• Targets 48hr Clearance Of Goods

Poised to improve Nigeria’s ranking in the ease of doing business table, the Federal Government said it has reduced the number of agencies operating at air and sea ports to six from 15.
This is in addition to harmonising the Entry and Exit Forms being managed by different agencies of government at the nation’s airports, such that instead of filling four different forms to exit, there is just one, containing 15 rather than the previous 23 questions.
This according to the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has been achieved through efforts of the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC), as part of making it possible to clear goods from the nation’s ports in less than 48 hours.
The Minister who spoke in Abuja on Thursday when he received Dr. Jumoke Oduwole, the Coordinator and Secretary to the PEBEC, added that government has also made significant improvement in easing the bureaucracy associated with the registration of companies, which can now be done online within a short time.
All of these, he continued, are part of the administration’s commitment to improving Nigeria’s ranking in the World Bank Ease of Doing Business Index, adding that the current ranking of 169 out of 190 countries is unacceptable, adding that “the things that we don’t take seriously, like a file staying for 14 days on somebody’s desk, add to this poor ranking.
“People don’t seem to appreciate how the poor attitude to work impacts negatively on the image of Nigeria and the ease of doing business. This is what this Council has been working on since last year and I am proud to say that this Council has been working slowly and steadily but they are actually achieving results,” he said.
Citing the example of Georgia, which was ranked in the 160s a few years ago but currently occupies the 5th position in the global index on the Ease of Doing Business, Alhaji Mohammed said though the task of moving Nigeria up the ladder is daunting, there is the abundance of the political will on the part of government to achieve such improvement.
He lauded the various initiatives being implemented by the Council to move Nigeria 20 steps upwards in the index, just as he spoke on the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Clinic being organised by the Council across the states of the federation, which aims at addressing the challenges confronting the MSMEs on the spot.
Speaking earlier, Dr. Oduwole listed the 2017 priority areas for business reform to include: Starting a Business, Getting Credit, Trading Across the Border, Paying Taxes, Construction Permits and Registering Property.
She said “the Visa-on-Arrival Programme has been updated to include e-submission. Before people had to go to the Immigration Office to submit in person so that the Comptroller General of Immigration could give his assent, but now you can submit and they is also a dedicated desk and you don’t have to go physically anymore,” she said.
The Council, she assured
Also, she said the authorities at the ports have been mandated to install the iCheck Security Solution Technology, which will phase out the Entry and Exit Forms in due course.
She said 11 bills are now before the National Assembly that will tremendously enhance the ease of doing business in Nigeria when eventually enacted into law.