Government’s engagement with private sector remains consistent, robust, says Osinbajo

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, who heads Federal Government’s Ease of Doing Business Council, was the guest of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) at its 2016 Presidential Policy Dialogue at the Eko Hotel and Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos. In a subsequent interview with select journalists, including MARCEL MBAMALU, the News Editor of The Guardian, the vice president explained how government would continue to engage the private sector in deepening economic diversification through consistent and robust policies.

There is a sense that government is trying to fix things on its own without enough of engagement with the private sector; how would you respond to the point about creating an enabling environment for the private sector to thrive?
Our engagement with the private sector has been consistent and quite robust. There may be some situations where the private sector could say that it is not sufficient, but I must say that it is really robust. For example, I have met with the manufacturers association of Nigeria not less than three times. At various times, I have met with farmers — wheat farmers and rice farmers — on individual basis about three or four times. I have met with the segments o the business community, the professional groups. I’m here in Lagos for the dialogue of the Lagos chamber of Commerce and Industries. The Ministry of Budget and Planning was in Lagos last week engaging on the Medium Term Expenditure Framework.

It is a great deal of engagement with the private sector. As you can imagine, the private sector is a large segment of the Nigerian society; and you would always find an individual or group who say ‘this is not quite enough because you haven’t spoken to us yet.’ But I think we have tried to create the right platforms for our engagement. In any event, we have no choice, and we are committed to engaging the private sector. How do you have any kind of economic environment without active engagement with the private sector? The private sector is business; they are the economy. It is inevitable and we will continue to do so. We will have our quarterly briefings with the private sector beginning next quarter.