About Us

The Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) was set up in July 2016 to improve the doing-business environment in Nigeria for SMEs by working to:

Remove critical bottlenecks and procedural restrictions to doing business in Nigeria

The Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) was established in July 2016 by His Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR, with a dual mandate to make Nigeria a progressively easier place to do business by removing bureaucratic constraints to doing business in Nigeria, as well as improving the perception of investors and stakeholders about the Nigerian business terrain.

The PEBEC is chaired by His Excellency, the Vice President, with the Honourable Minister of Industry of Trade and Investment as Vice Chair, and comprises 13 Honourable Ministers, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, the Head of Service of the Federation and the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria. The PEBEC is also privileged to enjoy among its membership high-level representation from the National Assembly and the Judiciary, as well as State Governments and the private sector. The PEBEC Secretariat assists ministries, departments and agencies to implement the reform agenda of the Council.

Since its inception to date, the PEBEC has achieved the delivery of over 160 reforms and completed seven National Action Plans (60-day reform accelerators). As a result, Nigeria moved an aggregate of 39 places on the World Bank Doing Business index between 2016 and 2019. The country was twice named by the World Bank as one of the top 10 most improved economies in the world over the last three cycles of the report, and one of only two African countries to make this highly prestigious list in 2019.

Leadership

Chair

His Excellency, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo SAN, GCON.

Vice Chair

Otunba Adeniyi Adebayo, Honourable Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment.




PEBEC Secretary

Dr. Jumoke Oduwole

Special Adviser to the President on Ease of Doing Business

Members

13 other Cabinet Ministers, Head of Civil Service of the Federation, Governor of CBN, representatives from the National Assembly and the Judiciary as well as representatives from Lagos and Kano states and private sector.

EBES

the Enabling Business Environment Secretariat, implements the reform agenda of PEBEC.

  Movement of Nigeria's ranking to sub-100 in the 2020 World Bank Doing Business Report

  Implementation of PEBEC 2019 Action Plan

  Implementation of strategic communications and engagement framework to drive awareness and private sector validation of reforms

  Passage of the CAM Bill and the Omnibus Bill.

  Expansion of regulatory reform program (started with NAFDAC and NAICOM) to include other regulatory agencies nominated by the private sector

  The release of a sub-national business climate survey by April 2019

  Establishment of a National Trading Platform for our Ports (FMF/NCS)

  Concession of our major international airports (MOT)

ABOUT BUSINESS MADE EASY (BME)

Business Made Easy is an awareness and educational campaign initiated to communicate the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council’s (PEBEC) mandate.

In order to make running a business easier in Nigeria, reforms have been implemented which should translate to Nigeria being ranked in the top 100 in the 2019/20 World Bank Ease of Doing Business Index. The Business Made Easy campaign was launched to effectively inform and educate Nigerians about these reforms.

The Reform Agenda



Starting a Business

  • - Reserve and register a business within 24 hours on the E- Platform
  • - Tax Identification Number (TIN) for Tax Payments automatically generated
  • - Simplified Company Incorporation Form (CAC 1.1)
  • - Registration fees payable online through the Company Registration Portal (CRP)

Entry & EXIT OF PEOPLE

  • - Simplified visa-on-arrival process; application done online and issued within 48hrs
  • - Elimination of the Passenger Service Charge (PSC) stickers, eliminating additional checks while travelling domestic routes.
  • - Agency activities at the airport combined into one passenger interface.


Trading Across Borders

  • - Reduced number of import and export documents required
  • - Implementation of 24/7 operations of Apapa port in Lagos and reduced number of agencies at the ports.
  • - All government official rates are available on the respective agency’s website for transparency

Getting Credit

  • - Creation of National Collateral Registry (NCR) to support the use of movable assets as collaterals for loan
  • - Legal right of borrowers to access credit reports from the Credit Bureaus
  • - Credit scores can be used by individuals to secure credit/loans to make various purchases


Dealing With Construction Permits - Lagos

  • - Removal of the Infrastructure Development Charge (IDC) for 2-floor warehouse construction permits applications.
  • - Certified true copy (CTC) of title documents in the construction permit application process no longer required
  • - Soil Investigation Report in construction permit applications not required for non-marshy areas of Lagos State.

Dealing With Construction Permits - Kano

  • - Water connections obtainable within 7 days
  • - Physical inspection before issuance of Certificate of habitation cancelled
  • - Online application and payment process for construction permits and building plans
  • - Building plan approvals obtainable within 14 days


Paying Taxes

  • - Filing and payment of federal taxes online available online; E-platform accessible to all classes of taxpayers
  • - A simplified single schedule for each tax type now available on the e-filing platform
  • - Corporate income tax (CIT) audits can be done within 63 days.

Getting Electricity

  • - The time required to connect new customers has dropped to 30 days from 176 days
  • - Application for connection to the electricity grid can be done online
  • - Procedures required to connect new customers has reduced from 9 to 5 steps.


Registering Property - Lagos

  • - E-Platform available for payment of relevant fees when registering a property
  • - Demand notices for registration fees, consent fees, neighborhood improvement charges now sent to applicants via email.
  • - The Lands Bureau and the OSSG process and track client files based on a single unique file identification number.

Registering Property - Kano

  • - Issuance of Governor’s Consent delegated to the Honourable Attorney General of Kano State to reduce time of approval to 7 days from 30 days
  • - All required payments can be made online at the KSBLM website
  • - Land disputes are now handled by an independent body as required by international best practice


Enforcing Contracts

  • - Small Claims Courts established in Lagos and Kano for cost-effective and fast resolution of debt recovery disputes involving small claims of up to N5,000,000

Protecting Minority Investors *

  • - Restriction of the appointment of the same person as CEO and Chairman of a private company
  • - Full disclosure (with specifics) of conflict of interests and all facts in buyer-seller transactions
  • - The board of directors of a private company must comprise of at least three independent directors


Resolving Insolvency *

  • - Companies unable to pay its debts now have business rescue alternatives such as a Company Voluntary Arrangement and Administration as opposed to winding up the business.
  • - A company’s debt would need to be at least N200,000 (no longer N2,000) for a winding up petition to be made against a company


* on passage of the CAM Bill

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