Presidency begins action plan on Ease of Doing Business

The Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC), has begun the fourth 60-day National Action Plan (NAP 4.0) on Ease of Doing Business (EoDB), the presidency disclosed in a statement.

The statement signed by Dr Jumoke Oduwole, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Industry, Trade and Investment, Office of the Vice President, on Tuesday in Abuja, said the action plan would run from March 1 to April 29.

According to Oduwole, the plan is in line with Federal Government’s commitment to deliver reforms aimed at improving the enabling environment for doing business in Nigeria through systemic interventions.

“The NAP 4.0, which will run from March 1 to April 29, 2019, aims to further reduce the challenges encountered by Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and businesses in identified areas of focus.

“The identified areas include starting a business, getting credit, paying taxes, enforcing contracts or trading within and across borders, amongst others, by eliminating critical bottlenecks and constraints to doing business in Nigeria.

“The first, second and third National Action Plans on Ease of Doing Business, which were coordinated by Enabling Business Environment Secretariat (EBES) of the Council, have resulted in significant progress over the past three years.

“Working in collaboration with the ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs), the fourth National Action Plan is anticipated to strengthen these ongoing reforms, and improve the Ease of Doing Business frameworks adopted,’’ she said.

The presidential aide said that some of the targets achieved in NAP 3.0 included driving registration for utilisation of the National Collateral Registry to facilitate access to credit for SMEs; clearance of all pending NAFDAC registration applications to improve efficiency.

More so, creation of a strengthened single joint cargo examination interface in all airports and seaports for import and export to reduce the time spent at the ports.

She quoted Dr Okey Enelamah, the Minister for Industry, Trade and Investment and line minister for the intervention of the NAP 4.0 as saying the launch was to deepen the reforms delivered and drive institutionalisation.