The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Vice President Yemi Osinbajo

  • It’s not my duty to produce IPOB leader – Ikpeazu

    It’s not my duty to produce IPOB leader – Ikpeazu

    Abia State Governor, Okezie Ikpeazu, on Thursday said that it was not his responsibility to produce the leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu.
    He spoke with State House journalists after meeting with Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
    According to him, it was the duty of those that were trained to track people that should give information about the whereabouts of the IPOB leader.
    Stressing that Kanu was his brother, he insisted that the state government does not know his whereabouts.
    He said: “Those who are looking for him may have a better knowledge and have the capacity to determine the location of anyone in Nigeria.
    “There are people who are trained to track people and it is their responsibility, not mine.”
    According to him, the state was trying to set up a committee for the MSME Council and that he was a critical stakeholder in that because Abia state was the SME hub of Nigeria today.
    He said: “The patronage of Made in Nigeria products in Abia is going up.
    Part of the direct fall out of our campaign since the past 24 months is that today some parts of Ariaria market where the shoemaking enterprise is flourishing has enjoyed steady power for three weeks now on a pilot scheme courtesy of the agency in charge of the rural power supply.
    “Beyond that, we are interfacing and having the better relationship with funding agencies now and we were able to attract about N1.3bn or N1.4 billion on direct sales from the made in Aba shoes, made in Abia dresses and all that.
    “And apart from that, the Made in Aba fashion show was held in Abuja and another one was held in New York where they came face to face with world class designers and we did not do badly at all.
    “The made in Nigeria campaign has assumed international dimension.
    On efforts to encourage the local industries, the governor said that having direct sales of N1.4 billion was not a joke and ensuring that there was constant power supply uninterrupted for three weeks which he said was not a mean feat.
    He said exposing them to fairs as far as to New York was not something you sweep under the carpet.
    He said: “Confidence is returned; everybody now places proudly Aba, Proudly Nigeria in his ware. If our youths are happy doing what they are doing then we have started something.
    “We have been working on infrastructure steadily, roads, electricity, security as all of them are part of enablers that will drive our vision going forward.
    “This government has completed about 45 roads and about 25 of those roads are in Aba. We are doing the first flyover in the entire Abia state in Aba and the cement roads we are doing our roads have survived three rainy seasons now and they are standing,” he stated.
  • I didn’t call restructuring agitators political jobbers, says Osinbajo

    I didn’t call restructuring agitators political jobbers, says Osinbajo

    Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has expressed surprise at a news report quoting Afenifere leader Chief Ayo Adebanjo as saying he described those agitating for restructuring as political jobbers.

    A statement by the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Laolu Akande, said at no time did Osinbajo say that those asking for restructuring were political jobbers looking for appointments.

    He said: “The video, audio tapes and full text of his speech at the National Security summit organised last week by the Department of State Services (DSS) are publicly available.

    “While several newspapers and media outlets reported Prof. Osinbajo’s said speech last Wednesday, not one of the publications made such a blatantly inaccurate claim that he said those asking for restructuring were political jobbers.

    “Besides, the debate on restructuring is an important one and the calls for restructuring cover a wide range of legitimate and constitutionally valid issues. Indeed, all Nigerians have both a right and a duty to advance their arguments on the subject.

    “The Acting President himself has expressed support for state police based on the community policing model, advocated for devolution of powers to the states and fiscal federalism. Besides, the Buhari administration has been active in supporting states rights in several ways, including in fiscal matters and will continue to do so.”

     

  • Time to open new page in anti-graft fight – Osinbajo

    Time to open new page in anti-graft fight – Osinbajo

    Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on Wednesday declared that the anti-corruption fight in the country must take a new turn for it to succeed.

    Osinbajo stated this at the opening of a two-day capacity building workshop for justices and judges, organised by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in collaboration with the National Judicial Institute (NJI) in Abuja.

    He said that the administration was reviving the entire anti-corruption system for speedy dispensation of justice.

    “We are re-jigging the entire system; the Chief Justice of the Federation has laid down the rules and he has encouraged everyone to follow suit.

    “There is no question at all that this is the time for us to open a new page in the entire anti-corruption fight.’’

    The Vice President, who expressed joy that the judiciary was on board, assured of the executive’s support in ensuring effective investigation of cases and speedy dispensation of justice.

    According to him, this is a collaborative venture of all, and the executive, judiciary and legislature must see this as a fight for the soul of our nation.

    Osinbajo hailed the CJNs new initiatives and the practice directions issued by the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal in the Administration of Justice Act.

