The Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Otunba Richard Adeniyi Adebayo has wooed investors from Poland to consider Nigeria for business opportunities.
The Minister stated this on Friday in Abuja when he received Mrs Jonna Tarnawska, the Ambassador of Republic of Poland to Nigeria, in his office.
Adebayo said the Federal Government was committed to building on the existing relationship between Nigeria and Poland in terms of trade, commerce and industrialization.
He said that government had put in place measures to ensure that all foreigners, including those from Poland engage with credible local investors.
He listed one of such to include the Executive Order 001, Ease of Doing Business, aimed at removing all incumbrances of business regulation.
“As a ministry, we are more than willing to assist Polish investors in anyway possible with regards to guaranteeing the credibility of Nigeria businesses.
” We know our people and we know the credible ones, so we ready to give assistance in that regard. If there are areas where your firms need introduction to credible people here, we will assist.
“We will give you the investment brochure of Nigeria through the Nigeria Investment Promotion Council, to help further your knowledge of our local business environment.
” Nigeria is also going to initiate economic and technical cooperation with Poland so that in the process, we will have a trade mission and proper economic activities to be carried out between the two countries.
*I want to specifically allay your fears about Polish businesses coming to Nigeria, this ministry is playing a leading role in ease of doing business and it is backed by the Executive Order, tagged “Executive Order 001” .
“It means that no incumbrance when it comes to the registration of your businesses. Even at the point of entering into the country, you will have automatic visa on arrival.
” In fact, the agencies under this ministry were given awards for easing businesses for both foreign and local investors. We have the Corporate Affairs Commission, CAC. We have the Oil and Gas Free Zone Authority, OGFZA, for the Oil and Gas sector, we have an array of them like that.
“I’m saying this to allay your fears about the type of relationship that could exist between your country’s business and Nigeria.
” I can assure you that it is a very friendly environment. From the export angle, there are lots of things we can synergize on, there are lots of items branded and certified meeting all the necessary international standards through the Standard Organization of Nigeria, SON.
” With all these, the credible platform for all foreigners including Polish nationals coming to do business in Nigeria is already established,” he said.
Earlier, the ambassador had expressed willingness to explore further business opportunities in Nigeria, but raised concerns about confidence of polish investors.
She said “The essence of our visit is to reiterate that Poland will like to continue its cooperation with Nigeria.
“Poland has a long standing relationship with Nigeria. And we will like to further develop on this for the benefits of both nations.
” Our country is willing to ensure cooperation with Nigeria in many areas such as: maritime, defence, education and economy.
“I believe we need this relationship now especially that Poland is making opening-up towards West Africa and of course West Africa can not be mentioned without Nigeria.
” We are looking to further cooperation too in terms of trade, because many Polish businesses are interested in coming to Nigeria.
“However, it’s a challenge to them because they don’t know much about Nigeria. With this visit, we hope things will be made easier and possible,” She noted.
