· Representatives of Ministries, Departments and Agencies
· Reform Champions
· Distinguished Members of the Press
· Ladies and Gentlemen
It is my pleasure to welcome you all to this press conference where the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) Secretariat is officially releasing the 2024 Half-Year Transparency and Efficiency Compliance Report on the priority Ministries, Departments, and Agencies tracked by the PEBEC Secretariat.
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. 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% and 30% respectively.
So far, the PEBEC Secretariat has released eight (8) Compliance Reports (half year and full year) between 2018 and 2023. For the January 2024 to June 2024 half-year reporting period, the MDAs were ranked in order of their compliance to providing services in an efficient, timely, and customer-friendly manner.
At this point, I would like to specially commend the top three MDAs in particular order; the Nigerian Content Development Management Board (NCDMB) with an 80.1% score, the Standard Organization of Nigeria (SON) with a 78.2% score, and the Nigeria Agricultural Quarantine Service (NAQS) with a 74.8% score. Furthermore, it is noteworthy that the number of MDAs that scored above fifty percent (50%) in their efficiency compliance increased from eight (8) MDAs in the 2023 Half-Year report to twenty (20) MDAs in 2024 Half-Year report. While significant improvement has been made by the MDAs, this 2024 Half-Year report spotlights the urgent need for MDAs to strengthen their efforts on high-quality service delivery to rapidly improve the productivity and competitiveness of Nigeria’s business environment.
A key learning from this year’s half-year report showed that the 90-day Regulatory Reform Accelerator (RRA) played a critical role in driving the performance of MDAs in the half year 6 compliance report. However, a key observation was that MDAs who showed consistency with the monthly Transparency & Efficiency reports were able to better deliver the Reform Accelerator. While we acknowledge the hard work and progress made by the MDAs in delivering critical services to the business community, the business climate, both locally and globally, continues to experience turbulence, characterized by uncertainties and rapid changes.
In conclusion, I would like to thank the PEBEC Chair, His Excellency, Vice President Kashim Shettima, for his unwavering support and visionary leadership. I also want to thank the leadership and reform teams of the 40 MDAs in this report who continue to strive for progress in service delivery to the business community. I invite you to dive fully into this report with key insights into the progress made by the MDAs and the areas for rapid growth and improvement. On the PEBEC’s part, we remain steadfast in our commitment to driving reforms aimed at enhancing effectiveness, transparency, and collaboration within MDAs that directly interface with the business public and institutionalizing reforms for improving the Ease of Doing Business in Nigeria.