NEC launches Ease of Doing Business report

The NEC launched the long-awaited sub-national Ease of Doing Business report at a virtual meeting.

The National Economic Council (NEC) launched the sub-national Ease of Doing Business report at a virtual meeting chaired by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on Thursday in Abuja.

Mrs Jumoke Oduwole, Special Adviser to the President on Ease of Doing Business, briefed State House correspondents after the virtual NEC anchored from the Presidential Villa.

“It is a pleasure to be briefing you today on the launch of the sub-national Ease of Doing Business report; it is been long awaited; the report was launched at the NEC today.

And basically, this is a survey and you will recall that PEBEC has been on a nationwide tour since 2019 called iteration; where we met with medium size enterprises and got a lot of anecdotal information.

“So, we decided to carry out an empirical survey; it was carried out by KPMG; the methodology framework had earlier being approved by NEC as far back as 2018.

She added that the FG implemented four homegrown indicator areas on which the survey is based: Infrastructure and security, transparency and access to information, the regulatory environment and skills and labour readiness in each state and the FCT.

“The governors have unanimously accepted the findings of the report and the reform states’ reform champion; each state has a reform champion and many states have already inaugurated their Ease of Doing Business Councils,” she added.

Mrs Oduwole said the report would serve as an information resource to businesses and investors alike, citing that businesses would have access to data showing available business climate across Nigeria.

What you should know 

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo said last year said that Nigeria is now expected to boost its foreign direct investment, following the various reforms that have been carried out by the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC).