The administration of Governor Umar Abdullahi Ganduje in Kano state, says it is scaling -up reforms and institutional re-arrangement that will make the state attractive for local and foreign investments.
To this end, the administration is working in partnership with the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) to upgrade the outdated infrastructure and policies so as to make the state very conducive for investors.
Speaking at a day Stakeholders `Forum on Ease of Doing Business in Nigeria, held within the week in the commercial city of Kano, Governor Ganduje stated that the some of the initiatives of his administration in this regard are now yielding dividend.
Ganduje, who spoke through his deputy, Professor Abubakar Hafiz, revealed that some of the initiatives put in place were geared primarily at capturing some of the investments flying over the state into the Hinterlands of the country.
“Kano state government is concerned with the level of investment that goes in the Hinterlands and therefore sees the need for developing a sound and broad-based business environment that will attract more investment.
“In this respect, the state has established the Kano State Investment promotion Agency (KIPA) with a view to articulating the required services and provides same to investors.
“This will also open up a window to assist investors to overcome myriad of problems. Very soon the agency will establish a One –Stop –Shop to centralize and ease out the needs of prospective and existing investors in the state. All these were done to make doing business very simple in the state which will go a long way in achieving economic growth to create employment opportunities in conformity with national interest” he explained.
In the same vein, the governor disclosed that the state will continue to contribute to the national ease of doing business by tackling identified challenges impeding smooth business environment.
“To give a little insight on what is happening in Kano state, take dealing with construction permits, the state has streamlined procedures for construction permit and put in place an application tracking to monitor the process. This has reduced number of days with improved quality of building regulation and delivery.
“In the case of registering property, the state has re-designed the operational procedure in land administration which improved the quality of land administration. This has led to the establishment of One-Stop-Shop for addressing all land issues including transfer of title deeds and other transactions.
Governor Ganduje pointed out that his administration had reformed that Kano State Internal Revenue Service, and put in place new regulatory framework to make the state more tax friendly.
“It is worth mentioning that in the case of paying taxes as a criteria for assessment of doing business, Kano state has come up with a new regulatory framework that urge people to pay tax as and when due.
“Local Government Taxes have been harmonized and this has assisted us in doing away with the issue of multiple taxes. Equally, Kano State Internal Revenue Service, (KIRS) was established with a new mandate which entails structuring of services and operations to enhance fast tracking of revenue payment.
“The strengthening of the institutional capacity of KIRS was matched with enactment of Kano state MDAs Revenue Harmonization law 2016. All these were done to make doing business very simple in the state” he added.
