The vice president, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo has said that the federal government will continue its determined pursuit of reforming Nigeria’s business environment until the full attainment of the objectives, which will bring dramatic changes to the economy.
Osinbajo stated at the Presidential Villa, Abuja yesterday when he received the 2019 Compliance Report of the Presidential Executive Order 001 on the promotion of transparency and efficiency in the business environment.
The report was presented by the minister of state for industry, trade and investment Mariam Katagum and the special adviser to the president on Ease of Doing Business, Dr. Jumoke Oduwole during the meeting of the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC).
The vice president stressed the need to “keep updating ourselves on the progress of the ease of doing business reforms.”
He said some progress had already been recorded in the last three years since the commencement of the ease of doing business reforms.
“For instance, in 2017, in the World Bank Doing Business Ranking, Nigeria moved up 24 places and was also listed among the top ten reforming economies in the world. This year the World Bank also named Nigeria one of the top-20 improvers in doing business out of 190 countries.
“Among the notable results of the reforms, besides the better ranking by the World Bank Doing Business Rankings and commendations include that the Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS, launched a centralized e-payment channels contributing to a 20% reduction in time businesses spent on documentation and payment of taxes, the launching by the Immigration authorities of a fully digitized e-visa process guaranteeing visa approvals in 48 hours, how the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC, re-engineered registration processes and reduced processing time from 12 to less than 3 months, and how the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, FAAN, improved user experience at airports by eliminating passenger service charge stickers and manual check-in bag searches.
“Some of the other results recorded include how the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) simplified company registration processes, resulting in 50 per cent reduction in processing time and the passage by the National Assembly of the Credit Reporting Act 2017, among others,” said Osinbajo.
He commended the national assembly for collaborating in driving the reforms.
“If we can clean up our business environment, the difference would be dramatic,” he added.
Present at the meeting were a representative of the speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr. Dolapo Badru, who is the house committee chairman on industry, nine ministers, the acting head of service, Dr. Folasade Yemi-Esan, and several heads of government agencies.
Besides, the minister of state for industry, trade and investment, other ministers at the meeting included the attorney general of the federation and minister of justice, Mr. Malami; works and housing minister, Mr. Babatunde Fashola; interior minister, Rauf Aregbesola; information minister, Mr. Lai Mohammed, and the Federal Capital Territory minister, Mr. Mohammed Bello.
Others were police affairs minister, Mr. Mohammed Dangadi; minister of state for transport, Ms. Gbemisola Saraki and the minister of state for power, Mr. Godwin Agba.
