@lawunmiolatunji
Three executive orders were signed by the Acting President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria on the 18th of May, 2017. The orders have a strong potential to positively impact the operation of businesses in Nigeria, in the sense that when fully integrated & effected, they would help to eliminate bureaucratic bottle necks in government parastatals and result in a heightened ease of doing business in Nigeria. These should in turn attract significant tangible investments, both local and foreign investors.
The three orders are:
1. Executive Order on the Promotion of Transparency and Efficiency in the Business Environment.
2. Executive Order on Support for Local Content in Public Procurement by the Federal Government.
3. Executive Order on Budgets.
Executive Order One (Promotion of transparency & efficiency of business environment)
a) All MDA have been directed within 21 days to publish on website and conspicuously paste within their premises, embassies, commission, etc, an up to date;
• list of requirement or conditions for obtaining products and services within the MDA’s scope of responsibility,
• processing fees and timeline
b) Acceptance and rejection of applications which must be communicated with at least two (2) modes, including emails and publication on the MDA website, before the expiration of the stipulated time. All rejections must be given with reasons and records of such duly kept.
c) In addition is “the one government directive”. Applicants are only expected to provide photocopy of documentation in a case where another MDA is in possession of the original copy of same. “Direct verification or certification of the document is the responsibility of the originating MDA”.
d) A tourist’s or investor’s visa application must be granted or rejected with reason, within 48 hours. Processing and issuance of visas on arrival must be transparent.
Touting, loitering and bribery by officials and non-official is banned and punishable as only staff on duty is allowed at the port. Only designated dignitaries, whose names are on a pre-approved list can be received by protocol officers. Within 30 days, all relevant MDAs must merge their respective departure and arrival interfaces into a single customer interface. Also, all agencies at the Nigerian ports must harmonize their operations into a single interface within 60 days and provide a weekly update to bureau of statistics.
There’s an order for every port to dedicate an export terminal for agriculture products within 30 days of this Order, and Apapa Port resuming a 24- hour operations within 30 days of the issuance of this Order.
e) All registration process at the CAC are ordered to be fully automated through its website, from start to completion of application, including the availability of an online payment platform.
Executive Order Two (Support for Local Content in Public Procurement by FGN)
f) All MDAs of the FGN are mandated to procure at least 40% of their requirement of some specific locally made goods and services.
g) All solicitation documents (invitation to tender) for the supply or provision of goods and services shall expressly indicate the preference for local manufacturers, contractors and service providers.
h) All Solicitation Documents shall require bidders to provide a verifiable statement on the local content of the goods or services to be provided.
i) All heads of MDAs are mandated within 90 days to;
a. assess the monitoring, enforcement, implementation, and compliance with this Executive Order
b. propose further strategies to optimize and enshrine the procurement and principal use of indigenous goods and service
c. submit the proposed to strategy to the Minister of Industry, Trade & Investment
j) Within 180 days of the date of this order, the Minister of Industry, Trade & Investment shall submit to the President, a report on the Made-in-Nigeria initiative.
Executive Order Three (Budgets)
This order focuses on preparation of adequate and detailed budgeting by all MDAs.
k) Budgets are to be prepared in addition with a three-year financial model in conformity with the national plan and the financial and budgetary regulations, and are to be submitted to the Minister of Finance and Minister of Budget and National Planning.
l) Heads of ministries, agencies and government owned companies must supervise the process of preparation, harmonisation and collation of budget and take must take full responsibility of any failure to comply with this order.
m) No payment shall be made in respect of any capital or recurrent liability of an Agency, other than payment of due salaries and allowances.
n) Any revenue or other funds of an Agency in excess of the amounts budgeted and duly expended shall accrue to the consolidated revenue fund of the Federal Government.
Each one of the orders is set to make things better, nonetheless there are chances that the order which focuses on improving transparency and efficiency in the Ministries Departments and Agencies (MDA) of the Federal Government will have a very significant impact.