FG Engages Stakeholders On Private Sector Growth, Business Reforms

As part of its drive to improve Nigeria’s business environment and promote a vibrant private sector-led economy, the federal government has held a stakeholders’ engagement in Bayelsa State.

The event, which took place yesterday in Yenagoa, was organised by the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) through its sub-national intervention visit, state technical session and a statewide town hall meeting.

Speaking at the session, the director general of PEBEC, Princess Zarah Mustapha-Audu, said the initiative was part of a nationwide tour to provide technical support for government agencies that interface with businesses.

According to her, the goal is to enhance service delivery and operational efficiency, which are keys to attracting investment, improving job creation and raising the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

She noted that the engagement aligned with President Bola Tinubu’s eight-point agenda focused on economic growth and investment opportunities and stressed the importance of collaboration between government and private sector players in creating a conducive environment that can support sustainable development across the country.

Represented by the nationwide tour coordinator and head of sub-national reforms, Mrs. Kris Ekanem, Mustapha-Audu said the visit was in preparation for the 2025 report on ease of doing business across states.

She explained that the report would feature only the top 10 states that make it easier to do business, based on factors like quality of services, infrastructure, access to loans, better regulations, and safety.

“We saw the progress in Bayelsa State as at 2021 when we had the first report, Bayelsa came first out of the states in South-South and 10th state in the whole nation. But in the second national report, Bayelsa dropped to 24 in the whole nation.

“So we feel that great gap and that is why emphasised on driving these reforms, mentioning the indicators and having understanding of how these indicators will affect the ranking for this year. “Unfortunately, this year we will no longer be having the same ranking. This year, we will be ranking just the first ten states and also looking at the five most improved states from the previous cycle,” she said.

The commissioner for trade, industry and investment, Dr. Ebieri Jones, reiterated the commitment of the Governor Douye Diri-led administration to implement policies, programmes and reforms to improve the business environment.