It has become easier to do business in Nigeria, says Osinbajo

Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo says doing business in the country has become easier, especially for the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME).

Speaking at an MSME clinic in Jos, Plateau state, on Thursday, Osinbajo attributed the development to reforms undertaken by the Presidential Enabling Business Council (PEBEC).

In a statement by Laolu Akande, his senior special assistant on media and publicity, Osinbajo said the reforms were currently being implemented by the relevant agencies so as to create a better environment for MSMEs.

“Issues of new business registration, access to loans, certification of products, issuance of visas and import inspection were all being addressed under a new reform regime anchored by the PEBEC secretariat,” Akande quoted Osinbajo as saying.

“We tried to look at the various areas that make it particularly difficult to do business in Nigeria, for instance, for those who want to register companies it used to take a long time but now we have improved on that considerably.

“It is now possible for you to do a lot of business registration online. As a matter of fact by next month the portal facility of the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) would be completely online.

“We are using a private sector cyber resource called Main One which is providing all of the services for the CAC portal. So it can become much easier for us to use, I am saying that the Corporate Affairs Commission will now be online all the time.”

Osinbajo said the federal government was also trying to ensure that those who come into Nigeria to do business do not experience hitches.

“We are making it easier for them to obtain visas on arrival,” he said.

“On import inspections, before now you had several documents to fill but we have reduced the number of documents by half so that you are not filling hundreds of documents.”