Senate passes Business Facilitation Bill

The Senate, on Tuesday, passed the 2022 Business Facilitation (Miscellaneous Provision) Bill, also known as the Omnibus Bill, following its earlier passage by the House of Representatives.

The Business Facilitation Bill, which is expected to be transmitted to President Muhammadu Buhari for his assent, is an intervention by the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) to consolidate and amend legislative provisions towards deepening PEBEC reforms and removing bottlenecks for Micro, Small, and Medium-sized Enterprises (MSMEs) in Nigeria.

According to a statement issued on Tuesday by the Special Adviser to the President, Ease of Doing Business/PEBEC Secretary, Dr Jumoke Oduwole, the latest development comes on the heels of the recent approval of the $750m World Bank-backed State Action on Business Enabling Reforms (SABER) programme by the Federal Executive Council (FEC), which was earlier approved by the World Bank Board.

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Oduwole noted that the SABER programme will strengthen the implementation of business-enabling reforms across all states in Nigeria, adding that the PEBEC is chaired by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.

“With these laudable strides, the PEBEC is poised to mark the festive season by staging its critically acclaimed play titled ‘The Future Is Here’ which showcases its ease of doing business reforms free of charge to the public from December 30 to January 1 at Landmark Event Centre in Lagos,” she added.

The Star