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PEBEC Holds Lagos Stakeholders Forum, Reports 140 Business Reforms in Three Years

Doing Business in Nigeria	1235 VIEWS
Doing Business in Nigeria
1235 VIEWS

Thursday, February 07, 2019 06.30PM / Ottoabasi Abasiekong for Proshare WebTV

The Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council today informed the Nigerian business community in Lagos, that it has achieved 140 reforms in the business climate in the last three years.

This was part of the presentation of activities of the committee at a Lagos Stakeholders forum, which brought together key players in the business ecosystem.

Going by the fact that Lagos is Nigeria’s economic capital and major commercial hub, it was another crucial engagement for the PEBEC team in communicating developments around the federal government’s business reforms.

The Minister for Industries, Trade and Investments Dr. Okechukwu Enelamah in his remarks commended the private sector, for its partnership and support in driving the “Ease of Doing Business” reforms.

Dr. Enelamah also lauded Lagos State for playing a pivotal role as one of the champions of the business reforms at the sub-national level, with commitments to scaling up the transformation of business processes across board.

He assured the business and investment community that the Federal Ministry of Industries, Trade and Investments remains committed to making business easier to do in the country.

Also giving her remarks at the event the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Industries, Trade and Investments Dr Jumoke Oduwole also commended the private sector for a rewarding partnership in driving reforms.

She said Nigeria is aiming to be amonsts the top 100 nations on the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business ranking by 2020.

Dr. Oduwole observed that the forum provided an opportunity to interact and communicate progress of the reforms so far while receiving feedback from stakeholders.

The PEBEC team of Ayokunnu Ojeniyi and Ifeoluwa Ogunbufunmi gave highlights of the key reforms since 2017,that will shape the Nigerian business environment.

From the policy side they listed the three National Action Plans and the Executive Order 001 that contain far-reaching initiatives to be implemented by MDAs to improve transparency and efficiency in public service delivery.

To enhance its communication between PEBEC, MDAs and the Public, a new Portal was launched with an App designed to improve official processing of business documents.

In the area of legislations amendments to the Companies and Allied Matters Act of 1990 have been made in collaboration with the National Assembly, and has been passed by both houses awaiting the accent of the President.

PEBEC noted that it is the largest business reform bill in the country in over 28 years and speaks to various matters affecting businesses.

Another important legislative reform PEBEC is working on is the “Omnibus Bill”.

The Omnibus bill aims to achieve the following;

Institutionalize business climate reforms already achieved by PEBEC/EBES
Codify new rules and directives for agencies
Amend provisions of the present legislative framework that have been identified as bottlenecks for the business climate reforms and
Introduce new business-friendly provisions that would accentuate business climate reforms.

The Omnibus Bill on Business Facilitation seeks to amend provisions in at least 30 existing commercial laws.