The Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) and the Nigerian Content Development and the Monitoring Board (NCDMB) have emerged two of the best five performing agencies in the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) half-year transparency and efficiency compliance report covering from January to June, 2024.
Presenting the report in Abuja on Tuesday, special adviser to the President on PEBEC & Investment, Dr. Jumoke Oduwole said each ministry, agency and department overall performance score is based on efficiency and Transparency measures, with a 70 per cent to 30 per cent ratio, respectively.
She further listed the top five as “Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), with an impressive 80.1 per cent score, followed by the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), at 78.2 per cent and the Nigeria Agricultural Quarantine Service (NAQS), ranking third with 74.8 per cent.
The Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) and Nigeria Customs Services (NCS) secured the fourth and fifth positions, scoring 73.9 per cent and 73.2 per cent respectively.”
She also said the efficiency scale measures MDAs on adherence to service level agreements (SLAs), costs and procedures, one government directive, and default approval while transparency is assessed based on the publishing of standardised procedures, timeliness, service fee and customer service contact details on the MDA’s website and digital media channels.
She also noted that “This Compliance report fulfils the council’s continued commitment to track and measure the compliance of federal government ministry, agency and department with the Executive Order 001 (EO1) on promoting Transparency and Efficiency of government delivered services to the business community.
Dr. Oduwole urged the MDAs to leverage the report to deepen their commitment to improving the experience of Nigerian citizens and to pioneer new initiatives necessary for achieving the much-needed improvement in transparency and efficiency of public service delivery to the Nigerian business community.
The Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) was established in July 2016 by the federal government to oversee Nigeria’s business environment intervention with the dual mandate of removing bureaucratic and legislative constraints to doing business and improving the perception of the ease of doing business in Nigeria.
In May 2017, the Executive Order 001 (EO1) on the Promotion of Transparency and Efficiency in the Business Environment was signed marking a pivotal milestone towards instituting a culture of transparency and efficiency in public service delivery and building on that, in February 2023, the Business Facilitation (Miscellaneous Provision) Act 2022 was signed into law, codifying the EO1 directives.
Since 2018, the PEBEC Secretariat has tracked and ranked the implementation and compliance of MDAs with the directives contained in the BFA 2022, based on monthly reports submitted by each MDA and assessed using an efficiency and transparency methodology, weighted at 70 per cent and 30 per cent respectively.