Mkpoikana Udoma
02 July 2018, Sweetcrude, Port Harcourt — The Oil and Gas Free Zones Authority, OGFZA, has been ranked number one in the Federal Government’s Report on Ease of Doing Business Executive Order, EO1.
In the report, Federal Government’s 44 ministries, departments and agencies, MDAs, were benchmarked against EOI indicators and OGFZA ranked number one in the list.
OGFZA beat all MDAs with 94 percent, followed by the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which scored 90.8 percent.
Commenting on the report, the Managing Director of OGFZA, Mr Umana Okon Umana , commended the staff and management of the Authority for the excellent performance.
Umana urged them to continue to faithfully implement the policies and programmes of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration.
“If people don’t invest, no jobs are created and wherever our children go to school, no matter what is spent on our children’s education, if they are not able to find jobs, that clearly is a problem.
“Every time that a public servant is an obstacle to anyone seeking approvals or licences, he or she attacks the Nigerian economy; every time that we create obstacles to doing business we attack our prosperity as a nation, we also attack the future.”
Over the years, government and its agencies is seen more as an obstacle and a hindrance rather than a facilitator and this is across all arms of government – the executive, judiciary and legislature.
One of the more obvious consequences of the then status quo is that the nation’s business environment has become one of the most stressful in the world.
To address the challenges, Executive Order 001 (EO1) was signed on 18 May, 2017, by then Acting President, Vice President Prof.Yemi Osinbajo, with the objective of promoting transparency and efficiency in the business environment.
EO1 has the following indicators; Entry & Exit of people, Starting a Business, Trading Across Boarders, Registering Property, Paying Taxes, Dealing with Constructing Permit, Getting Credit and Getting Electricity.
EO1 has been acknowledged as one of the Federal Government of Nigeria’s most innovative strategic initiatives to deliver quick, pragmatic changes for Nigerians.
