Governor of Enugu State, Dr. Peter Mbah, has assured prospective multinational corporations that his administration would work with them, create an enabling environment for their businesses to to thrive in the state.
Mbah gave the assurances during the Second Existing Foreign Direct Investors Roundtable at the Aso Presidential Villa, Abuja, saying the state had curacted many projects to bankability.
He 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.
This was just as Enugu State, for the first time, joined the league of a few of the states that multinational corporations are more likely to expand to, according to the survey presented by the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Committee, PEBEC.
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 $30bn in the next six years, hence the deliberate effort to make it the premier destination for investment, business, tourism, and living.
He also maintained that the growth Nigeria seeks as a country would 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.
“For us in Enugu, we know that the investment will not happen because we wish it to happen. We recognise the fact that we need to work closely with prospective investors to see how we can help them to not just create the enabling environment, but also de-risk the investment flow.
“We curated quite a number of projects across different sectors to bankability. So, if you are coming to Enugu, we are going to be presenting you with opportunities that you may not need to spend so much time doing detailed feasibility because we have done full feasibility of most of these projects and you can take these feasibilities to bank.
“We have also been able to invest hugely in infrastructure because given my business background, I understand that businesses are not charity; they are not Father Christmas. They are interested in returns on investment.
“We have had quite a number of Foreign Direct Investment (FDIs) that have been coming to Enugu in the last one year and the way we have made this work is largely by getting involved with them to understand fully how we can work with them to de-risk investment flow.
“In some cases, we provide the offtake that they need to make that entry and we have had quite a number of companies that have come into Enugu as their first entry point to the country. And so my job here today is to encourage all of you to understand that Enugu is open for business. It is in our DNA to work with you to ensure that we work out a structure that makes sense for the business,” he stated.
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 Occupant processing time to 72 hours.
“We will take up your application and ensure that you get all the necessary licenses and approvals that you need.
“When it comes to construction permits and of course procuring your title documents, if you are going to be interested in land, that also happens seamlessly. In Enugu, applying for your title document and getting issued your title document takes 72 hours through our Enugu State Geographic Information Systems.
“Some weeks ago, I also signed the Land Use Regulations, which enables an applicant to monitor and benchmark the service provider based on the number of hours,” Mbah added.
Meanwhile, presenting highlights of an empirical study by PEBEC, its Director-General and Technical Adviser to the President on FDI, Princess Zahrah Mustapha-Audu, listed Enugu, for the first time, among few states that foreign investors were interested in expanding to.