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From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
The Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC), has proposed a three-year State Action on Business Enabling Reforms (SABER) Programme with the budget of $750 million, to incentivize and strengthen the implementation of business enabling reforms in Nigeria specifically across the participating States of the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
According to a statement by
Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity Office of the Vice President, Laolu Akande, the proposal was made by the Special Adviser on Ease of Doing Business and Secretary of PEBEC, Dr. Jumoke Oduwole, during a virtual meeting chaired by Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo.
The SABER Programme is a 3-year (January 2023 – December 2025) performance-based intervention jointly designed by the World Bank and the PEBEC Secretariat with support from the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning and the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) Secretariat.
In his remark, Osinbajo, State Governments and their agencies have a significant role to play in ensuring an enabling environment for businesses to thrive.
According to Prof Osinbajo, “for all who are charged with responsibilities at the State level, you have your work cut out for you.
“If we are going to have the kind of business environment that our country deserves and that can make a difference for our economy, it is the hard work at the sub-national level that would really move the needle.”
He added that “the States’ process is a very important one and I hope that we will be able to spend individually, especially in the States, a fair amount of time trying to work out how this will work in actual practice in our various States.”
Osinbajo noted that at the Federal level, it has been a major challenge “just trying to coordinate agencies and parastatals.”
In her own remarks, Oduwole, stated that “we have been collaborating for over two years in conceptualizing the SABER Program,” adding that “it is the first programme of this size that the World Bank is embarking on at this scale globally.”
She explained that “the Programme is a $750 million operation comprising two main areas – $730 million Program-for-Results Financing (PforR) component and $20million technical assistance for investment project financing.”
Recall the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed had made a formal request to the World Bank for the preparation of the State Action on Business Enabling Reforms (SABER) Programme with Government Partners.
“This was after a request came from PEBEC, through its Vice Chairman, the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Otunba Niyi Adebayo, asking for the World Bank’s support for deepening ease of doing business reforms at the sub-national level.
“The four main objectives of this PEBEC–NEC Ease of Doing Business intervention are:
Deepen subnational business-enabling reforms through SABER program incentives, using result-based financing targeted at improving the business environment.
“Deliver technical assistance to all states to support gaps in reform implementation and provide opportunities for structural development and institutionalization of reforms across the country leveraging the PEBEC-NEC implementation structure.
“Ride on the back of State Fiscal Transparency, Accountability and Sustainability (SFTAS) Programme, which has created a mutual accountability platform between the Federal Government and the States. The SABER will further consolidate and deepen gains from EoDB reforms implemented across the country.
“Facilitate crowding-in private investments at scale, a key requirement for the achievement of Nigeria’s development priorities.”
Present at the meeting were some of the Chairpersons of the Ease of Doing Business Council in various States across the country including Governors of Sokoto Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, Osun State; Adegboyega Oyetola, Deputy Governors of Abia, Cross River and Kaduna; Secretary to the State Government, Anambra; Federal Ministers who are members of the commission including the Industry, Trade and Investment Minister, Niyi Adebayo; Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed; Interior, Rauf Aregbesola and Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama.
Others present were the Commissioners of Finance and Economic Development in Ekiti and Ogun, representatives of Governors, other Senior Government Officials as well as the World Bank Country Director in Nigeria, Mr. Shubaham Chaudhuri.
