Comprising Head, Tax and
Regulatory Services, PwC, Taiwo Oyedele;
MD, Rural Electrification Agency (REA), Damilola
Ogunbiyi; MD, Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Hadiza Bala Usman; Chairman, Lafarge Bolaji Balogun and MD, FMDQ OTC Securities Exchange, Bola Onadele; the panel pointed out
that Nigeria must go beyond lip service if she was serious about improving the
ease of doing business and opening up the economy to Foreign Direct Investments
(FDIs).
Decrying the nation’s
unenviable 169th position of the 170 countries sampled in the World Bank’s Ease
of Doing Business Index, Balogun called for urgent tackling of infrastructure,
access to finance and education. He noted that workable infrastructure would
boost agriculture and attract investment, thus creating jobs in the long run.
According to Usman,
incessant police checks constituted a disservice to prompt clearance of goods
at the ports. She lamented that the exercise, is unfortunately, been carried on
goods already cleared by relevant authorities, thereby giving rise to shady
practices. “The high cost of doing business can be
attributed to all kinds of illegal and unofficial costs imposed on hapless
Nigerians. The truth is, the cost and ease of doing business are tied together
and affect each other simultaneously,” she said.
She called for a reform of
the public sector, describing it as over-bloated. The NPA CEO canvassed that
workers need to be well remunerated to stem corruption. “Employers need to pay their employees well so that they would not be
tempted to start collecting bribes,” she added. Usman hinted reforms
were ongoing at her agency to include the use of rails for movement of
containers and inland waterways for transportation of cargo, among others
On her part, Ogunbiyi
revealed that reforms were taking place in the electricity sector, imploring
government to assist in the area of gas supply. On outages in parts of the
country, she urged the public to end beating, maiming or killing of officials
when they come around for bills.
The REA boss noted that the
issue of high tariffs was being reviewed, promising a change soon. Pointing out
that the economy ought not to go into recession if the nation’s monetary agency
understood the financial market properly, Oyedele called for a single exchange
rate and sensible financial policies to engender its revival. (Guardian)
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