By DEJI ELUMOYE, Abuja

Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo has disclosed the readiness of the federal government to carry out aggressive audit of all ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs).

This move, according to him, is aimed at identifying bureaucratic bottlenecks and removing them in a renewed effort to further improve the country’s business environment and economy.

Osinbajo, who made this known at the fifth anniversary of the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) held at the State House Banquet Hall, Abuja added that this step will in turn encourage more local and foreign investments, create more jobs and opportunities for Nigerians.

While noting that in some of the government agencies, the heads “commit to change, but down the line the system either resists or is simply not well designed to function properly”, the vice-president served notice that what must be done in the coming months is for the federal government to work with the agencies to implement a more aggressive audit.

He said: “Where we identify the specific bottlenecks in systems possibly down to the particular desks where these problems arise; we may then come for agencies and officials who have failed or resisted change.”

Osinbajo stressed that to improve the country’s business climate and making it more attractive for foreign and local investors, creating jobs was government’s priority, while the biggest job creator is the private sector, particularly small and medium enterprises.

“We must ensure that they are not hindered from doing business easily, so they can produce the opportunities our nation needs,” he stated.

Despite the challenges in some areas, the vice-president detailed how PEBEC’s reforms and efforts have been instrumental in improving Nigeria’s business environment in the last few years under the Muhammad u Buhari administration.

For instance, Osinbajo stated that since its inception, PEBEC has achieved the delivery of over 150 reforms and completed six National Action Plan (NAP).

His words: “As a result, Nigeria has moved an aggregate of 39 places on the World Bank Doing Business index since 2016, and was twice named as one of the top 10 most improved economies in the world in the last three cycles. Nigeria was also named one of only two African countries to make this highly prestigious list in 2019.

“Similarly, the 2018 Subnational Doing Business report on Nigeria recorded unprecedented improvement, with 100% participation of states in the Right-of-Reply exercise. The World Economic Forum (WEF), in its 2018 Global Competitive Report, also recognized Nigeria’s business environment as one of the most entrepreneurial in the world, and highlighted Nigeria’s improved competitiveness in the enabling business environment.”

He affirmed that PEBEC’s reforms have “proved what is possible if we are hands-on and intentional in making it easy to do business in Nigeria”.

“We were fortunate to have a smart and visionary team led by Dr. Jumoke Oduwole (Special Adviser to the President on Ease of Doing Business), who, with her team of public and private sector members, designed the series of reform initiatives and internationally recognized homegrown National Action Plans (NAPs) – 60-day accelerators designed to coordinate the effective delivery of priority reforms of select Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) annually.

"At the federal level, the PEBEC secretariat also actively supports 15 priority public facing agencies and tracks 55 MDAs on the implementation of Executive Order 001 on Transparency and Efficiency of Pubic Service Delivery and the Council’s feedback mechanism – ReportGov.NG,” he said.

According to the vice-president, with the implementation of more of such reforms, most of the systemic problems can be solved, because “these systems work elsewhere and can work in Nigeria”.

PEBEC, which is chaired by the vice-president with the membership of several ministers and collaboration with the Legislative and Judicial arms of government, was established by President Buhari in 2016 to improve Nigeria’s business environment by removing the bottlenecks and obstacles.

According to him, the initiative was to solve the problem of a business and trading environment that many had noted was hostile and difficult both for local and foreign investors.

He added that PEBEC’s mandate included seeking “to change the orientation of regulatory authorities and public servants who interface with businesses seeking government licences, approvals and other regulatory requirements”.

Osinbajo acknowledged the challenges raised by some businesses such as complaints about import and export delays, long waiting periods for product approvals and assured the audience that these would be resolved. (THISDAY)

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