FG plans new laws to encourage foreign investors – Osinbajo

The Federal Government is to introduce new legislation to facilitate easy business registration and approvals in order to encourage foreign investment, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has said.
Speaking at the first anniversary and public lecture of The Interview magazine in Abuja yesterday, Osinbajo, who was the Special Guest of Honour, said President Muhammadu Buhari had already started working on a new set of regulations to ensure that business registration and business approvals do not exceed a certain timeframe that would be prescribed by the presidential order.
The vice president said the federal and state governments were working closely and looking into ways of ensuring that Nigerians have easy access to land, government approvals and an easier way of obtaining Certificates of Occupancy.
He said access to land had become a very serious issue in some commercial cities in the country, adding that the present administration was committed to addressing such challenges. He lamented that bureaucracy had made things difficult in the country, as bureaucrats deliberately delay certain things, an attitude which he said brewed corruption.
“One of the chief aims of the current government is creating an enabling environment for business. One of the critical issues is being able to get visa to come to Nigeria for foreign business in particular. I remember speaking with an ambassador of one of the western countries and he complained that it takes time for businessmen from his country to get visa to come to Nigeria.       
“The truth of the matter is that our processes are too difficult, too filled with all manners of bottlenecks and there is need for us to free off these processes.  Most countries that have succeeded in attracting foreign investment have had to take a second look at the process of inviting people. One of the important innovations that we have introduced is that of visa on arrival. That usually involves you applying ahead and just taking up a visa.  The actual visa on arrival process that we think will free off the process is one where you are able to arrive here and get your visa,” he said. 
Katsina State Governor Aminu Bello Masari said the country required the political will to tackle its current economic challenges. 
“If you go back in history, in times of recession, you find that some people brought out their ornaments, gold and other things for their countries. Really, here we have the resources, we have the people, what we lack is the will,” he said.
The governor, however, expressed optimism that Nigeria would come out of the current economic situation with purposeful and fearless leadership, adding that the issue was beyond political party differences.  The lecture was entitled “Why Start-ups Fail and Strategies to Save Them.”