Hamisu Muhammad
16 July 2008
Abuja — Nigeria's business environment is not conducive for private sector to operate effectively, Vice President Goodluck Jonathan said yesterday.
Speaking at the launch of the Growing Inclusive Market Report by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Abuja, Jonathan said the government was working hard to reverse the trend.
He said a national emergency will soon be declared to deal with the challenges, adding that government has come up with National Development Plan which will serve as the first medium term plan to implement Vision 2020-20 agenda.
"The main message from this year's theme is that for human development to be sustainable, our development policies need to be pro-poor," he said.
According to Jonathan, the government in collaboration with the private sector has initiated some element of inclusive markets in Nigeria such as Small and Enterprises Investment and Equity Scheme (SMEIES), the Local Content Policy and the Micro Finance Policy.
He said the UNDP's report has challenged all stakeholders in the country's development process, including the government and the private sector.
He urged the private sector to incorporate the poor into their value chain, saying that "we should see the poor as potential partners in value creation."
In his remark the UNDP Resident Representative, Dr. Alberic Kacou, said the theme of the report: Creating Value for All: Strategies for doing business with the poor, is a product of research based on 50 problem- solving case studies, written, and reviewed by a network of developing country academics and a diverse advisory group of institutions.
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