Nigerian government implements over 180 ease of business reforms – Presidency

The Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) says it has implemented more than 180 reforms to make Nigeria a better place to invest.

Speaking at the stakeholders’ sensitisation programme on the Business Facilitation Act 2022 in Abuja on Tuesday, the Special Adviser to the President on Ease of Doing Business and Secretary of PEBEC, Dr Jumoke Oduwole, said a lot of progress had been made in the last seven years to recalibrate the business environment.

She said most of the 180 reforms were targeted at boosting  the life cycles of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to ensure they created jobs and contributed meaningfully to the economy.

“From 2016 to 2019, Nigeria increased its score in the World Bank’s flagship Doing Business report (discontinued in 2020) by over 15.01 basis points and implemented 140 reforms. In the same period, Nigeria moved up 39 places in the World Bank Doing Business rankings and was twice named as one of top 10 most improved economies in the world,” Oduwole said.

Oduwole further noted that the reforms cut across automation aimed at minimising human intervention in regulatory processes, as well as regulatory reforms to enhance performance, cost-effectiveness, or legal quality of regulations.

The presidential adviser also said that port/trade reforms had been made to streamline and simplify procedures for trade.

The PEBEC scribe explained that there had been enforcement of Executive Order 001 directives and resolution of complaints via ReportGov.NG, noting that the key takeaways from the Executive Order 001 was that progress was being recorded on the efficiency and transparency directives among Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).

“From our assessment, most MDAs now have functional websites while 25 out of the MDAs tracked have adopted an online process for citizen application for services. In the same vein, the Report reveals that specific MDAs continue to deliver consistent performance due to adherence to their SLAs and also in driving a flexible service delivery approach,” she said.

Also speaking, Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, said the enactment of the BFA began in 2017 when stakeholders, particularly PEBEC and the Federal Ministry of Justice, realised that there was a need to realign existing business- related legislations to effectively aid the ease of doing business in Nigeria.

Malami said the BFA amended 21 critical business facilitation laws and codified Executive Order 001 of 2017 on the promotion of transparency and efficiency in the business environment.

“The Act consolidates the last seven years of PEBEC-led reforms and demonstrates the Administrations commitment to driving economic growth,” he said.

Malami said he was excited particularly about some of the pertinent provisions of this Act, which had codified innovations and initiatives aimed at driving business growth.

He enumerated some of these initiatives to include: preparation of Service Level Agreements by MDAs which reflected the products and services they rendered; compulsory publication of a complete list of requirements for obtaining any products and services offered by MDAs; and the automation of corporate administration processes within 14 days by the Corporate Affairs Commission.

Head, PEBEC Legal Interventions, Mrs Toyin Bashir, said the BFA 2022 provided incentives for MSMEs and had amended several Acts to boost the business environment.

She assured that the BFA 2022 would improve efficiency in public service delivery in terms of time, cost, and procedure for doing business.

She informed participants that the BFA 2022 made provisions for disciplinary action to be taken internally against any officer who failed to attend to any application within the stipulated time.

“Section 7 makes touting unlawful in any port in Nigeria,” she noted, stressing that an amendment had been made on the Customs and Excise Management Act to reduce timelines for clearing of goods.

The PEBEC recently named five most efficient goverrnment agencies as Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board, Standards Organisation of Nigeria, Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Council, Nigerian Export-Import Bank, and Corporate Affairs Commission.

It recently released the second edition of the Subnational Ease of Doing Business Report for 2023, which placed Gombe and Jigawa ahead of the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.

Gombe recorded a weighted score of 7.15 to emerge as the state providing the friendliest environment for business. Placed second is Jigawa State (6.79), followed in third by Sokoto State (6.88).

In 2019, it said it had resolved 1,300 complaints with apps.

Despite these, the Nigerian business comunity complains of multiple taxation, port inefficiency, bureaucracy, and regulatory risks.

Fo instance, the  National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control in Nigeria (NAFDAC) does not accept laboratory tests done by the Standard Organization of Nigeria (SON), and vice versa. Both charge their own individual fees and levies and sometimes carry out similar tests.