Plateau State Government says it is determined to make the state one of the first five in Nigeria as a business destination of choice. Governor Caleb Mutfwang stated this while declaring open a stakeholders workshop on Business Enabling Reforms Action Plan (BERAP) at the Conference Hall, Old Government House, Rayfield, Jos, recently.
Represented by the Deputy Governor, Josephine Piyo, Mutfwang reiterated that the political will and capacity to achieve this feat by his administration was not in doubt.
The workshop, organised by the Plateau State team, is responsible for championing the State Action on Business Enabling Environment Reforms, otherwise referred to as Saber.
It represents a significant milestone in ensuring that hindrances were cut off the ease of doing business on the Plateau, to the barest minimum.
He stated that in today’s fast-faced global economy, it was imperative for governments to adapt, innovate and ensure that states were not just keeping up but thriving amidst the challenges.
“We understand that businesses are the lifeblood of any economy, creating jobs, stimulating growth and driving innovation. Therefore, we view it as our sole responsibility to create an enabling environment where businesses can flourish, where entrepreneurs can dream big,” the governor added.
He described the meeting as a collaboration and partnership between the government, private sector stakeholders and civil societies. But noted that their insight, experiences and expertise were valuable to identifying the best strategies to enhance the business environment.
The governor encouraged participants to actively engage in the discussions, share their thoughts and contribute to the development of innovative solutions in order to shape the policies and initiatives that will define the future of business on Plateau.
Consultant to the State Action on Business Environment Reforms , Dr Paul Adepelumi in a presentation, noted that SABER was an offshoot of the Nigerian Economic Sustainability Plan, NESP established in 2018 to the states develop framework that would enable them do away with bureaucracy thereby attracting foreign investors.
Dr Adepelumi decried lack of policy framework by state governments as responsible for the little or lack of interest by investors to do business in the country.
He stated that SABER workshop was a project aimed at addressing these issues and disclosed that Plateau state was expected to meet certain criteria before accessing a 20 billion US dollars by the World bank.
He added that there is what is called pre qualification and eligibility criteria of the project that determines what a state gets.
Plateau State Chairman of SABER, Engineer Modibo Samari said the objective of the workshop was to provide inputs on how competitive the environment is so that the state could compete with others.
He said the private sector was key in growing the economy and that participants will make inputs on how best to grow the economy in 2024.
