FG Pledges Support For Rivers’ Investment Drive

The Federal Govern

ment, has said that it supports the efforts being made by Governor Chibuike Amaechi’s administration to improve the investment climate in Rivers State.

President Goodluck Jonathan stated this in his closing remark at the three-day Rivers State Investors’ Forum which ended in Port Harcourt on Friday.

Represented by the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the president particularly commended the state for its investment in the power sector, human capital development and the enthronement of peace after the troubling spate of insecurity of the past few years.

He reaffirmed the strategic position of Rivers State at the heart of the oil-rich Niger Delta region and said that, with investments in the right areas, the state has the potential to make the region a catalyst in oil and gas activities around the Gulf of Guinea in an atmosphere that is safe and environmentally friendly.

President Jonathan also used the occasion to urge the nation’s leaders to create more wealth by harnessing the resources that abound in the country; and to ensure that the benefits of such exercise are well distributed among the populace.

“We need to spread growth and affluence across the nation. And leaders at every level should do their bit to make this happen. It’s true, every part of our country is richly endowed in both human and natural resources. We are blessed with abundance of arable land. Seventy per cent of our land is fertile and we can afford to have year-round harvest with minimal investment”, he advised.

According to him, it is in the quest to better the lot of Nigerians that his government embarked on reforms in the oil sector, among others; noting that the nation has began to witness some of the benefits of the reform policy.

“It had always been my belief that government should always introduce far-reaching reforms that would make governance more meaningful…and allow more businesses to thrive without being stifled by over regulation,” he said.

In conclusion, the president congratulated the state government and the group of entrepreneurs that partnered with it to host the investors’ forum.

He expressed the hope that the event will foster a closer collaboration between the government and the private sector in a manner that will grow businesses and ensure good returns on investment.

Ibelema Jumbo