All eyes on FG’s ease of doing business reforms

Investors, market watchers and policy analysts are closely watching the federal government’s ease of doing business reforms.

Already, the government has made quick wins as an earlier assessment of the performance score card of the 60-Day National Action Plan (NAP) showed that 70 percent of the seven- point objective set in line with the World Bank indices was achieved within the timeline.

In the second phase of NAP, called NAP 2.0, the government is planning to eliminate inspection for business premises as a prerequisite for starting a business.

The leadership of the country has concluded plans to make land information available online, while adopting a fully operational electronic payment system with options for POS and bank transfers.

On payment of taxes, government expects to have all large and medium sized enterprises register on e-filing system, while reducing the average time for filing and paying taxes by 50 percent.

In terms of port reforms, the government wants joint examination of import cargo in Lagos led by the Nigeria Customs Service, as well as compliance with 48-hour SLA for automated scheduling process by pre-shipment inspection agents.

Agencies of government must also comply with seven documents for export and eight for imports.

On the issue of enforcing contracts, the government is planning to have specialised magistrates trained for commercial cases.

Regarding entry and exit, government is enforcing a single passenger clearance system at the airports to reduce average clearance time by 50 percent and is processing and approving temporary work permit within 48 hours. There will also be Automated Expatriate Quota application process at the Ministry of Interior, targeted at encouraging foreign direct investment.

Government has also approved 90-day processing timeline for registration of food and drugs in Nigeria and clearly defined fees and processes involved in registering a product with NAFDAC, which must be made available online.

Economic watchers believe that Nigeria’s business environment needs urgent reforms to boost the capacity of existing local and foreign investors and attract new foreign capital in the form of Foreign Direct Investment.

Nigeria requires local and foreign investments rose to create jobs for 25.6 million unemployed population.

Ethiopia is emerging as investors’ hub because the East African country created a one-stop shop, which ensures that all business, property and company registrations end up in one office.

Investors across the world are looking at how Nigeria implements its reforms on the ports, taxes, trade and property, among others.

This is validated by excitement generated by the African Union’s Facebook and Twitter post on Monday, which reported that Nigeria would grant ‘visa on arrival’ to Africans.

Investors wish to make Nigeria their home but this will require religious implementation of policies by government ministries, departments and agencies. The policies also need to be consistent even if there is change of government.

For a country of 180 million people, the size of the gross domestic product (GDP), which stands around $420 billion, is infinitesimal, considering that the market capitalisation of America-based Apple is about $800 billion.

The economic size of the country can best be expanded when there is an environment that creates certainty in the number of taxes to be paid, processes involved in getting certificate of occupancy, and easy entry to and exit from Tin Can and Apapa ports in Lagos.

There will be economic expansions when factories and businesses get regular power at cheapest rates and when people and businesses (including telecoms installations/cables) are secure.

The thinking of economic stakeholders is that the reforms will determine how fast the economy will bounce back to life and how high-impact sectors such as manufacturing, agriculture, telecoms, and creative industries will fare.