Nigeria’s Acting President Yemi Osinbajo, amid
calls for enabling environment that will ensure businesses thrive, has approved
a 60-day national action plan to push through short term reforms, TheNewsGuru
can report.
 |
| Prof. Osinbajo, Nigeria's Vice President |
Acting President Osinbajo made the approval at
the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) he chaired today
at the State House in Abuja.
“Committed to achieving its objective of
creating a conducive business environment in Nigeria, the Presidential Enabling
Business Environment Council (PEBEC) chaired by Acting President Yemi Osinbajo,
SAN has approved a 60-day national action plan to push through short term
reforms,” a statement signed by Laolu Akande, Senior Special Assistant to the President
on Media and Publicity read.
TheNewsGuru reported recently
former United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon tasks African heads of
governments to create the enabling environment that will ensure businesses
thrive.
The Acting President, who addressed
journalists after the Council’s meeting, said the Council will within the
stipulated period focus on areas that will not only deliver tangible changes
for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) but also that will 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… transparency and efficiency in government
agencies [and] parastatals),” said Osinbajo.
Acting President Osinbajo further stated that
“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 Council was attended by Senate President
Bukola Saraki and Speaker of the Federal House of Representatives, Rt. Hon.
Yakubu Dogara; and the Acting President said the participation of National
Assembly was to “work together, trying to improve the business environment in
Nigeria”.
Osinbajo said the renewed synergy with the
legislature was to ensure that all the necessary legislations relating to the
reforms were passed by the National Assembly.
The Acting President said, “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 added 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.
According to the Acting President Osinbajo,
“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.”
Prof. Osinbajo however noted that “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 remarks, Senate President Bukola Saraki
stressed the importance of the executive/legislature collaboration in creating
conducive business environment for both local and foreign businesses in
Nigeria.
The senate president, who commended the
efforts of the executive, said the National Assembly would look into some of
the issues that it could to improve the business environment in the country.
The Senate President and Speaker of the House
of Representatives led the leadership of the National Assembly to the expanded
meeting of the PEBEC.
Also present at the meeting were federal
ministers who are members of the Council including the Attorney General and
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,
attended the meeting.
·
The News Guru
No comments:
Post a Comment