By Eunice Orike
Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr. Doris Uzoka-Anite has assured Nigerians of the Federal Government’s commitment to fulfilling its promise of making life better by creating over 3 million jobs for its citizens.
Uzoka-Anite made the statement in her office at Abuja during a meeting with delegates and some investors in the Oil and Gas Industry.
She said that the country was not as bad as people were seeing it, despite the challenges that the country was facing because of certain metrics like the high exchange rate.
She said:
“People and investors are still bringing in and committing money to investment, meaning they have confidence in the economy. Like I always say, if you want to know if a country is doing well, follow the money.
“I want to reassure Nigerians to see and hear and be rest assured that things are going to get better. The assurance is very important and very critical.”
Speaking further, the Minister said that among the three investors that she had met, almost ten billion naira has been raised for the country, and they already have their investments within.
“Three million jobs have also been created today and two million was handed over recently when she met with Registrar General of the Corporate Affairs Commission, CAC, and MD of Moniepoint company that visited her office, making it five million jobs within a short period of time.”, she added.
According to Uzoka-Anite, in order for citizens to access the job opportunities, a job center will be created to put out opportunities that are available for Nigerians to see and contact those that are providing the jobs in a matching process.
“When you see where the jobs are available, you can apply and send your CVs to get access to the employment.”
She affirmed that the present administration is not just talking but doing as promised, adding that in the
next couple of days, the website will be opened up for the opportunities to be out so that interested Nigerians can apply.
According to Uzoka-Anite, the Oil and Gas sector is a priority sector for economic growth for the country,
therefore, the development of the sector will be backed in every way possible as there are lots of potentials present, in terms of efex earning, job creation and also economic development because whatever is being produced can be used internally.
It also helps in bridging the energy gap and supporting the sustainability of climate change programs in the country.
She assured the investors that efforts will be made to remove the bottlenecks around businesses, increase the ease of doing business and support them in every way possible to ensure that their investments thrive and reap the right kind of return on investment that they have also assured their shareholders.
Earlier, the Managing Director Oil and Gas Free Zone Authority, Mr. Bamanga Usman Jaja said that the oil and gas sector was optimistic that with President Tinunbu’s administration, Nigeria would be better off.
While introducing different Investment companies (APM, Netgas Producing Nig. Ltd APPL Ltd) at the meeting, he disclosed that the companies had hope in the nation’s economy and they were committed to investing billions of US dollars into the economy and also create millions of job opportunities for Nigerians, adding that one of the companies has completed a project of over one hundred and twelve million US dollars with the state-of-the-art facility that can compete well globally, and that it is one of the best in the world.
“The facility was able to generate 900,000 jobs, and ninety eight percent of the jobs are Nigerians.
The culunative effect of the synergy is that there is going to be expansion, there will be jobs and massive transfer of technology into Nigeria”, he said.
Accordingly, he said special economic zones and the incentive given to the investors are the reasons why they attract a lot of direct and foreign investments into the zones.
He said:
“The president is supporting productivity, he wants to build an economy that is on a solid foundation that is resilient and can be sustained.”
