Osinbajo to State Governors: Your efforts are critical for business reforms to succeed.

Ibekimi Oriamaja Reports

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo stated yesterday that state governments and their agencies play an important role in creating an environment conducive to business growth in the country.

According to a press release issued by his media aide, Laolu Akande, Osinbajo spoke at a virtual meeting of the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC), where he stressed that those charged with responsibilities at the state level have their work cut out for them.

“If we are going to have the kind of business environment that our country deserves and that can make a difference for our economy,” the Vice President says, “hard work at the sub-national level will really move the needle.”

“The States’ process is very important,” he added, “and I hope that we will be able to spend a fair amount of time individually, especially in the States, trying to figure out how this will work in actual practice in our various States.”

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Osinbajo went on to say that coordinating agencies and parastatals at the federal level has been difficult.

A presentation of the State Action on Business Enabling Reforms (SABER) Programme, coordinated by the secretariat and the World Bank, was discussed during the virtual meeting.

The SABER Program is a three-year performance-based intervention designed jointly by the World Bank and the PEBEC Secretariat, with assistance from the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget, and National Planning and the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) Secretariat.

The goal is to incentivize and strengthen the implementation of business-enabling reforms in Nigeria, specifically across the Federation’s and the FCT’s participating states.

Earlier in her remarks, Dr Jumoke Oduwole, Special Adviser on Ease of Doing Business and Secretary of PEBEC, stated that the SABER Program has been conceptualized for over two years, adding that “it is the first program of this size that the World Bank is embarking on at this scale globally.”

She described the program as a $750 million operation with two major components: a $730 million Program-for-Results Financing (PforR) component and a $20 million technical assistance component for investment project financing.

Mrs. (Dr.) Zainab Shamsuna Ahmed, Minister of Finance, Budget, and National Planning, had previously made a formal request to the World Bank for the preparation of the State Action on Business Enabling Reforms (SABER) Program with Government Partners.

This followed a request from PEBEC, through its Vice Chairman, the Minister of Industry, Trade, and Investment, Otunba Niyi Adebayo, for World Bank assistance in deepening sub-national ease of doing business reforms.

The four main goals of the PEBEC-NEC Ease of Doing Business intervention are as follows:

“Deepen subnational business-enabling reforms through SABER program incentives, with the goal of improving the business environment.”

“Provide technical assistance to all states to fill gaps in reform implementation and to provide opportunities for structural development and institutionalization of reforms across the country by leveraging the PEBEC-NEC implementation structure.”

“Stand on the shoulders of the State Fiscal Transparency, Accountability, and Sustainability (SFTAS) Program, which has established a mutual accountability platform between the Federal Government and the states.” The SABER will consolidate and deepen gains made by EoDB reforms implemented throughout the country.

“Facilitate crowding-in private investments at scale, which is a critical requirement for achieving Nigeria’s development priorities.”

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Some of the Chairpersons of the Ease of Doing Business Council in various States across the country were present at the virtual PEBEC meeting, including Governors Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto State, Adegboyega Oyetola of Osun State, Deputy Governors of Abia, Cross River, and Kaduna; Secretary to the Anambra State Government; Federal Ministers who are members of the commission, including the Industry, Trade and Investment Minister, Otun

The Commissioners of Finance and Economic Development in Ekiti and Ogun, representatives of Governors, other Senior Government Officials, and the World Bank Country Director in Nigeria, Mr. Shubaham Chaudhuri, were also present.