Reforms in Agro Export, Proceed Repatriation Take Shape Albeit at Slower Pace

James Emejo in Abuja

The federal government’s drive to provide a conducive environment for businesses appeared to have gained traction but at slower pace going by recent updates by the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council Secretariat (PEBEC) on the implementation of the Nation Action Plan (NAP).

A midway progress report indicated that reforms in agro exports had attained 26 per cent completion midway into the exercise which focused on four key areas including payment and verification process, inspection process, terminal operators and shipping lines as well as access and documentation.

Special Adviser to the President on Ease of Doing Business/Secretary, PBEC, Dr. Jumoke Oduwole, at a media briefing said while progress on payment and verification process had reached 32 per cent, inspection process, terminal operators and shipping lines and access and documentation recorded 19 per cent, 19 per cent and 17 per cent respectively.

According to her, part of the proposed reforms under payment and verification seeks to limit the Nigerian Export Proceeds (NXP) process flow to essential government agencies alone.

It also seeks to finalise ongoing implementation of the Single Goods Declaration (SGD)-NXP integration the between the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) and launch the Pre- Inspection Agent (PIA) portal as well as integrate it with NXP.

Oduwole said the reforms seek to introduce fewer procedures that drastically reduce processing timeline for NXP confirmation.

PEBEC was set up in July 2016 to improve the doing-business environment in the country for SMEs by remove critical bottlenecks and procedural restrictions to doing business.

The move was also to boost the country’s position in the World Bank Ease of Doing Business Index ranking.

Essentially, PEBEC collaborates with Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) and other partners to reduce the costs, time and number of procedures to make the process of setting up and doing business in Nigeria simpler and effective – from starting a business to getting a location to getting finance to dealing with day-to-day operations and ultimately to operating in a secure business environment.

However, the inspection process attempts to audit and streamline current physical inspection process for agro-exports, publish and enforce official timeline.

The objective is to ensure drastic reduction in current time for export cargo examination.

The reforms in agro exports further target direct priority access lane for compliant agro-export containers with the aim of making it faster in processing of agro-exports and increase in volume of commodities exports as well as minimise degradation of agro-export produce.

The report further stated that reforms targeted at sanitizing ports operation and trade facilitation at the nation’s airports particularly as it affects entry and exit of people had attained 31 per cent completion.

The target is to improve the ambience and travelers/visitors’ experience at the airport and enhance passenger processing and baggage handling process among others.

Other aspects of the reforms include tracking, analysing and report MDAs compliance with the Excutive Order 1 (EO1) directives which was recorded at 33 per cent currently as well as track, analyse and report on MDA compliance with the 72-hr resolution timeline as approved. This stood at 17 per cent.