Worried by failures, FG plans re-launch of ease of doing business
In what pundits see as a subtle way of accepting poor results of the first launch of the ease of doing business in Nigeria, the federal government has decided to unveil what it described as second action plan on the scheme.
This was made public by the Minister of Trade and Investment, Dr. Okechukwu Enelamah, shortly after the end of expanded Presidential Enabling Businesses Environment Council (PEBEC), meeting chaired by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Pointers to the failure of the first launch cannot be unconnected with some world ratings that came out recently indicating that ease of doing business in Nigeria is still far from the target.
First was the Rand Merchant Bank report on “Where to invest in Africa 2018 Report which failed to list Nigeria and the latest World Economic Forum (WEF) Report which also showed that the country only moved two steps away from the 127th position it was in the last global business competitive rating.
Dr. Enelamah, noted however, that the aim is to make it easier for both small and medium enterprises (SMEs), to create a conducive environment for doing business in the country.
Business Hilights recalls that this aim formed part of the first launch few months ago, in Abuja.
According to him, “We have had a very success enabling business environment council meeting. As you can see, it was an expanded meeting where the Chief Justice of Nigeria was there, the representative of the Senate President was there, the representatives of both Kano State and Lagos State governments”.
“The heads of agencies were there. The meeting was chaired by His Excellency the Vice President and it was a stock taking meeting. We will share the materials of the meeting with you, and you will see from the materials we have taken stock what we have achieved already, the journey so far, and with the plan on the way forward.
Continuing, the Minister said “The idea being that we want to have a second round of the National Action Plan, which is even more ambitious than the first one. We really want to make it easy for people to do business in Nigeria.”
Though the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of National Competitiveness Council of Nigeria, Chika Emodi, said that the efforts of government in making the business environment conducive were already yielding fruits, he was silent on the released global rating reports and failed to reveal areas of successes.
