The Federal Government is developing a new blueprint to increase  the country’s Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) to enhance economic growth and development, the Minister of Trade and Investment, Dr Olusegun Aganga, said.

Aganga made the statement in Abuja at the opening ceremony of a three-day retreat for directors and heads of  parastatal agencies under the ministry.

Aganga said that the government will focus on the development of seven key sectors, including agriculture, water resources and solid minerals because of their potential for economic growth. Other areas of interest are manufacturing, oil and gas, trade and commerce as well as culture and tourism, he said.

“Some ministries have been identified as the main growth drivers; they are agriculture, water resources, solid minerals, manufacturing, oil and gas, trade and commerce as well as culture and tourism. However, growth in these sectors have been constrained by several challenges including low productivity; low level private sector investment, non-competitiveness, inadequate funding, shortage of skilled manpower, low investment in research and development and poor development of value chain,” he said.

From left: Minister of State for Trade and Investment, Mr Samuel Ortom, Minister of Trade and Investment, Mr Olusegun Aganga and Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Trade and Investment, Dr Abubakar Muhammad, at a three -day retreat for directors, director-general/chief executive of the parastatals of the Ministry of Trade and Investment, in Abuja

Aganga said the ministry would work with manufacturers to remove barriers to economic growth by enhanced generation of national and social wealth through greater export and import substitution.

He added: “We also intend to achieve enhanced capacity for value addition leading to industrialisation and employment opportunities by promoting private sector investment.” Aganga said the government would create “an enabling environment that allows for substantial improvement in efficiency, productivity and profitability.

“So, part of our mandate is not only to attract FDIs into the country but also unlocking the  huge untapped capital that we have in the country.” He said the new blueprint would go a long way in increasing the manufacturing of local content and linkages with other sectors of the economy, thereby ensuring global competitiveness for manufacturing goods. The minister explained that the objective was to “have a strategic plan that we can all our own and be proud of.

“We don’t need to do things the way we used to do them before in this ministry, we need to embrace a new way of doing things.” He said the government was committed to providing the enabling environment in order to fast-track the process of economic transformation.

Aganga explained that to translate dream to reality, the government was focusing on the implementation of mandatory skills transfer to Nigerians by foreign companies operating in Nigeria as well as the development of industrial clusters.

“Every successful business or government across the world owes its success to timeless value of integrity, discipline, professionalism and teamwork. As a team, we need these as the key drivers of success anywhere in the world,” the minister said. Also, the Minister of State in the ministry, Mr Samuel Ortom, said the new roadmap was critical to the attainment of government’s transformation agenda.