15th January, 2019
The Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) has announced a goal to move Nigeria into the top-100 on the 2020 World Bank Doing Business Index (DBI).
The Presidency in a statement said the target was disclosed at the 10th Presidential Quarterly Business Forum which was held on Monday in Abuja.
It said that the forum was attended by leading members of the organised private sector and other key stakeholders.
Also in attendance were ministers, including Industry, Trade and Investment, Finance, Budget and National Planning and Power, Works and Housing.
The statement said that Dr Jumoke Oduwole, the Secretary, PEBEC and Senior Special Assistant to the President on Industry, Trade and Investment, spoke on the sub-100 target.
“We know it is bold, but we are quite clear on what our mandate is and are motivated by the impact we know these reforms will have on the lives of Nigerians.
“This year, we intend to strengthen the collaboration with MDAs and partners to consolidate and build on the work done.
“ We will be pursuing the implementation of much-needed legislative reforms, specifically the passage of the Company and Allied Matters (CAMA) and Omnibus Bills.
“The expansion of the regulatory reform programme started with NAFDAC and NAICOM to include other regulators; the establishment of a National Trading Platform for ports; and the concession of our major international airports.
“ We will also continue to cascade the Ease of Doing Business(EoDB) initiatives down to the sub-national level working with the state governments, and will release the first sub-national survey report in April 2019.
“We remain firm in our conviction of the immediate and long-term benefits of the PEBEC reforms,’’ the statement quoted Oduwole as saying.
PEBEC is chaired by the Vice President Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, with the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment as Vice Chairman.
The Council has nine other ministers, Head of Civil Service of the Federation, Governor of CBN and representatives from the National Assembly and private sector as members.
The DBI is an annual ranking that objectively assesses prevailing business climate conditions across 190 countries based on 10 EoDB indicators.
The Index offers comparative insights based on private sector validation of reforms delivered in the two largest commercial cities in countries with a population higher than 100 million, and the report consequently features Lagos and Kano states for Nigeria.
The World Bank has reported an improvement in Nigeria’s Distance to Frontier (DTF) score by more than 11 basis points over the past 3 years.
This means that Nigeria has improved its business regulations as captured by the doing business indicators, and is narrowing the gap with global regulatory best practice.
This success has been driven by the implementation of over 140 reforms by PEBEC over the period, which also resulted in the country moving up 24 places in the rankings.