The Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, has said the Federal
Government will conduct more aggressive audits of government agencies.
Osinabjo said the audits are aimed at creating a conducive
environment that would attract foreign investors and create job opportunities
for Nigerians.
Speaking at the fifth-anniversary celebration event of the
Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC), at the State House
in Abuja on Wednesday night, the Vice President said the measure was to improve
business operations in the country.
According to Osinbajo: “Going forward, there will be a more
aggressive accountability audit of various Federal Government agencies,
identifying bureaucratic bottlenecks and removing them in a renewed effort to
further improve the country’s business environment and economy.
“This will, in turn, encourage more local and foreign
investments, create more jobs and opportunities for Nigerians, according to
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN.
“In improving the country’s business climate and making it
more attractive for foreign and local investors, the Vice President noted that
while creating jobs is government’s priority, the biggest job creator is the
private sector, particularly small and medium enterprises.
“We must ensure that they are not hindered from doing
business easily so they can produce the opportunities our nation needs.”
He noted that in some of the agencies, the heads “commit to
change, but down the line, the system either resists or is simply not well
designed to function properly.”
In such situations, Osinbajo served notice that what must be
done in the coming months, is for the FG to “work with the agencies to
implement a more aggressive accountability audit.”
“Where we identify the specific bottlenecks in systems
possibly down to the particular desks where these problems arise; we may then
come for agencies and officials who have failed or resisted change,” he warned.
However, despite the challenges in some areas, the Vice
President detailed how PEBEC’s reforms and efforts have been instrumental in
improving Nigeria’s business environment in the last few years under the Buhari
administration.
For instance, Prof. Osinbajo stated that since its
inception, PEBEC has achieved the delivery of over 150 reforms and completed
six National Action Plan (NAP).
“As a result, Nigeria has moved an aggregate of 39 places on
the World Bank Doing Business index since 2016, and was twice named as one of
the top 10 most improved economies in the world in the last three cycles.
Nigeria was also named one of only two African countries to make this highly
prestigious list in 2019.
“Similarly, the 2018 Subnational Doing Business report on
Nigeria recorded unprecedented improvement, with 100% participation of States
in the Right-of-Reply exercise. The World Economic Forum (WEF), in its 2018
Global Competitive Report, also recognized Nigeria’s business environment as
one of the most entrepreneurial in the world, and highlighted Nigeria’s
improved competitiveness in the enabling business environment,” he said.
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