A former president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Dr Olisa Agbakoba, said the government should focus on providing an enabling business environment rather than doing business.

Agbakoba stated this yesterday at the CEO luncheon series five organised by the Franco-Nigeria Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) in partnership with KPMG in Lagos.

Agbakoba, a maritime law expert, said the government’s business is not a business organisation and policies should not be seen as business.

“If you create the environment for policy, allow the businessmen to thrive and to go on unimpeded, uninterrupted.

“But today, you have the government competing with business organisations. For instance, in healthcare, it is still building hospitals. They should not be doing that.

“It should leave it to the private sector. In oil and gas, the government owns NNPC Limited, even though it has passed the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA). So, the government should understand that its responsibility is to create the environment that will enable people to thrive.”

According to him, when people thrive, they employ more people. And the issue of hunger and unemployment will go down. The government does not know how to employ people.

“But the government knows how to create an environment to employ people. So they have to understand that difference. Once they do so, it will be to the good of all of us. And the 133 million Nigerians who are desperately poor will go down.”

Speaking on the theme of the event, titled ‘Policy, Reforms and Business in Nigeria; What CEOs should know’, he said CEOs should learn to grow and expand their understanding of the business environment and key into the policies of the government.

Partner and Head Tax, Energy and Resources, KPMG, Ayo Salami, said the expectation is that each CEO who attended the event would gain insights into what is going to happen in the next one or two years regarding the fiscal environment, effects of the regime, trade policies, employment and the rest.

It is expected that they will build up the pace to face the challenges ahead.
Salami said Nigeria is in a situation where about 11 laws have been repealed, and a new one has been implemented in place of the 11 laws.

The set of laws has clarified some ambiguities in the previous laws, but also simplified some of the existing provisions, to the extent that taxpayers now have clarity as to what those laws imply.

Director-General, FNCCI, Moses Umoru, said the chamber is focusing on ensuring that some of the reforms of government are being implemented and not reversed when a new government comes in.

Umoru said the chamber is concentrating on the frameworks provided by the government to sustain businesses within its space for the economy to grow.

Chairman, FDI Advisors Limited, Gabriel Ukpeh, said that without foreign investments, the country cannot actually develop.

He said the concern of foreign investors has to do with the environment, including security, things like infrastructure, things like power and electricity.