Latest ranking by the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC), on the compliance with the Executive Order on Transparency and Efficiency in the Nigerian Business Environment, shows amongst all Maritime agencies, the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) came sixth position.
Whereas the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB); the Standards Organisation of Nigeria, SON, among others have emerged first and second most compliant organisations in the country.
Others that made up five top performers are: Federal Competition, Consumer Protection Council, FCCPC; Nigerian Export-Import Bank, NEXIM; and Corporate Affairs Commission, CAC.
The Special Adviser to the President, Ease of Doing Business/PEBEC Secretary, Dr Jumoke Oduwole, made this known during a press briefing, as part of activities for the release of the 2022 Executive Order 001 (EO1) Compliance Report, held in Abuja.
Oduwole, while giving a breakdown of the results which covered from January 2022 to December 2022, said NCDMB came first with an overall score of 81.11%, while SON came second with 78.68% and FCCPC 69.13% as third in the ranking.
Others are the Nigerian Export-Import Bank, NEXIM, 64.59%, 4th position, Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) 63.68%, 5th, Oil & Gas Free Zones Authority (OGFZA) 61.88%, 6th, Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) 60.09%, 7th, and Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC) 59.42%, 8th position, while others trailed.
According to Oduwole, the release of 2022 Executive Order 001 (EO1) Compliance Report, in line with PEBEC’s promise to continuously track and keep the business community updated on the compliance with the Executive Order on Transparency and Efficiency in the Nigerian Business Environment.
“On May 18, 2017, Executive Order 001 (EO1) on Transparency and Efficiency in the Business Environment was issued as the Administration’s first Executive Order to strengthen the implementation of business climate reforms and to deepen collaboration among ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs) by instituting a systemic change management process for reforms.
“EO1 mandates MDAs to submit monthly reports to the PEBEC Secretariat, the offices of the Head of Service (HOS) of the Federation, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), and SERVICOM.
“In the last six years, the PEBEC has consistently published an EO1 Compliance Report, which captures a periodic empirical analysis of the monthly reports received from MDAs” she said.
Oduwole stated that the overall EO1 performance score was based on Efficiency which represents 70 per cent and Transparency, representing 30 per cent, noting that efficiency measures Ministries Department Agencies, MDAs, compliance with service delivery timelines, as well as compliance with the Default Approval, while transparency is measured based on the existence of an updated website, interactive online service portal, among other considerations.
Oduwole further noted that: “the codification of EO1 directives in the Business Facilitation Act 2022 is a major development in the efforts to entrench EO1 in the psyche of the Civil Service, adding that ‘it is expected that the legal provisions will serve as a stimulus for a more transparent and efficient public service delivery in Nigeria.”
She enjoining Micro Small and Medium Enterprises, MSMEs to take advantage of the Omnibus bill which is recently signed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari.
The PEBEC, chaired by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo SAN, GCON, was established in July 2016 by President Muhammadu Buhari to remove critical bottlenecks and bureaucratic constraints to doing business in Nigeria.