PEBEC: Ease of Doing Business Bill Passes Second Reading at the Senate

The Business Facilitation (Miscellaneous Provision) Bill 2022, also known as the “Omnibus Bill” passed Second Reading at the Senate on Wednesday, July 20.

The Bill, which is an intervention of the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC), chaired by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, is aimed at consolidating and amending outdated legislative provisions towards removing bottlenecks for Micro, Small and Medium enterprises (MSMEs).

It also seeks to ensure the sustainability of business climate and give statutory force to Executive Order 001 of 2017 on the promotion of Transparency and Efficiency in the Business.

It would be recalled that the Federal Executive Council (FEC) had approved the bill on March 23, 2022, which was a culmination of 4 years of collaborative work by public and private sector stakeholders in the legal community anchored by the PEBEC through a sub-committee led by the Honourable Attorney General of the Federation. It was then implemented by a technical working group with the Federal Ministry of Justice legal drafting team and representatives from leading law firms and consultancy firms.

Since it was established, the PEBEC has achieved the delivery of over 160 reforms and completed 7 National Action Plans.

Also, through PEBEC efforts, Nigeria moved an aggregate of 39 places on the World Bank Doing Business index between 2017 and 2019, and was twice named as one of the top 10 most improved economies in the world during the same period.