Vice
President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN has assured Nigerians that doing business in the
country is becoming easier going by the recent reforms undertaken by the
Presidential Enabling Business Council (PEBEC) and currently being implemented
by the relevant agencies.
The Vice
President who disclosed this at the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME)
Clinic in Jos, said 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.
According
to him, "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.’’
He said,
"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."
Prof.
Osinbajo added that "the other aspect of doing business that we are trying
to do is with respect to ensuring that those who come in to Nigeria to do
business find it easy to come in, we are making it easier for them to obtain
visas on arrival."
On import
inspections, the Vice President said, "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’’, adding that imported goods must henceforth be
in pallets so that it is easier to inspect under a new joint inspection
arrangement led by the Nigerian Customs Service.
Prof.
Osinbajo added that "we are trying to look for ways of ensuring that
anyone who want to do business in Nigeria can do so without any pains and
without any trouble at all.’’
On the
MSMEs clinic, the Vice President said, "part of the ease of doing business
is what we are doing here today - the MSME CLINIC.’’
According
to him, "the whole idea of a clinic is almost like a hospital, but in this
case it's a mobile hospital. We are bringing the doctors here to meet with the
manufacturers, with the small scale manufacturers.’’
While
commending the Plateau State Governor, Simon Lalong for sustaining peace in the
state, Prof. Osinbajo said, "I must congratulate the governor for the
second year of peace in the state and I pray that the
Almighty
God will preserve the peace here because without peace there can be no business
improvement, without peace we cannot even talk of MSME, so we thank God for the
environment that we enjoy, and for the peace that we enjoy."
He added
that "as far as agro-allied industry is concerned, it will be difficult to
compete with Plateau State," describing the state as truly the agro-allied
hub of Nigeria.
He
attributed the recent achievements to President Buhari’s commitment to the
growth of MSMEs in Nigeria which had initially given rise to the establishment
of the Presidential Enabling Business Council (PEBEC) and culminated in
government’s new policies on the ease of doing business.
He urged
the people of Plateau to take advantage of the new policies of the Federal
Government to improve their economies and make their state a truly agro-allied
hub in Nigeria.
Prof.
Osinbajo had on arrival at the Jos Polo Field venue of the clinic, inspected
products exhibited by local manufacturers and stands of government agencies
participating in the clinic.
Governor
Simon Lalong had earlier thanked the Vice President for bringing the MSMEs
clinic to Plateau state, stressing that it would unlock the agro-allied
potentials and create avenues for prospective small business owners in the
state.
He
appealed to the Federal Government to consider the state in the establishment
of industrial hubs across the country, stressing that the state possessed the
necessary environment and logistics.
The Vice President was accompanied on the visit by the Minister of State for Industry, Trade and Investment, Hajiya Aisha Abubakar, the Minister of Youth and Sports, Barr. Solomon Dalung, heads of agencies of government responsible for the certification and regulation of small businesses.
State
Governors from Sokoto, Rt. Hon. Aminu Tambuwal, Taraba, Arc. Darius Ishaku and
Deputy Governor of Benue State, Mr Benson Abounu, were also at the events the
Vice President attended in Jos today.
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Business