NCDMB, SON, three others rank top on compliance to Ease of Doing Business

The Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC), has ranked the Nigeria Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), Standards Organization of Nigeria (SON) and five top Ministries, Department and Agencies (MDAs) as top compliant with the Executive Order on Transparency and Efficiency in the Nigerian Business Environment.

According to the newly released Executive Order 001 Compliance Report which covered January to December 2022, the top five performing MDAs are the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) which emerged first with 81.11 per cent; Standards Organization of Nigeria (SON) which came second position with 78.68 per cent; Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Council (FCCPC) was ranked third with 68.37 per cent; Nigerian Export-Import Bank (NEXIM) came fourth with 64.59 per cent while Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) came fifth position at 63.68 per cent.

The Special Adviser to the President on Ease of Doing Business and Secretary to PEBEC, Dr, Jumoke Oduwole, while presenting the report during a media briefing yesterday in Abuja stated that the release of the compliance report was in line with their 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.

She stated that PEBEC has been keeping close track of the activities of 57 Ministries, Departments, and Agencies with direct interface with the private sector, especially Small and Medium Scale enterprises.

Oduwole noted that Executive Order 0O1 was issued by the current administration to strengthen the implementation of business climate reforms and to deepen collaboration among MDAs by instituting a systemic change management process for reform.

She added that the 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.

She noted that although PEBEC has created a back end, a mobile application, ‘reportgov’ that enables private sectors to report infractions by MDAs so that necessary actions would be taken by the Presidency to address the problem unfortunately, the private sector, especially SMEs are not taking advantage of the channel.

She regretted that a lot of money was invested into the ‘reportgov’ app to enable them to get feedback from the private sector, especially MSMEs, but since 2017, they have recorded less than 5000 cases.

She noted that through their interventions, there have been meaningful reports in the Nigeria Customs Service, Nigerian Immigration Service, Corporate Affairs Commission, Airport, Seaport and many others, adding that they focus specifically on the cost of doing business, the bureaucracy and transparency.

Oduwole however stated that if states can reduce corruption and multiple taxations, they will move up in the ease of doing business ranking, while states that refuse to adapt will lose the investment.

She also stressed the need for states to stop playing lip service to create an enabling environment for business owners, noting that there are things needed to be done to ensure they are in tune with global best practices.