The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Yakubu Dogara, has urged the government of Ukraine to partner with Nigeria in diversifying its economy and invest in Nigeria’s solid mineral, agriculture and renewable energy sectors.
A statement issued on Wednesday by the Special Adviser to the Speaker on Media and Public Affairs, Mr Turaki Hassan, reports that Dogara made the appeal on Tuesday when he received the ambassador of Ukraine, Mr Villari Alexandruk in his office.
The Speaker assured the ambassador that the present administration of President Muhammadu Buhari is putting structures in place to check corrupt practices in order to make Nigeria’s business environment more conducive for investors. He also added that the House of Representatives is reviewing laws to ensure that those policies which are crucial to investments in Nigeria are updated in line with global best practices.
”Recently, we have been talking about laws relating to doing business in Nigeria and we have formed a committee of experts that are looking into those laws. I have also been engaging the chambers of commerce and the section of the Nigerian Bar Association on Business Law to take a look at the entire gourmet of laws relating to business in Nigeria and suggest ways through which we can effectively amend those laws to protect investments that are coming to Nigeria, and to create a very competitive environment such that we do not lose business to other countries in Africa which may be considered more transparent.
“Corruption has been the bane in this country; the current administration is, however, very determined to nip this in the bud. We aim to fight corruption to a standstill; to a point where it is substantially reduced in such a way that we can compete with other nations that are rated very high in terms of transparency in doing business,” he stated.
The Speaker acknowledged Ukraine’s support in Nigeria’s ongoing battle against insurgency and terrorism, particularly in the North East, while adding that the government is committed to ending the insurgency and restoring the country to the path of sanity.
“We are aware that there is equally an unshaken commitment of the government to put an end to terrorism,” he said.
Earlier, Ambassador Alexandruk expressed the interest of his country in economic partnership with Nigeria and establishing a parliamentary friendship group to improve the relationship between the parliaments of both countries.
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