The ease of doing business in Nigeria has improved significantly under the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari, according to Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, who noted that while this is encouraging, the next administration will need to do much more to ensure delivery of a shared prosperity for all.
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Osibanjo, stated this at the at the 5th Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) Awards, held at the Statehouse, Abuja on Wednesday.
The Vice President, who serves as the chair of PEBEC, an intergovernmental and interministerial council created by the President in 2016 to enhance the business environment in the nation, highlighted the extensive reforms carried out by the Council since its inception, noting that it has delivered over 180 reforms and completed 7 National Action Plans.
According to him, “What we have seen over the last five years is a pointer to the possibilities for a new Nigeria. Nigeria has improved an aggregate of 39 places in the World Bank Doing Business index since 2016. The country was also twice named as one of the top 10 most improved economies in the world as a result of the activities of PEBEC”
He said the successes were anchored on the collaboration among all stakeholders, stressing the need to also appreciate the efforts of tireless civil and public servants.
The vice president added that it was critical to keep enhancing the business climate in the country since a difficult business and trading environment inevitably results in fewer investment, less employment, and fewer opportunities for everyone.
“We knew from the on-set that attempting to effect some of the most comprehensive procedural and administrative reforms in our history was going to require time, strong political will and insistence on following the plan.
“We have certainly moved the needle, but the task going forward is to consolidate and advance. That would require in the coming years even greater commitment to following the plan, to departmental accountability for failure to deliver on reforms, and to unwavering excellence.”
“A challenging business and trading environment for domestic and foreign investors operating in Nigeria. And a difficult business environment always means fewer investors, fewer jobs and less opportunities for all.” He said.
Osibanjo recalled that President Buhari had charged the council with positively impacting Nigeria’s business environment by removing the bureaucratic constraints being experienced by a large number of stakeholders.
He said that in light of the challenges posed by the mandate, the Council had to devise a plan that would enable it to choose and carry out audacious, realistic reforms.
He said: “The President charged us with positively impacting Nigeria’s business by removing the bureaucratic constraints being experienced by a large number of stakeholders. But how are we to do that? How are we going to remove the bottlenecks and obstacles while delivering the reorientation of the regulatory authorities and civil servants who deal with businesses on a daily basis? How are we to address the significant trust deficit from the private sector toward government and correct the pervading negative perceptions by ensuring that our policies and regulations are enablers, to micro small and medium sized enterprises? This was the main challenge that PEBEB was created to solve. With a myriad of challenges at the time, we knew that it was going to be a difficult, yet not insurmountable task. And the task was essential to the shared prosperity of all from the beginning. We were clear in our minds that it would be unrealistic to attempt to solve all the problems that were identified in one fell swoop and attempt to boil the ocean or eat an elephant who was never part of the plan. With this in mind, we had to develop a strategy that allow us to identify and implement bold, pragmatic reforms. The strategy was to prioritize the front of pinpoints of MSMEs and install a systematic framework to resolve them and we did this by soliciting and obtaining the support of other arms of government and levels and other levels of the MDA is with public representatives from the National Assembly and the judiciary, as well as all sub national governments through the National Economic Council.
“Over the last seven years, our visionary team dominated by young Nigerians from both private and public sectors, led by Dr Jumoke Oduwole, have designed and implemented a series of reform initiatives at the federal level with measurable success. Among other tools and strategies, the team developed a homegrown 60-day accelerator – our National Action Plans (NAPs) – to implement priority reforms by select Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) for each annual reform cycle.
“The PEBEC Secretariat supports about 15 priority public-facing agencies and currently tracks over 53 MDAs. This is in support of Executive Order 001 on Transparency and Efficiency of public service delivery to the business environment as well as ReportGov.ng, the Council’s feedback mechanism.”
Meanwhile, Gombe was named the best state in Nigeria for ease of doing business, receiving the highest score based on empirical data from MSMEs in the 2021 and 2023 sub-national ease of doing business ranking, which was carried out by the Council. Second and third place went to Jigawa and Sokoto.
The Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC) won the Most Improved Agencies for 2022 Executive Order 01 Compliance award at the occasion, which was highlighted by musical and dance performances. The Nigerian Agricultural Quarantine Service (NAQS) and the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) placed second and third, respectively.
Similarly, the Nigeria Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) won the Most Compliant Agencies for 2022 Executive Order 01 (compliance), with the Executive Secretary, Mr. Simbi Wabote in attendance to receive the award. The Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) and Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) came second and third respectively.
The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) was honoured with the award for “the completion of the Enforcement of Order 172 on timeline to complete new connection to the grid,” while the World Bank Group (WBG) Nigeria Country Office, received the Impact Awards for Development Partner Institution.
Post Humous Award certificates were also presented to the Comptroller, Tariff & Trade, Nigeria Customs Service, Anthony Ayalogu; and the Deputy Director & Zonal Coordinator (Kebbi, Sokoto & Zamfara), Mr. Adamu Kudu.
Also, the Vice President was presented with the inaugural PEBEC ‘The Catalyst’ Award, in recognition of being the most impactful, dedicated and consistent supporter of the implementation of the Ease of Doing Business reforms in Nigeria.
Source-The Sun News
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