Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, has revealed that the federal government has prioritised and implemented over 140 reforms to make doing business in Nigeria easier and better.
The Vice President made the disclosure at the second annual award ceremony organised by the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) in recognition of stakeholders who implemented landmark reforms in 2018, alongside key members of the private sector who supported federal government’s intervention on ease of doing business reforms.
Osinbajo, at the award ceremony late Wednesday in Abuja, announced that the World Bank also reported in 2018 that 32 states of Nigeria improved their ease of doing business environment led by Kaduna, Enugu, Abia, Lagos and Anambra.
According to him, some of the successful reforms being carried out by the federal and sub-national governments alongside members of the private sector include: reserving a business name within 4-hours;complete the registration of a company within 24 hours online;application for and receiving approval of a visa-on-arrival electronically within 48hrs; filing and paying taxes online; as well as access specialised small claims commercial courts in Lagos and Kano.
The Vice President noted that in 2019 PEBEC set a goal to move Nigeria into the top-100 on the 2020 World Bank Doing Business Index (DBI),adding that in achieving this, the government would sustain reforms across all indicators.
The reforms, the Vice President said, would focus on: “implementation of legislative reforms, specifically the passage of the new Companies and Allied Matters Act and the Omnibus Bills; the expansion of the regulatory reform programme started with NAFDAC and NAICOM to include other regulators.”
Other aspects of the reforms, he said, would focus on the establishment of a National Trading Platform for ports, and the concession of our major international airports.
PEBEC, the Vice President, said had commenced the fourth 60-day National Action Plan (NAP 4.0) on Ease of Doing Business.
“NAP 4.0 is running from the 1st of March to the 29th of April, 2019. It aims to deepen the reforms delivered over the past 3 years and drive institutionalization.”
NAP 4.0, the Vice President said, will focus on initiatives such as: enforcing compliance with SLAs across all indicators/focus areas driving the passage of the CAM Bill 2018 for improved effectiveness of company law in Nigeria, enhancing efficiency in the small claims court, and enhancing the application and approval system for visas on arrival.
In her remarks, Jumoke Oduwole, Senior Special Adviser to the President on Industry, Trade and Investment, told journalists that the National Action Plan 4.0 which commenced on March 1 and would be ending on April 29, would ensure that both the federal and state governments alongside the private sector to deliver impacts to Nigerians.
“Since 2015, we have committed to Nigerians to work on the business environment. We are not where we want to be yet, but we are sustaining the tempo of the reforms. The award is to give pat on the back on respective agencies and private sectors carrying out these reforms to ensure sustainability of the reforms,” she said.
Some of the agencies and private sectors that were recognised at the award night include: Oil and Gas Free Trade Zone Authority, Corporate Affairs Commission, National Assembly Business roundtable, Nigeria Economic Summit Group, Nigerian Bar Association, Department for International Development, World Bank Group, Federal Inland Revenue service, KPMG, Nigerian Port Authority, Nigerian Stock Exchange and FMDQ.
The CAC was recognised for the commitment in the Companies and Allied Matters Bill passed by the National Assembly. Also, the Nigerian Bar Association, the NESG and KPMG were recognised for seconding their experienced staff to the PEBEC Secretariat which aided Nigeria to improve in 2018 World Bank ease of doing business ranking.
The KPMG Professional Services, Deloitte, Procter and Gamble, Banwo & Ighodalo, Aluko and Oyebode, were recognised in the award ceremony for supporting the PEBEC secretariat, as well as the NBA-SBL who were instrumental in the drafting of the CAMA Bill, as well as about 40 law firms worked voluntarily without pay on the project.
