By MUHYIDEEN JIMOH

The Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) says reforms introduced by the Federal Government are targeting seven-day cargo clearance and 72-hour resolution of business complaints to improve Nigeria’s investment climate.

Director-General of PEBEC, Mrs Zahrah Audu, disclosed this on Tuesday at the State House ‘Meet the Press’ briefing while highlighting achievements recorded since January 2025.

She said the reforms were designed to unlock private sector investment, create jobs and support President Bola Tinubu’s ambition of building a one-trillion dollar economy.

“Since January 2025, our focus has been clear, to move from policy to measurable implementation.

“Reforms are only meaningful when businesses and citizens experience them in their everyday interactions with government,” she said.

According to her, implementation of the Business Facilitation Act has strengthened transparency, service standards and timelines across 69 business-facing ministries, departments and agencies.

Audu said Nigeria had also adopted the Nigerian Regulatory Impact Analysis Framework to ensure regulations emerge from evidence-based policymaking rather than arbitrary decisions.

“We no longer have a situation where heads of ministries, departments or agencies wake up one morning and come up with a policy without ample stakeholders’ engagement.”

The PEBEC boss said the revamped ReportGov platform now enables businesses to escalate complaints directly to relevant agencies, with responses guaranteed within 72 hours.

“Today, all our 69 business-facing MDAs receive complaints in real time. We monitor progress from the backend to ensure accountability and timely resolution.”

Audu said physical ReportGov kiosks had also been deployed at major airports and seaports to simplify interactions between businesses and government.

On port reforms, she said PEBEC was coordinating relevant agencies to reduce cargo dwell time from 21 days to seven through joint inspections, deployment of scanners and removal of illegal checkpoints.

“One of the key things we identified was that our average cargo dwell time was about 21 days, making Nigeria uncompetitive.

“We have been tasked to reduce that to seven days.”

She added that illegal checkpoints along the Apapa and Tin Can ports corridor had been dismantled and would be continuously monitored.

“Today, we no longer have illegal checkpoints within the ports corridor in Apapa and Tin Can. We intend to sustain this until it becomes the norm,” Audu said.

The PEBEC boss said memoranda of understanding between the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) and NAFDAC, as well as between the Nigerian Agricultural Quarantine Service (NAQS) and the Nigeria Export Processing Zones Authority (NEPZA), had eliminated duplication of regulatory inspections.

She said the council had also strengthened engagement with state governments through nationwide tours and peer-learning programmes to improve subnational ease of doing business.

According to her, all states now have Small Claims Courts to provide quicker and cheaper resolution of commercial disputes, while efforts are ongoing to establish specialised commercial courts and alternative dispute resolution mechanisms nationwide.

“PEBEC is not designed to name and shame. PEBEC is there to fix the gaps and address the issues within our business environment.”

Audu said the council had also intervened successfully on issues relating to the e-visa regime, driver’s licence backlog and financial reporting regulations.

She assured investors that abrupt regulatory changes had become a thing of the past.

“No regulator will come up with regulations without ample stakeholders’ engagement. That has been put in place to secure investments in Nigeria.”

Audu added that the reforms were institutionalising transparency, accountability and predictability across government.

“We need a mindset shift from individuals who excel to institutions that work regardless of who is at the helm of affairs. That is what PEBEC is building,” she said. (NAN)

•PHOTO: Zahrah Audu, Director-General, Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) at the State House ‘Meet the Press’ briefing, on Tuesday in Abuja

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