TheCable

President Muhammadu Buhari says that Nigeria will be among the top 100 easiest places of doing business in the world by 2019.

Buhari said this on Sunday while speaking at a plenary session on ‘Dialogue with the Private Sector’ at the sixth Tokyo International Conference for African Development (TICAD VI) in Nairobi, Kenya.

He told the session, attended by Shinzo Abe, Japanese prime minister, several African leaders and international business executives, that his administration’s vision and objective is to make Nigeria one of the top investment destinations in the world within the shortest possible time.

Buhari added that his administration was implementing policies and measures to create the right and enabling environment for business and investors in Nigeria.

“We are committed to moving up the ranking of the World Bank’s ease of doing business index 20 places in first year and be in the top 100 within the next 3 years,” he said.

“We believe government has a particular responsibility to create right and attractive environment for businesses and economic activities to thrive.

“In furtherance of this vision, we have launched the Presidential Enabling Environment Council, PEEC and Inter-Ministerial Council to oversee the efforts of government to remove various bottlenecks that stifle businesses and economic activities and thereby create economic activities and the right enabling environment and investment climate in Nigeria.

“The secretariat will include strong private sector representation that would be led by experienced business professionals from the private sector.”

According to the World Bank’s ease of doing business report, Nigeria is ranked at 169 out of 189 countries.