    He further commended the recent Supreme Court decision which stopped the dilatory tactics of staying proceedings in criminal cases on account of interlocutory applications.

    Osinbajo observed that all the nations that succeeded in winning the war against graft had to change their administration of justice system as well as the methods of investigation and trial of corruption cases.

    “Investigations must be conducted properly and thoroughly, not on the pages of newspapers, but before cases go to court, so that when such cases reach the court; what is presented will be the best possible case that the prosecution can present.

    “Most of the countries that have successfully dealt with corruption have had to dispense with needless technicality and focused on the offence.

    “In the case of public officers, they recognise that there can be no real explanation for a public officer whose pay is public knowledge to have cash and assets several times more than his earnings, let alone his savings.

    “If somebody earns in excess of what he should possibly even save in several lifetime, freeing him technically can never make sense, it will always seem that something has gone wrong with the system,’’ he stated.

    The Vice President also noted that most countries recognised that even the whole process of decision making must make sense“ otherwise it would undermine the very fundamentals of judiciary and justice.’’

    “If the fundament of justice is undermined, everything is undermined,’’ he said.

    According to Osinbajo, the misery and loss of lives on account of corruption far exceeds that of any other single crime, adding “if you look at the extent of damage caused by corruption it surely is a crime against humanity”.

    He noted that “impunity seems magnified when the trial of alleged perpetrators of corruption never seems to end.

    “And that such individuals can afford the best legal assistance only deepens the course of hopelessness that the corrupt will never be punished.’’

    The Vice President noted that the Boko Haram insurgency also escalated because of the diversion of funds meant to prosecute the war.

    He added that the reason the country did not build any new infrastructure in the last six years in spite of the huge oil revenue was because of corruption by government officials.

    “Corruption threatens our security, health, education and even our corporate existence,’’ he said, adding that it was the reason that Garvey, a global health fund for the vaccine provision in developing countries, withdrew support for Nigeria for alleged mismanagement of funds between 2011 and 2013.

    He stated that the country had to refund $2.2 million, adding that the drugs were meant to fight HIV/Aids, TB and Malaria amongst the poor.

    He said that a lot of funds in the hands of the corrupt were used to subvert justice, bribe government officials, judicial officers, media and subvert the legislature.

  • Govt alone can’t fund education, says Osinbajo

    Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo has said the government alone cannot sustain funding of universities or even keep them at their current levels due to its dwindling revenue.

    He spoke at the “Distinguished Alumni Awards and Celebration of UNILAG at 55’’ organised by the University of Lagos Alumni Association at Oriental Hotel, Lagos.

    Osinbajo praised the alumni association for investing in the institution.

    At the event, the association launched a N3 billion fund raiser to build 500-unit hostel for post graduate students.

    The Vice-President said: “We must ensure that we continue in the great traditions of the University of Lagos.

    “This is why I am so excited to see a lot of very committed alumni who want to see to it that our university grows from glory to glory.

    “And it is important that we do so because just as the pro chancellor pointed out, government cannot support the universities to the extent that is required, or to keep them even at the current levels. A lot will have to come from the alumni and the private sector. That is how great universities all over the world are run.

    “And I am excited to see that our project today, the fund raising project, is one that has clearly shown the way to go with respect to developing our universities.”

    The Alumni President, Dr Sunny Kuku, in a welcome address, said the the fund raising targeting N3 billion was to build a new hostel for N2 billion, assist faculty development and provide infrastructure in the Alumni secretariat.

    The varsity’s Chairman of Council/Pro-Chancellor, Dr Wale Babalakin, had earlier observed that the fund provided by the Federal Government alone cannot be enough to run universities.

    “We have to devise creative ways to fund the universities. We have to change the structure of our universities to give them the impetus to do more,” he said.

    UNILAG Vice Chancellor Prof Rahamon Bello lamented the acute accommodation problem for students.

    The institution, he said, has a student population of 58,000 competing for only 8,000 bed spaces.

     

  • Why Chibok girls’ return is important to us – Osinbajo

    Why Chibok girls’ return is important to us – Osinbajo

    • Says Family planning crucial to national development

    Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, has reiterated the commitment of the Federal Government to securing the release of the remaining abducted Chibok girls.

    According to him, such criminal acts of abduction would not be condoned in the country.

    He made the remark while receiving a delegation of girl child rights advocates from various schools in Abuja.

