The Bank of Industry (BoI), Nigerian Export Processing Zones Authority (NEPZA) and the Nigerian Upstream Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) have been ranked low in business facilitation by the Presidential Business Enabling Environment Council (PEBEC) for the first half of 2024.

The three agencies are among 11 agencies who could not score up to 50 per cent in business facilitation as enshrined by the Business Facilitation Act 2022.

The Business Facilitation Act (BFA 2022) says all MDAs must provide comprehensive information about its charges, timelines, terms, and prerequisites for obtaining permits, licenses, and approvals adding that the information should be readily available in their physical facilities, on official websites and through service portals.

A breakdown of the agencies who ranked low by Daily Trust show that Nigerian Export Processing Zones Authority (NEPZA) scored (48.3%), Nigerian Upstream Regulatory Commission NUPRC (46.9%), Nigerian Broadcasting Commission (34.7%) Oil and Gas Free Zones Authority (30.1%) and Bureau for Public Procurement (24.1%).

Others include Bank of Industry (23.7%), Joint Tax Board (23.1%), SERVICOM (15.6%) National Sugar Development Council (15.3%), Nigeria Airspace Management Agency (13.9%) and the least being Trademark Registry (9.6%).

Meanwhile the top five performing MDAs during this period are the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) with (80.1%) score, followed by the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) at (78.2%), and the Nigeria Agricultural Quarantine Service (NAQS) ranking third with (74.8%). The Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) and Nigeria Customs Services (NCS) secured the fourth and fifth positions, scoring (73.9%) and (73.2%), respectively.

Dr. Jumoke Oduwole, Special Adviser to the President on PEBEC while presenting the report to the public in Abuja on Tuesday says MDAs overall performance score is based on Efficiency and Transparency measures, with a 70% to 30% ratio, respectively.

The Efficiency scale measures MDAs on adherence to service level agreements (SLAs), costs and procedures, one government directive, and default approval while Transparency is assessed based on the publishing of standardized procedures, timeliness, service fee and customer service contact details on the MDAs website and digital media channels.

Furthermore, it is noteworthy that the number of MDAs that scored above fifty percent (50%) in their efficiency compliance increased from eight (8) MDAs in the 2023 Half-Year report to twenty (20) MDAs in 2024 Half-Year report.

We urge all MDAs to leverage the report to deepen their commitment to improving the experience of Nigerian citizens and to pioneer new initiatives necessary for achieving the much-needed improvement in transparency and efficiency of public service delivery to the Nigerian business community, she said (Daily Trust: Text, Excluding Headline)