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Nigerian govt lauds World Bank-SABER programme

The Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) has lauded the National Economic Council (NEC) for endorsing the 750million dollars World Bank-backed State Action on Business Enabling Reforms (SABER) programme.’

In a statement in Abuja, the Special Adviser to the President on Ease of Doing Business and Secretary, PEBEC, Jumoke Oduwole, said the 750million dollars financing amounts to 36 per cent of the two billion dollars Government SABER programme (2022 – 2025).

This represents the aggregate recurrent expenditure of crucial ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) at the federal and state levels across the country.

“The SABER programme is a three-year performance-based intervention jointly designed by the World Bank Technical team and the PEBEC Secretariat with support from the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning (FMFBNP).

“Home Finance Department and the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) Secretariat. It further gives expression to the Ease of Doing Business (EoDB) mandate articulated in the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP).”

The programme was subsequently retained in the National Development Plan (NDP), aimed at generating 21 million full-time jobs and lifting 35 million people out of poverty by 2025, according to Oduwole.

The PEBEC secretary further explained that the programme delivered concrete results across four reform areas with eight Disbursement Link Indicators.

These, Oduwole said, covered improving land administration and land investment process; improving the business enabling infrastructure; increasing sustainable large-scale investments; and enabling firm operations.

“All participating states and the FCT could potentially receive a maximum of 52.5 million dollars during the three-year period.

“In addition to the already-existing PEBEC-NEC subnational intervention, the SABER programme seeks to provide additional incentives, such as using results-based financing targeted at improving the business environment and facilitating crowding in of private sector investments at scale.

According to PEBEC, the eligibility criteria for the programme include developing an annual action plan with private sector collaborators to be approved by the State Executive Council and published online.

“Recommendations from the 2nd Subnational EoDB Report, due to be released in October 2022, are also expected to be considered.

“The PEBEC had earlier presented the SABER programme at an expanded PEBEC meeting held on August 16, 2022, chaired by the Vice President with the chairpersons of the EoDB Councils from various states across the country in attendance.”

Oduwole added that the council has been collaborating with the World Bank since November 2019 to develop the SABER programme.

She explained that the SABER programme consists of two main areas: 730 million dollars Programme-for-Results (PforR) and 20 million dollars for Technical Assistance.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that it was established in July 2016 by President Muhammadu Buhari to remove critical bottlenecks and bureaucratic constraints to doing business in Nigeria. (NAN)

 

Felix Oloyede

Felix Oloyede is a Mass Communication graduate with 19 years experience in journalism. He has worked with TheWeek Magazine; Mirror Newspapers; West Africa BusinessNews and BusinessHallmark Newspaper. Oloyede has covered different news beats ranging from crime; arts; politics; commerce and industries to finance and economy. He is an alumnus of Bloomberg Media Initiative Africa. He has also attended different trainings on Media Communication at the Lagos Business School. He is an alumnus of Bloomberg Media Initiative Africa. He has also attended different trainings on Media Communication at the Lagos Business School.

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