology; Justice; Bureau of Lands and Survey; and, Ogun State Investment Promotion and Facilitation Agency.
The council is expected to make recommendations to improve existing processes with the objective of removing bottlenecks, introducing key reforms and initiatives through leveraging on global best practices and lessons learnt in the areas of business environment to facilitate a private sector-led investments and economic growth.
The governor also added that,”It will support investment promotion through a structured and dedicated approach by proactively engaging the private sector in order to proffer recommendations to remove their pain points and effective engagement with the private sector.”