    They were led by officials from the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), Save the Children International and the UNFPA to the Presidential Villa, Abuja, to mark the International Day of the Girl Child.

    Prof Osinbajo, in a statement by the Senior Special Assistant on Media and publicity, Laolu Akande, said, “We want to be able to challenge men and women all over the world about this sort of behaviour, and this is one of the reasons why we are advocating that this kind of conduct must be met with the greatest possible objection and force.

    “It is very important for us that those girls are returned; anyone who has a friend or child or anyone among the girls recognises that girls are more vulnerable than men, especially when they have been abducted by men stronger and older than themselves, and held in captivity for so long.”

    “We shouldn’t accept it. We should condemn it for the cowardly and wrongful act that it is, and do our best to give succour to the ladies who have suffered this particular injustice.”

    He further said the Federal Government was working hard to ensure that all the remaining abducted Chibok girls are released and returned home safely to their parents.

    He said, “We’ve had the unfortunate experience of having over 200 Chibok girls that were abducted. Again, as you know, some of them have been rescued; they have returned and are back home. But there are still some who are still out there, who we are still hoping and working every day to bring back home.”

    Stressing that the released Chibok girls are currently studying in the university, he said “We are happy to report that they are all doing very well, they are very excited about the new opportunities that they have and they are starting their lives afresh with a great deal of enthusiasm,”

    In the same vein, Prof. Osinbajo congratulated the Girl Champion, Akam Ayo Blessing, who emerged as the Best Female Basic Education Certificate Examination Candidate, with 17As and one C.

    He said, “Her success demonstrates that there is absolutely no difference in terms of capacity and resourcefulness between a boy child and a girl child. Girls are not less intelligent or resourceful than boys. Only those who, for some reason or the other, want to deceive themselves would argue at all that there is a difference of any kind, especially in intelligence or capacity, between men and women.”

    Meanwhile, the Vice President, on Wednesday, also met with a delegation from the Family Planning (FP) 2020 Reference Group who paid him a courtesy call at the Presidential Villa.

    The delegation, led by the newly appointed Executive Director, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), Dr. Natalia Kanem, and the President of the Global Development Programme of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Dr. Chris Elias, had other officials from the UNFPA, USAID, DFID, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

    Kanem succeeded the late Prof. Babatunde Osotimehin as head of the UNFPA.

    In his remarks, Prof. Osinbajo expressed the Federal Government’s commitment to create more awareness on proper family planning in the country as it was crucial to national development.

    He further said through its initiatives, the Buhari administration will continue to support the legacy of Osotimehin, who was a strong advocate for public health and the rights of women and girls.

    The FP 2020 Reference Group targets that 120 million more women and girls in about 69 countries, including Nigeria, have access to voluntary family planning information, services and contraceptives by the year 2020.

    In attendance were the Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, and the Minister of State for Budget and Planning, Hajia Zainab Ahmed.

  • Effective border control will promote Made-In-Nigeria goods – Osinbajo

    Effective border control will promote Made-In-Nigeria goods – Osinbajo

    …Seeks stringent penalties against smuggling

     

    Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on Thursday said that the Federal Government is partnering with neighbouring countries to ensure that Nigeria’s porous borders are better policed to tackle smuggling and the influx of counterfeit products into the country.

    Prof. Osinbajo said that this will further promote the patronage of Made-in-Nigeria products and boost the country’s manufacturing sector.

    He made the remark when a delegation of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) paid him a visit at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

    MAN, led by its President, Dr. Frank Udemba Jacobs, presented the Vice President a report on its advocacy campaign for patronage of Made-in-Nigeria products.

    Speaking further on the issue of checking smuggling and counterfeit products, the Vice President said certain sections of the laws should be amended to attract stringent monetary penalties for defaulters, which would serve as deterrent and also to protect the quality of goods in the country.

    Osinbajo, in a statement by the Senior Special Assistant on Media and publicity, Laolu Akande, said “More importantly, the whole issue is that we are able to police the borders. Last week we had discussions with all the agencies connected; including the Customs, the Minister of Internal Affairs, NPA, and we were looking at how we can work with our neighbours, especially the Benin Republic, and our neighbours also in the North, to police our borders as much as we can,”

    The Vice President reiterated that the major focus of the Buhari’s administration’s Ease of Doing Business reforms was to increasing patronage for locally manufactured goods, as well as to create an enabling environment for the private sector and businesses in the country to thrive.

