SAN FRANCISCO, February 21, (THEWILL) – The Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC), chaired by Acting President Yemi Osinbajo, has approved a 60-day national action plan to push through short term reforms as it seeks to achieve its objective of creating a conducive business environment in Nigeria,
This was disclosed by Osinbajo who addressed journalists after the Council’s meeting on Tuesday which was attended by the Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Yakubu Dogara at the State House
He revealed that the Council will within the stipulated period focus on areas that will not only deliver tangible changes for SMEs but also help improve Nigeria’s entire business environment within the shortest possible time.
“We are trying to improve the business environment in three broad respects; the entry and exit of goods; entry and exit of persons into Nigeria, and then general government transparency- transparency and efficiency in government agencies, parastatals,” he said.
“The whole idea is that we are able to provide an environment for those who want to do business in Nigeria- local businesses and of course, foreign businesses.”
The Acting President said the participation of National Assembly’s leadership at Tuesday’s meeting was to “work together, trying to improve the business environment in Nigeria” adding that the renewed synergy with the legislature was to ensure that all the necessary legislations relating to the reforms were passed by the National Assembly.
“There are pieces of legislations that we are also looking forward to seeing. We are working together with the National Assembly to ensure that these pieces of legislations are passed,” he said, adding that the expected outcome of the new plan will be noticeable in improvements in all the key areas of government that facilitate trade and commerce.
“There are improvements which we expect to see at our ports. Improvements at our airports, improvements at the seaports, improvements in immigration visas etc. So there are quite a few things that we have seen and which we will continue to look at.
“The set timelines in the action plan were to ensure that we are not just speaking about these things without necessarily tying ourselves down to specific timelines.”
In his own remarks, Saraki stressed the importance of the executive/legislature collaboration in creating a conducive business environment for both local and foreign businesses in Nigeria as he commended the efforts of the executive declaring that the National Assembly would look into some of the issues that it could to improve the business environment in the country.
Also present at the meeting were Federal Ministers who are members of the Council including the Attorney General &Justice Minister, Abubakar Malami, SAN; Industry, Trade and Investment Minister, Dr Okey Enelamah; Power, Works and Housing Minister, Mr Babatunde Fashola, SAN; and the Information and Culture Minister, Alhaji Lai Mohammed.
Other members of the Council including the Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Customs Service, Col. Hammed Ali (rtd); the Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Immigration Service, Muhammed Babandede; and the Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority, Hadiza Bala Usman.
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