From Beauty John, Lafia
The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Nasarawa State Investment and Development Agency (NASIDA), Barrister Ibrahim Adamu Abdullahi said Governor Abdullahi A Sule has put all in place to ensure revamping of the state’s economy before 2023.
The MD, whom reiterated this during an exclusive interview with THE AUTHORITY in Lafia, on Thursday, said the blue prints are contained in the Nasarawa Economic Development Strategy (NEDS), a strategic document endorsed by the governor himself.
Barr. Abdullahi said his Agency has been working tirelessly to ensure investment promotion and enabling business environment for wealth creation.
According to him, Governor Sule’s NEDS document has set some targets and goals to revamp the economy of the state and the first step was to sanitize the business environment, improve on the business environment, achieve some structural reforms that will make the state conducive for business.
“And we have been implementing the plan of the government one and a half year now and it is the same plan that gave birth to the Nasarawa State Investment Development Agency,” he said.
Abdullahi, who doubles as the Special Adviser to Governor Abdullahi Sule on Investment and Economic Planning, decried the number of persons living below poverty line Nasarawa state.
He then assured of the government’s commitment to improve the standard of living of the people through encouraging Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), attracting influx of investors and harnessing the untapped abundant resources in the state. He added that Governor Sule is hinged on creating wealth, therefore by 2023, dividends of the plans in play and investments so far will drastically reduce poverty rate in the state.
“Many across Africa tend to focus more on poverty alleviation rather than wealth creation. This government’s focus is on wealth creation, how many businesses are they able to encourage. Unlike poverty alleviation programmes which are short termed, we are looking at a bigger picture,” he explained.
The MD mentioned that among other efforts of the government to generate revenue and block leakages, were the implementation of an automated central billing system, having all Ministries Development Agencies (MDAs) plugged in to it in order to stop manual collection of revenue for good, the use of redundant assets and concession it to private investors for better use, to generate revenue to the state coffers.
