Ease of doing business: FG to launch $750 million World Bank-funded program

According to vice president Yemi Osinbajo, state governments and their agencies play a big part in creating an atmosphere that makes it possible for businesses to succeed.
In his remarks during a virtual meeting of the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council on Tuesday, Osinbajo made this claim (PEBEC).
The World Bank and the PEBEC secretariat collaboratively devised the SABER project, a three-year (Jan 2023 – Dec 2025) performance-based intervention, with assistance from the federal ministry of finance, budget, and national planning, as well as the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF).
The goal of the program is to encourage and strengthen the adoption of business-enabling reforms throughout Nigeria, specifically among the federation’s participating states and the FCT.
“If we are going to have the kind of business environment that our country deserves and that can make a difference for our economy, it is the hard work at the sub-national level that would really move the needle,” Osinbajo said.
“The states’ process is very important, and I hope that we will be able to spend individually, especially in the states, a fair amount of time trying to work out how this will work in actual practice in our various states.”
Jumoke Oduwole, secretary of PEBEC, stated in her speech that it took two years to conceptualize the SABER program.
“We have been collaborating for over two years in conceptualising the SABER Program. It is the first programme of this size that the World Bank is embarking on at this scale globally,” she said.
“The program is a $750million operation comprising two main areas — $730million program-for-Results Financing (PforR) component and $20 million technical assistance for investment project financing.”
President Muhammadu Buhari established PEBEC in July 2016 to ease regulatory barriers to conducting business in Nigeria.

GOGAN Media.