PEBEC launches action plan to tackle challenges of starting a business

The Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) has commenced the fourth run of its 60-day national action plan (NAP 4.0) on ease of doing business.

This, the council said, is in line with its “commitment to delivering reforms aimed at improving the enabling environment for doing business in Nigeria through systemic interventions”.

In a statement on Tuesday, the council said NAP 4.0, which will run from March 1 to April 29, aims to further reduce the challenges encountered by SMEs and larger businesses.

It identified the areas of focus as starting a business, getting credit, paying taxes, enforcing contracts or trading within and across borders, amongst others.

Commenting on the launch, Okechukwu Enelamah, minister for industry trade and investment and line minister for the intervention said: “The NAP 4.0 has been launched to deepen the reforms delivered and drive institutionalization.

“We have highlighted key action items in each of the focus areas to ensure the reforms delivered do not unravel and to ensure we drive sustainability.”

Jumoke Oduwole, PEBEC secretary (pictured), said: “The Council will continue to work extensively with all MDAs, the National Assembly and various arms of government on various reforms critical to an enabling business environment.

“For the NAP 4.0, these include targets such as enforcing compliance with SLAs across all focus areas, driving the passage of the CAMA Bill 2018 for improved effectiveness of company law in Nigeria, enhancing efficiency in the small claims court, and enhancing the application and approval system for visas on arrival, to mention a few.”

According to Oduwole, the launch of the first, second and third national action plans had resulted in significant progress over the past 3 years.

It listed some of the achievements of NAP 3.0 to include clearance of all pending NAFDAC registration applications to improve efficiency and creation of a strengthened single joint cargo examination interface in all airports & seaports for import and export to reduce the time spent at the ports.