Governor of Enugu State, Dr Peter Mbah, has assured prospective multinational corporations that his administration would work with them to create an enabling business environment, and to de-risk investment flow and ensure bountiful return on investment.
Mbah listed abundant opportunities and incentives in various sectors, such as agriculture, tourism, manufacturing, mineral resources, logistics, aviation, tourism, real estate, mineral resources, ICT, among others.
The promises come as Enugu State, for the first time, joins the league of states that multinational corporations are more likely to expand to, according to the survey presented by the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Committee (PEBEC).
Mbah gave the assurances during the Second Existing Foreign Direct Investors Roundtable at the Aso Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Speaking at the roundtable, which attracted over 90 existing multinational corporations in Nigeria, including Dow Chemical, Microsoft, the Nigerian-French Chamber of Commerce, the Nigerian-American Chamber of Commerce, the Euro Chamber of Commerce, the Indonesia-Nigeria Chamber of Commerce, the Chinese Corporate group in Nigeria, the governor reiterated his administration’s ambition to grow the state’s economy sevenfold to $30 billion in the next six years, hence the deliberate effort to make it the premier destination for investment, business, tourism and living.
According to him, the growth Nigeria seeks as a country will happen from the peripheral or sub-nationals, hence the massive steps by the Enugu State Government to build infrastructure, ensure security of lives and property, and enhance Ease of Doing Business.
Mbah further listed other incentives such as the existence of the Enugu State Investment Development Authority as a one-stop shop for prospective investors, existence of federal regulatory agencies in Enugu, and the launch of Enugu State Geographic Information System Services, ENGIS, which had reduced Certificates of Occupancy processing time to 72 hours.
Meanwhile, presenting highlights of an empirical study by PEBEC, its Director General and Technical Adviser to the President on FDI, Zahrah Mustapha-Audu, listed Enugu, for the first time, among few states that foreign investors were interested in expanding to.
