The Director-General of Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council, (PEBEC), Princess Zahrah Mustapha Audu has urged states across the country to take advantage of reforms initiatied by President Bola Hammed Tinubu in order to foster investment promotion and job creation in their respective states.

The PEBEC DG stated this on Wednesday at a technical session and statewide town hall meeting with heads of investment-enabling ministries, departments and agencies, among other critical stakeholders in Osogbo, Osun State.

At the event, she highlighted benefits of an initiative tagged “State Action on Business Enabling Reforms’ (SABER) which is a $750 million World Bank-supported initiative in collaboration with the federal government, designed to incentivize and strengthen business-enabling reforms in Nigeria’s sub nationals.

In her speech at the event, she charged Osun state government to give reasons why it is not actively participating in the SABER initiative and to also enumerate safety indices and how it has been thriving in investment drive which is part of important obligations of PEBEC in its ease of doing business reports on sub nationals.

She commended Osun state government under the leadership of Governor Ademola Adeleke for being proactive in implementing strategic policies that align with SABER’s guidelines despite its non-active participation in the initiative but harped that the state has a lot to benefit if reconsider its stance.

She pointed out that even if the state is not actively participating in SABER, PEBEC still remains, by extension at the Federal level, a coordinating force of all businesses in sub national levels, just like the Corporate Affairs  Commission, CAC, NAFDAC, and others, hence, its mandated 

Parts of the messages rolled out to the sub nationals at the event include: that all states should have data-driven collation of all federal government investment incentives available to the states which can make them attractive to investors and business conglomerates, as well as to document numbers of entities benefitting from the incentives annually

It was taught during the technical session at the town hall meeting that
regardless of the fact that a state is not obtaining loan, it must ensure that reforms are implemented in line with the federal government’ guidelines on investment promotion across the country for ease of doing business.

States were also urged to ensure issue of licensing and its renewal and access to funds should be made available to the public through state’s investment promotion agency’s websites.

In their separate addresses, the  commissioner and Permanent Secretary at the state ministry of Economic Planning, Budget and Development, said the state is averse to any loan-backed project because of its determination to continue to reduce its inherited debt profile.

The duo said the state is committed to complying with investment mandate of SERBA as highlighted by the Director-General, despite its non-active participation

In his opening address at the technical session, the state Commissioner for Economic Planning, Budget and Development, Professor Moruf Ademola Adeleke highlighted transformative efforts of the state current administration through  inter-ministerial collaborations, which he said has been yielding positive results.

Among the efforts mentioned are:” issuance of certificate of occupancy which follow a streamline process within a maximum of 45 days, once required documents, such as survey plans and tax clearance certificate are submitted and vetted, Osun Stata Investment Agency, OSIPA, has been fully resuscitated, tax agencies now fully operational and driving structured investors relations and business facilitation in the state”.

Other transformative efforts mentioned by the commissioner include “Osun internal revenue which has been promoting transparency through electronic payment system for all categories of revenue collection, a one-stop business registration centre at the ministry of commerce and industry, which remains active and efficient and has been enabling seamless business registration in the state”.

The commissioner also cited the state current administration’s intervention in implementation of business-enabling infrastructure and finances, such as massive road rehabilitation and construction to aid access to markets and to foster security, as well as various soft loans at single-digit interest rate being disbursed to SMEs through the state micro credit agency, and also pointed out security measures being put in place to safeguard lives and businesses.

He said such interventions form parts of the state commitment to improving the ease of doing business and attracting both local and international investors to the state.

The Permanent Secretary, Osun ministry of Economic Planning, Budget and Development, Mrs Yetunde Esan, enumerated the state’s policy frameworks which have been fostering investment promotion and enabling ease of doing business in conformity with transparency and accountability.

The technical session on SABER programmes held at the town hall meeting for relevant stakeholders focuses on: land administration; regulatory framework for private investment in fibre optic infrastructure; public/private partnership framework; and investment policies; tax administration and business-enabling regulatory environment.

Sola Omilani

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