Federal Ministry of
Industry, Trade and Investment (MITI) is partnering with Microsoft, through its
Africa Open4Business programme, to digitally transform the delivery of services
to the investor community in Nigeria and evolve the regulatory and procedural
environment governing business incorporation.
By harnessing
advances in cloud technologies, MITI aims to transform the reach and scope of
government-to-investor services in the country, creating an agile and
investment-friendly environment.
MITI strongly
believes that digital technologies play a pivotal and fundamental role in
evaluating and changing the landscape for reforms, with e-reforms becoming the
next big thing for Nigeria, for government operations and services, and for the
economy at large.
“Our
partnership with Microsoft is designed to drive business model innovations,
which will transform the delivery of services to current and prospective
investors in Nigeria,” said Okechukwu Enelamah, minister of Industry, Trade and
Investment. “The objective is to deliver self-provisioned, expedient and
technology-driven services to the highly-valued constituencies of investors
that we are mandated and keen to serve”.
The
partnership between MITI and Microsoft will tap into the portfolio of services
availed through the Microsoft 4Afrika Initiative, to jointly drive digital
transformation and advance Nigeria’s Ease of Doing Business ranking.
The World Bank
compiles the Ease of Doing Business ranking annually in partnership
governments, and Nigeria is currently ranked 169 out of 190 economies.
Country
rankings are highly observed by the global investor community, as they
generally reflect not only the conduciveness of the regulatory and procedural
environment facing new market entrants, but also how businesses interact with
government regulatory agencies throughout their lifecycle.
Speaking on
the support from Microsoft, Hakeen Adeniji-Adele, public sector director at
Microsoft Nigeria, said: ““The Africa Open4Business programme helps to tackle
one of the main challenges deterring investors: A lack of credible and timely
investment-related information. By helping MITI modernise and digitise this
information, we will enable MITI to engage with investors on a frequent and
timely basis, to increase investment levels and, ultimately, the pace of job
creation.”
Azza El
Shinnawy, director of Government Solutions, Microsoft Africa Initiatives,
added: “By integrating cloud technology, we will be able to cut down both the
time and costs investors spend to incorporate and maintain their businesses in
Nigeria.
"Cloud
technology will also help MITI proactively communicate opportunities to a
global community of investors, expanding investment horizons and showing that
Nigeria is indeed open for business.”
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