Vice President Yemi Osinbajo says the Federal Government is ready to walk its talk on the matter of making Nigeria a destination of choice in the area of conducting business.
He reiterated government’s position just few days after the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council, PEBEC, adopted a 60-day Action Plan to push Ease of Doing Business reforms in the country.
In what may have signaled the administration’s seriousness, Osinbajo paid a surprise visit to Nigeria’s major international airport in Lagos, declaring an urgent task to correct many of the problems already identified by the Council.
Speaking briefly with the press after inspecting several parts at the airport for over an hour, Prof. Osinbajo said the visit was in line with the work of PEBEC.
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According to him, “as part of our work on the Ease of Doing Business, on making the environment friendly, not just for local businesses but also for those who want to come and do business in Nigeria, the airport obviously is one of the major places where we need to ensure that facilities are working and that things are being run properly.”
Continuing, he said “so we have looked around, we’ve seen some of the equipments. There are many many things that need to be done, many things that need to be corrected, and we have to work on them as quickly as possible.”
During the unscheduled visit, the Ag. President checked out the toilets, noticed some of the non-functioning carousels in the arrival hall, went to Immigration officials to check the progress of plans to grant visa on arrivals to foreign investors, observed the non-functioning air-conditioners and chillers in the Departure and Arrival halls, the escalators and elevators that are in a state of disrepair among several others.
He was accompanied on the trip by the Aviation Minister of State Hadi Sirika.
At Tuesday’s meeting of PEBEC, Prof. Osinbajo had said “we are trying to improve the business environment in three broad respects; the entry and exit of goods, the entry and exit of persons into Nigeria, and then general government transparency and efficiency in government agencies & parastatals.”
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