Senate passes business facilitation bill

…As FEC approves World Bank-Backed SABER Programme

FOLLOWING its earlier passage by the House of Representatives, the Senate, on Tuesday, passed the Business Facilitation (Miscellaneous Provision) Bill 2022, also known as the Omnibus Bill.

Making the disclosure in a statement, the Special Adviser to the President, Ease of Doing Business/PEBEC Secretary, Dr Jumoke Oduwole stated that the bill, which will now be transmitted shortly to President Muhammadu Buhari for his assent, “is an intervention by the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council, PEBEC, to consolidate and amend legislative provisions towards deepening PEBEC reforms and removing bottlenecks for Micro, Small, and Medium-sized Enterprises, MSMEs, in Nigeria.”

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According to Oduwole, this development comes on the heels of the recent approval of the $750m World Bank-backed State Action on Business Enabling Reforms, SABER, programme by the Federal Executive Council, FEC, earlier approved by the World Bank Board.

She stated that the SABER programme will incentivize and strengthen the implementation of business-enabling reforms across all states in Nigeria.

“With these laudable strides, the PEBEC is poised to mark the festive season by staging its critically acclaimed play titled ‘The Future Is Here’ which showcases its ease of doing business reforms free of charge to the public from December 30 to January 1 at Landmark Event Centre in Lagos”, she stated.

SOURCE: VANGUARD