    He said, “The whole point of the Executive Order on promoting “Made-in-Nigeria” products was to set the ball rolling, to create an environment for this sort of initiative, and I am extremely grateful to MAN for the work that it has done in bringing this to the fore.”

    The Vice President noted that the Federal Government will consider the request made by the association for a 35 per cent margin of preference for Made-in-Nigeria products for government procurement.

    “I think that, in this particular case, the 35 per cent threshold is entirely reasonable. We should be able to do better than that in terms of driving government procurement,” Prof Osinbajo said, adding that the country has a huge market for locally manufactured products, especially in the textile and footwear industries. He further said that government has ordered some of these products for the military and other uniformed agencies of government

    Speaking earlier, the President of MAN noted that the association’s advocacy campaign was not only aimed at improving the patronage of locally manufactured products by Nigerians, but to also help create more jobs for Nigerians in the local manufacturing sector by reducing imports.

  • Only 31 per cent Nigerians have water in their homes – FG

    Only 31 per cent Nigerians have water in their homes – FG

    The Federal Government (FG) has said only 31 per cent of the population have access to improved water in their homes.

    The Federal Government said this in a report on Nigeria Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Poverty Diagnostic Report.

    The report was launched by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, in Abuja.

    Minister of Water Resources, Suleiman Adamu, said the sector faced significant challenges because of reduced numbers of Nigerians with access to improved water and sanitation.

    According to him, only 29 per cent of Nigerians have access to improved sanitation.

    The minister who said the National Water Supply and Sanitation policy of 2000 had not yielded results in 17 years, called for a review of the policy.

    “There is therefore the need for serious review of the policy with a view to fashioning out a better model that will enhance more collaborative efforts of all the three tiers of government as well as promote private sector participation and access to other sources of funding the urban water supply and sanitation,” he said.

    Osinbajo, said there is need for governments at all levels to work together to bridge the demand for water supply in urban areas.

    He said despite improvement in water coverage across the country, Nigeria still had a long way to go in providing access to reliable water supply for Nigerians.

    According to the vice president, the overall effective urban water supply is still below 50 per cent.

    He blamed this on poor maintenance and unreliability of supplies in urban areas.

    Osinbajo said: “Despite the giant strides that have been made the challenges are considerable and would require continuing resourcefulness and hard work.

    “Although the percentages of the urban and semi-urban population that have access to reliable water supply of acceptable quality have improved over the years there is still a rather long way to go.

    “Also the overall effective urban water supply coverage as a proportion of the total population due to poor maintenance and unreliability of supplies is still sub 50 percent. Our country is vast.

    “The rate and pace of urbanization is alarming, swift action, creativity and synergy on the part of governments at all levels is imperative to bridge the demand-supply gap in the urban areas.

    “The times we are in are both challenging and full of opportunities. Global best practices are more readily available, and the vibrancy of thought and action we have seen from the ministry and the water family already show a willingness to think outside the box.

    He said President Muhammadu Buhari did not merge the ministry in 2015 because of the vital role it plays.

    This, the vice president said, made the administration to prioritized water and sanitation infrastructure in its infrastructure development plans.

    He added that the government would take the outcome of the retreat serious in order to see that every Nigerian had access to affordable water supply and adequate sanitation.

  • States seek take over of Federal roads

    States seek take over of Federal roads

    To revive the near total collapse of most federal roads across the country, states governors on Thursday urged the Federal Government to hand over such roads to them.

    This was one of the major resolutions adopted by the National Economic Council (NEC), chaired by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

    NEC comprises of the Governors of the 36 states of the Federation, governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria and some Ministers.

    Council members expressed concern over issues of roads construction, damage and maintenance and suggested that the Ministry of Power, Works and Housing should come up with strategies to regulate the weight of heavy duty vehicles plying the roads as this may be responsible for road damage and collapse.

    Ebonyi State Governor, Dave Umahi, while briefing State House correspondents after the NEC meeting said the Governors were disturbed by the state of the roads and urged the federal government to hand over the roads for repairs.

    He noted that already discussions were on amongst the states to collaborate with investors and fix the roads on Public private partnerships arrangement which will allow states toll such roads to recover funds expended on them.

    He said “We are highly concerned about the failure of our roads, even after fixing the roads, they would collapse with six months and we identified that the over loading is one of the major factor because in road design you take an axial load.

    “Most of the time you don’t use an axial load of more than 35 tonnes but we have noticed that a lot of our trucks carrying majorly fuel do 45,60,70 tonnes and that’s a major concern to state governors and we said that the minister for works and housing should come up with a strategy to regulate the weight of heavy trucks plying the roads which have been fingered as the root causes of road collapse.

