The Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) has lamented over several bureaucratic and regulatory challenges at all arms and levels of government, citing them as impediments to the speed, cost and transparency of doing business in Nigeria.

PEBEC Secretary and Special Adviser to the President on Ease of Doing Business, Dr. Jumoke Oduwole, who raised the alarm on Monday, in Abuja, at the launch of the 7th National Action Plan, disclosed that the PEBEC has approved the 7th National Action Plan (NAP 7.0) to further reduce the challenges faced by MSMEs across five areas.

These areas, according to her, agro-export implementation action plan, automation reforms, regulatory reforms, legislative/judicial reforms and executive order 01/reportgov.ng compliance reforms.

Oduwole explained that the NAPs are homegrown internationally recognized 60-day accelerators developed to coordinate the effective delivery of priority reforms implemented by selected ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs), to drive ease of doing business in Nigeria.

According to her, since the inception of the council in July 2016, the PEBEC has undertaken over 160 reforms developed through active engagement of private and public sector voices, maintaining that there was no better way to kick-start the seventh iteration of the exercise than by presenting the latest approved reforms to the ultimate beneficiaries.

“Therefore, the action plan is especially designed to break away from the lacklustre performance of our last two outings, NAP 5.0 and NAP 6.0, held in Q1 of 2020 and 2021, which saw the relevant ministries, departments and agencies perform below par at 44 percent and 43 percent respectively for a variety of reasons.”

“Accordingly, at its meeting of February 1, 2022, chaired by His Excellency, the Vice President, the PEBEC reached the firm conclusion and stated categorically that all relevant MDAs must strive to deliver and exceed reform target expectations during this 60-day accelerator.

“It is, therefore, our earnest expectation that by April 7, the NAP 7.0 will have delivered reform results that are a remarkable improvement over the performance of previous MDA outings in recent times.

“In the area of Ports and trade facilitation, the focus is on a 60-day agro-export action plan targeted at ensuring that perishable agricultural produce earmarked for export are allowed to move freely through our ports.

“Indeed, the faithful implementation of the agro-export plan is expected to boost the competitiveness of Nigeria’s agro-exports, and create jobs, while enhancing Nigeria’s foreign exchange earnings and providing good rewards for the labours of farmers all across Nigeria.”

She further disclosed that the PEBEC is determined to continue to work towards creating a friendly business environment where it is progressively easier to do business, where policies are predictable and consistent, with macro-economic stability, and where the government acts as a partner to businesses and investors, not a competitor or adverse regulator, in order to attract and retain much-needed investment into the economy to facilitate private sector led growth and development.

She insisted that an enabled business climate is critical for achieving the successful implementation of the recently launched National Development Plan 2021-2025, disclosing that 86 percent of the funding requirement for the implementation of the plan is to be private-sector driven.

Oduwole noted that the PEBEC was committed to tracking the implementation progress over the next 60 days and giving periodic updates to Nigerians in the quest to strengthen its partnership towards making Nigeria a progressively easier place to do business.