Presidential council scores Anambra high on infrastructure, ease of doing business
From Aloysius Attah, Onitsha
The Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) has scored Anambra State high in the area of infrastructural development and ease of doing business with regards to digitisation of economy using National Geographic Names Information System.
Team leader of PEBEC, Gabriel Ohiemi made this disclosure during the technical session and statewide ‘Town Hall Meeting on State Action on Business Enabling Reforms’, held at the International Conference Centre, Awka, the Anambra State capital.
During the event, Ohiemi expressed satisfaction on the level of infrastructural development in Anambra State, saying that the reviews and feedbacks they get show that the state is on a right pedestal, especially in the ease of doing business.
He said, “The importance of GNIS is that it helps people to access lands through electronical means which reduces long standing issues of land grabbers and land scammers.
“The cardinal objective the Federal Government created PEBEC is to remove administrative constraints and bottlenecks so as to ensure ease of doing business in Nigeria and make the country a progessively easier place to start and grow a business.
“The feedbacks we are getting in this regard rate Anambra State high on infrastructural development and ease of doing business as regards digitalisation of economy using National Geographic Names Information System.”
He pointed out that his team were in Anambra State for a town hall meeting and stakeholders engagement centered on SABER, adding that a total of 750 million dollars funding have been initiated, designed and implemented by the PEBEC Secretariat in collaboration with World Bank, Nigerian Governors Forum, Debt Management Office and Ministry of Finance.
According to him, the fund is a reward initiated where states embark on the exercise of deepening reform and after deepening reform are certified through disbursement indicators when delivery can be achieved, they can access to fund them from the World Bank.
He, however, noted that members of the team are going round the country to engage the people one-on-one to ensure that the reforms are implemented at the state levels, adding that the fund is an opportunity for the state to deepen their reform to access more funding.
Anambra State governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, expressed appreciation to PEPEC team for visiting the state as well as stakeholders and commissioners who attended the event.
Soludo, who also praised the team, pointed out that the event was a free assessment and an important exercise for the state, adding that it is a strategic way of assisting to improve on what the state has been doing to better the life of Ndi Anambra.
The governor, who was represented by his deputy, Dr Onyekachi Ibezim, further said that the state is aiming to be first position in the country, stressing that there is work in progress and the state government is deliberately structured and working with all levels of government ranging from the executive, judiciary, legislature and captains of industries.
He assured that the state government has committed to provide a very friendly environment for thriving businesses to continue to improve on what the state has been doing until they get to the first position they state desire.
Similarly, the Anambra State Commissioner for Industry, Christian Udechukwu, expressed satisfaction with the programme, stating that Anambra State Government had enjoyed efficient and functional relationship with the Federal Government.
Udechukwu confirmed that Anambra State government has benefited in the area of Small and Medium Scale Enterprises from the Federal Government’s intervention, and Bank of Industry, saying that those intervention funds are small scale grants of N50,000 to each.
He highlighted that after the programme, it would be expected that there would be increase in harmony in terms of policy formulation and implementation from the federal to the state level.
Equally speaking with journalists, Anambra State Commissioner for Budget and Economic Planning, Chiamaka Nnake, also clarified that PEBEC is actually going round the states in Nigeria to meet with the business communities to hear from them on how they can improve on the business they are doing.
Nnake noted that Soludo had also engaged with the business communities in the State months ago, explaining that the ongoing programme is for PEBEC which she said has the whole ideas of doing business in Nigeria.
She testified that Federal Government in collaboration with the state has been doing a whole lot, emphasising that Federal Government granted Anambra right to build Trunk A road and authority to reform power on their own.
