IPPA Hosts Heritage Foundation, Washington

IPPA hosts the Heritage Foundation, Washington United States. Mr James Robertson, the focal person for the Index of Economic Freedom http://www.heritage.org/index/ published by the Heritage Foundation and Wall Street Journal visited Nigeria between 15-17th September 2016 and he was involved in meeting and forum with key development actors and organisations in Nigeria.
While in Lagos, IPPA facilitated meetings and engagements with organisations including BudgIT and Mr Oluseun Onigbinde, Centre for Public Policy Alternative (CPPA) and Dr Gbadebo-Smith and the Centre for Values in Leadership (CVL) and Prof. Pat Utomi. A private Luncheon session was also organised for IPPA affiliates and Researchers on the 16th September 2016.

For Heritage, the visit was to broaden the reach of the Heritage’s Index of Economic Freedom, an annual ranking of countries based on their degree of economic freedom. The selection of the organisations and individuals visited was largely based on organisation recognition as a key voice for policy reform in Nigeria and that the organisation offers a veritable platform to drive policy changes. The meetings provide opportunities to explore areas of possible mutual interest among the organisations in addition to discussions on the Index of Economic Freedom. Mr. James spoke on how to use the Index of Economic Freedom to cause a forward momentum on reforms in line with the four pillars (Rule of Law, size and efficiency of government, and openness to trade and investment) and ten indicators that is measured in the Index. This will be in the context of how to improve countries’ attractiveness to new trade and investment opportunities that will spur sustainable job creation and improved living standards