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Presidential council okays 60-day ease of doing business action plan

By Terhemba Daka, Abuja
22 February 2017   |   4:55 am
The Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) ‎has approved a national action plan to be implemented across three priority areas – entry and exit of goods...

Acting President Yemi Osinbajo(left); Minister of Trade and Investments, Okechukwu Enelamah; Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola; Speaker, House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara and Senate President Bukola Saraki at the State House, Abuja……yesterday. PHOTO: PHILIP OJISUA<br />

The Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) ‎has approved a national action plan to be implemented across three priority areas – entry and exit of goods; entry and exit of people as well as government’s transparency and procurement – over the next 60 days to deliver tangible results for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Nigeria.

This came, as the council, chaired by Acting President Yemi Osinbajo, urged the National Assembly, to within the timeframe, come up with an enabling legislation that would facilitate ease of doing business in the country.

Specifically, PEBEC is to work with the legislature to pass vital bills like the National Collateral Registry Bill and the Credit Bureau Services Bill to allow the SMEs access credit with ease. Also, the government is understudying the Georgian government to tap from its experience with a view to turning the business climate around nationwide.

Speaking at the end of the council meeting, which was also attended by the leadership of the National Assembly led by President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki and Speaker, House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, Osinbajo ‎noted that the idea was to provide an enabling atmosphere for those willing to transact business in the country.

He said: “A lot of work has already been done. We have been working with the National Assembly to ensure that these pieces of legislation are passed,” pledging that Nigerians would soon witness tremendous turnaround in the area of airports, seaports, immigrations, granting of visas among others.

Saraki, who commended the initiative, said the cooperation between the two arms of government would go a long way in improving the nation’s business ‎environment.

Earlier, PEBEC said the reforms would boost Nigeria’s rankings in the World Bank Doing Business Index 2018.

The programmes are to be implemented by the Enabling Business Environment Secretariat (EBES). It came into being in October 2016 and is being coordinated by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Industry, Trade and Investment (OVP), Dr. Jumoke Oduwole.

The council was also briefed on the forthcoming EBES Stakeholders Engagement Forum holding tomorrow and Friday in Kano and Lagos.

The fora are geared to elicit feedback and widespread acceptance of the reforms.

2 Comments

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  • Author’s gravatar

    how are these things going to help the small business. we are a nation that is trying to reduce the importation of everything, yet this government ease of doing business is focus on clearing goods much faster. we should be working on the regulation of small business, removing unnecessary fees, improving power supply, funding and training. we should be making it easier for business to transact with government agency. if you go to register your business, it is taking over two weeks, to get any thing done with government agency, you would spend couple of days. Reducing the time it takes to deal with government agency is what most businesses need.