Nigeria’s Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council, chaired by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, has summoned some heads of Federal Government regulatory agencies to defend the ‘Cost of Compliance Report’ presented to the council on Tuesday.
In the report, the council detected irregularities in the operations of the agencies.
A statement on Wednesday by the Vice President’s spokesman, Laolu Akande, disclosed that the report revealed persistent corruption, duplicity of functions, poor service orientation, and several anti-business dispositions in some of the agencies.
While interactions take place regarding the worrying disclosures detected in the survey reportedly conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers, Osinbajo directed that the agencies involved be presented with the outcomes.
He said since the report revealed avoidable human issues, doing otherwise would only jeopardise the government’s efforts in creating a conducive business environment.
“If the environment, on account of regulatory authorities, is so difficult or expensive, such that people are discouraged or it doesn’t make sense for people to do business, then we are shooting ourselves in the foot. These are human issues and we must do something very serious about them.
“I am in full support of holding our chief executive officers to account because they, in turn, must hold their staff to account. If there is systemic corruption, bribery and extortion, and nobody is held to account, there is a problem,” the vice president said.
He stressed that government’s plan in growing the economy and making lives better for Nigerians was largely dependent on the business environment.
Every plan about sustaining economic growth, improving job creation and opportunities, making life better for the citizens, among others, depends entirely on the environment in which people have to do business, he added.
