At the meeting held on Wednesday in New
Delhi, President Buhari said that the fall in
oil prices would not deter his government
from creating an enabling environment for
businesses to thrive.
“Measures May Hurt”
President Buhari expressed the belief that
with its abundance of human and material
resources, “the Nigerian economy does not
have to suffer unduly from low oil prices,
despite its severe impact on government
revenues”.
“What is required of us, to which we are
strongly committed, is the implementation of
tight expenditure controls, effective fiscal and
monetary policies, including the husbandry of
scarce resources which our introduction of
the Single Treasury Account has begun to
address.
“We are aware some of these measures may
hurt operations of some businesses in the
short term, but we believe they are right for
a sustainable economy,” the President said.
Noting that India has been a dependable ally
and friend of Nigeria, President Buhari
urged the Chief Executives to expand their
companies’ investments in Nigeria “so that
we can, together, turn our engagements into
a win-win situation for our two countries”.
“We can increase and diversify the current
volume of our bilateral trade beyond US
$16.36 billion, and diversify to other
critical sectors such as agriculture; green
technologies in power generation;
infrastructure; information and
communications technologies; the services
sector; education; industry, especially textiles
and solid minerals among others”.
President Buhari also urged the Indian CEOs
to accept the changes in policy being
introduced by his administration and observe
all extant Nigerian laws in running their
business in the country.
He warned, particularly, that his
administration would not tolerate the
importation of sub-standard goods, especially
foods and medicines, into Nigeria.
