PEBEC, NBA-SBL Mull Business Reform at Private Sector Stakeholders’ Forum

Yinka Olatunbosun

The Nigerian Bar Association Section on Business Law in collaboration with the Secretariat of the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) recently held a workshop called Business Facilitation Act Forum at Alliance Francaise, Ikoyi to engage with the private sector stakeholder on the new amendment to the Business Facilitation Act. The Miscellaneous Provision of the said Act was signed by President Mohammadu Buhari on February 8, 2023 to promote best global practices and an enhanced regulatory environment for stakeholders.

A legislative intervention by the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC), the Act codifies Executive Order 01 and amends 21 business related laws to remove bureaucratic constraints to doing business in Nigeria. To deepen the understanding of this amendment, select reputable law firms and other stakeholders met to mull the legal implication of this legal framework.

While fielding questions from journalists at the close of the workshop, the Special Adviser to the President on Ease of Doing Business, Dr. Jumoke Oduwole expressed optimism on the new amendment.

She said: “We got a lot of information and we had to bring out the most relevant. The legal drafting committee of the Ministry of Justice worked on aligning this new law with existing framework so that nothing is contrary and everything is constitutional. And we are talking about 21 amendments into different legislations. Yes, it was challenging but very gratifying and we must thank the speaker of the House of representative at the national level for his co-operation and the phenomenal role play by the committee on legal drafting before the attorney general made a presentation of the amendment to the house.

“Over 40 law firms participated pro bono to put this together. This is Nigeria at its best. Our major legacy at PEBEC is to really demonstrate to Nigerians what is possible when you have the private sector and the public sector coming together. When you have all arms and levels of government coming together. Collaboration really does work. A lot of stakeholders want to see Nigeria’s economy succeed. Nigeria is working to support small and medium sized enterprises. MSMEs don’t have that voice. They don’t have access to data and they don’t need to. What they need is a system that works.”

In the same vein, the Chairman NBA-Section on Business Law, Dr. Adeoye Adefulu said the workshop was preceded by years of collaborative work.

“NBA has been collaborating with PEBEC, the Nigerian economic subgroup for quite some time on business facilitation. Now that the omnibus law has been passed, we thought that it would be necessary to sensitise our community- the NBA and the people that we will work with to let them know the impact that this will have on their day to day businesses,’’ he declared