The Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, (FMITI) says it is partnering with Microsoft to digitally transform services delivery in Nigeria. FMITI through the Microsoft Africa Open4Business programme plans to use integrated cloud technologies to change the reach and scope of government-to-investor services and establish an active and investment friendly environment in the country.

“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. 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,” Okechukwu Enelamah (photo), the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment said.

The Minister added that the partnership will exploit the collection of services provided through the Microsoft 4Afrika Initiative to collectively drive digital transformation and improve Nigeria’s ranking on the Ease of Doing Business.

Commenting on the partnership, Hakeem Adeniji-Adele, the Public Sector Director at Microsoft Nigeria explained that 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 modernize and digitize this information, we will enable it to engage with investors on a frequent and timely basis, to increase investment levels and, ultimately, the pace of job creation.”

The World Bank in its annual compilation of Ease of Doing Business ranking released last year, ranked Nigeria 169 out of 190 economies being observed by the global investor community.

Anita Fatunji