Enelamah reiterates Buhari’s commitment to creating enabling environment for businesses

The Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment Dr. Okechukwu Enelamah has reiterated the commitment of President Muhammadu Buhari Administration on promoting the Ease of doing Doing Business in Nigeria.
as he maintained that the Buhari’s Enabling Environment Council (PEBEC) launched in 2016 by his government has been working assiduously to remove constrain and bottlenecks in doing business in Nigeria.
This, the minister said is beginning to yield positive results. The report of the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business Report 2018 indicated that Nigeria moved up 24 places from 169th to 145th in the ranking of 190 Countries.
In his opening address at the 10th National Council On Industry, Trade and Investment recently held at Umuahia, Abia State; Enelamah stated that there is need to consolidategains already recorded in the promotion of economic growth and job creation.
Enelama also said that the theme: “Ease of Doing Business in Nigeria: The Role of States and Local Governments”, is in line with the vision of the ministry to stimulate domestic investment and attract investment in all sectors of the economy.
The Minister further stressed the aptness of the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) of this administration which focuses on restoring growth, investing in the people and building a competitive economy.
“Creating an enabling environment for business transactions and investment would undoubtedly lead to economic diversification which is another key objective of ERGP and this Administration. “That is why we are focused on creating the right environment and making it progressively easier to do business in Nigeria”, Said Minister.
The Minister assured the council members that PEBEC chaired by Vice President Prof. Yemi Osibajo, meet regularly to ensure coordination across Ministries and to resolve challenges. He further highlighted some of the remarkable achievements so far made by the council in promoting Ease of Doing Business in Nigeria; the Council has completed 360day National Action plans on these reforms, some of which relate to visa on arrival, airport infrastructure, consolidated arrival and departure forms amongst others.
According to Enelamah, the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) has commenced the process of speedy registration of companies through on line platform and the external hosting of the Company Registration Portal (CPR) to ensure seamless operation of the Company Registration Portal.
“We have witnessed a steady improvement in provision of services to the public, business registration in Nigeria can now be concluded within 48 hours with the automated platforms”, he said.
To further demonstrate the commitment of the present Administration, President Muhammadu Buhari signed the first Executive Order (E001) into law in 2017 to ensure transparency”, Enelamah said.
Enelamah disclosed that the focus of Federal Government is on partnering with the States to initiate and deepen sub- national reforms.
“States and Local Governments are expected to complement these efforts at their respective levels by coming up with relevant reforms on the issue, adding that the impact of the Enabling Environment and Ease of Doing Business Reforms must be felt at States and Local Government levels”, he stated.