    “The state governors are very much concerned about these failures, its being agitating our minds and we are thinking about strategies and we are soliciting that federal government give out some of the federal roads to states so that states can fix the roads through investors and toll the roads and we believe strongly that it will be more effective because the number of federal roads that is being handled by federal government there is no amount of budget that can fix it but if some of these roads are given out to state government and they maintain a handful of it and ofcourse the budgeted funds” he said

    Council therefore resolved that interested States could write to the President requesting approval for States to take over some of the Federal Roads to ensure proper and efficient maintenance.

    NEC also expressed willingness to take a wholistic approach on the issue of such roads across the country.

    He said “The Minister of Finance had earlier made a presentation on special accounts of the federation and gave us the closing balances.”

    It was revealed that Stabilization Account Balance as at 26 September 2017 stand at N4.354,300,295,64k

    Development of Natural Resources Account balance as at 26 Sept. stand at N84.693,588,214,54k, while Excess Crude Account balance as at 22nd of sept stand at $2,309,577,899.02

    “You know there was a gentleman agreement entered into between the Minister of Finance in the NEC and the 35 governors and Lagos is not participating and that is a programme we call budget support and the agreement was because of the down turn of economic challenges that endangers a number of states not being able to pay salaries”

    “So, we came to understanding that every month the total sharable revenue in the federation account any time it is less than N600billion then the Minister of Finance will give each state budget support, we concluded that in the last twelve months and that continued for the second year, states have done very well some states have been able to pay their accumulated salary debts and then also increase their commitment to infrastructure and generation of revenue”

    “From July that was not paid and in the month of August I think about seven states were paid because according to the minister other states did not comply with the set down rules, the most outstanding of that was the non remittance of virety from the states, so those seven states have been paid but more states have complied but we requested that those states that have complied should be paid.”

    “The good news is that in the month of September the shareable amount is N630billion so there would be no budget support for the states.” he said

  • FG targets $30 billion from non-oil revenue yearly 

    FG targets $30 billion from non-oil revenue yearly 

    • Sets up panel to boost export promotion

    Towards restructuring the Nigerian economy, the Federal Government is targeting to get at least $30 billion revenue from the current $5 billion from non-oil sources.

    This was disclosed by the Director – General of Nigerian Export Promotion Council, Segun Awolowo while briefing State House correspondents at the end of the National Economic Council (NEC) meeting chaired by Vice – President Yemi Osinbajo at the Presidential Villa.

    He was with the Governor of Ebonyi State, Dave Umahi, Governor of Kwara State, Ahmed Abdulfattah, and Kebbi State Governor, Atiku Bagudu.

    According to him, Nigeria is going through the sharpest falls of export revenues in her history, losing over $100 billion (N30 trillion) of national export revenue between 2015 to 2017 due to the crashing oil prices, which resulted in recession.

    He said “The NEPC made a presentation to the NEC on a plan to restructure the Nigerian economy to survive without crude oil. The plan is called “the zero oil plan.”

    “Council was informed that there was urgent need to rapidly ramp up non-oil exports as our future earnings from crude oil faces significant headwinds.

    “The zero oil plan aims at earning at least $30 billion from non-oil sources in the near to medium term as against the current earnings of about $5 billion.

    He said the objectives of zero oil plan is to add $150 billion to Nigeria foreign reserves in the next 10 years, create 500,000 jobs, lift 10 million Nigerians out of poverty and integrate each state of the federation into the export value chain.

    Awolowo said that the focus of the plan is on the export of the following crops: rice, wheat, corn, palm oil, rubber, hides and skin, sugar, soya beans and automotive parts among others.

    He listed the destination countries for Nigeria’s exports to include Netherlands, China, Iran, Germany, United Kingdom, France, Sapin, Italy, India, Saudi Arabia, among others.

    He said NEXIM briefed Council on the “States Export Development Initiative” which is being pursued as a medium to long term strategic plan aimed at stimulating and increasing deliberate funding intervention to SMEs in the non-oil sector for attainment of its objectives.

    He further said that council was informed that one of the major objectives of the initiative is contributing to the implementation of economic policies of the country, like the ERGP and Agricultural Promotion Policy, among others.

    He added that the initiative is built on schematic transaction dynamics with key features like provision of a dedicated funding of a minimum of N5 billion as a pilot phase with window for other facilities and partnership for transactional support.

    “Council was further informed that the initiative will also help re-awaken the business consciousness of the states towards export and value added production especially in the areas of manufacturing, agro-processing and solid minerals,” he stated. 

    He said the Managing Director of NEPZA briefed council on the need to have more special economic zones in addition to the Calabar Free Trade Zone.

    “He told the council that the major defect in Calabar Free Trade Zone is that the zones have not been linked to the Calabar Port and that there is urgent need to do so in order to make the zone a lot more effective.

    “Partnership between the federal and state governments as well as the private sector is needed. He urged council to ensure that the location of free trade zones should be done strictly on business consideration and not political considerations.

    “He also asked council to provide incentives for free trade zones to include linkage to rail line, express ways, close proximity to utilities, airports among others,” he stated.

    The Council on Thursday also constituted a committee towards improving Nigeria’s non-oil exports.

    The National Committee on Export Promotion is to review several ideas and suggestions tabled at the NEC meeting.

    The committee consisted of three State Governors: Jigawa, Lagos and Ebonyi and the federal ministers from Industry, Trade & Investment, Agriculture & Rural Development, Power, Works & Housing, Transportation and Finance.

    Other members of the Export Promotion Committee of NEC are  the Nigerian Export Promotion Council, NEPC, Nigerian Export Processing Zones Authority, NEPZA, NEXIM Bank, and the CBN. Jigawa State Governor Alhaji Mohammed B. Abubakar is the Chairman, and Industry, Trade & Investment Minister, Dr. Okey Enelamah is Co-Chair.

    The Committee which is expected to submit an initial report by November is expected to come up with a concise action plan on how to drive non-oil exports based on the presentations and discussions of Council at today’s meeting.

  • FG to begin 60 days action plan on ease of doing business

    FG to begin 60 days action plan on ease of doing business

    The Federal Government will begin another 60 days action plan in the 2nd of October towards ease of doing business in the country.

    The Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Okechukwu Enelamah disclosed this to State House correspondents at the end of AN expanded Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) meeting at the Presidential Villa, Abuja. The meeting was chaired by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.  

    Enelamah said “We have had a very success enabling business environment council meeting. It was an expanded meeting where the Chief Justice of Nigeria was there, representative of senate president, Lagos and Kano government and all the key ministers and heads of agencies there.

    “The meeting was a stock taking meeting. We have taken stock what we have achieved already, the journey so far with a plan on the way forward the idea being that we want to have a second round of the national action plan which is is even more ambitious than the first one. We really want to make it easy for people to do business in Nigeria.” he said

    The Secretary of PEBEC, Dr. Jumoke Oduwole said that the National Competitiveness Council of Nigeria is collaborating with the council on the subnational project.

    According to her, the council is working with all the states and the FCT in order to make sure that the states are involved.

    She said “We are taking ease of doing business state wise. And we are collaborating widely with the private sector, all state governments, the National Assembly.

    “Again of course. We are going to have an omnibus bill that will wrap up all the irritant but most importantly, we are launching a new 60 day action plan starting from 2nd of October running to the 30th of November and we are going to have the press pack that will contain all the reforms that all the MDAs are going to be working on.

    “It’s going to be a very exciting time and we are looking forward to tangible deliverables for the Nigerian people.

    “We are targeting SMEs. We want the business climate to be simpler; you don’t need to know anybody to do business effectively in Nigeria. Larger companies ally of the time have different kinds of problems, we want systemic change for small and medium size enterprises. We had the acting DG of NAfDEC, DG of SON, we had heads of police, immigration, customs, ports authority, the airport, the judiciary.

    “We had the Chief Justice of the federation attend the PEBEC meeting for the first time. These are all the ingredients plus a strong representation from the private sector that makes sure that the collaborative exercise works very powerfully to deliver impactful reforms for the Nigerian people.” she added

    Senator Bala Ibin Na’allah, who represented the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, said that the National Assembly will not fail to support moves to ease doing business In Nigeria.

    He said ‘In interim report of PEBEC, the National Assembly got green for compliance with all the commitment we have made as our contribution on to the ease of doing business.

    ‘We the only arm of government that got full green for full implementation of whatever commitment we gave as a National Assembly facilitating the project for enabling business environment in Nigeria.” he added

    Chika Emodi, MD/CEO of National Competitiveness Council of Nigeria described the meeting as very productive.

    “A lot do work has been done and is beginning to show. There is no doubt that we have a commitment on the part of government and we are very optimistic about how this will translate to a better business environment for the country.”