The Third 60-Day National Action Plan: Synopsis Of The Reform Initiatives

• Selling to Government

  For maximum impact in increasing the number of small businesses to which governments contracts are accessible, the BPP is expected to drive the following reform:

  S/No	Reform Initiative	Expected Outcome
  1	Communicate and enforce minimum employee requirement for pension contributions as fifteen (15) employees, as prescribed in the Pension Reform Act, 2014.	Creation of exemption for businesses with less than fifteen (15) employees from the requirement to produce pension contribution certificates as part of bidding documentation.

• Enforcing Contracts

  In order to make considerable impact in fast tracking the resolution of small commercial claims for Small and Medium Enterprises (“SMEs”), the Lagos State Judiciary and the Kano State Judiciary are expected to promote the following reform initiatives:

  S/No	Reform Initiative	Expected Outcome
  1	Build the capacity of magistrates for specialised small claims commercial courts in the States of Lagos and Kano.	Production of skilled magistrates who are able to handle small commercial claims in an expeditious manner.
  2	Introduce specialised small claims commercial courts in the States of Lagos and Kano.	Handling of small commercial suits within a 60-day period from filing till judgment.

• Getting Credit

  The CBN in collaboration with the NCR are expected to drive the following reform, with the aim of achieving an overall impact of providing more accessible and affordable credit to small businesses:

  S/No	Reform Initiative	Expected Outcome
  1	Urge banks to utilise the National Collateral Registry.	Registration of three hundred (300) Microfinance Banks on the National Collateral Registry.

REMARK

The successive launch of the NAP 1.0 to 3.0 and the successful implementation of the earlier two NAPs are a clear indication of the current administration’s determination to reform the country’s business climate and improve Nigeria’s global economic competitiveness.

The gains of the implementation of NAP 1.0, which was implemented between February 21 to April 21, 2017 and NAP 2.0, which ran from October 3 to December 1, 2017 are clearly evident in the country’s legal and regulatory environment for doing business. The reforms moved Nigeria up twenty-four (24) places in the World Bank’s EoDB Index for 2018, upgrading the country from the 169th position it occupied in the 2017 ranking to 145th position in the 2018 Doing Business Report, as well as earned Nigeria the reputation of being named among the ten (10) most reformed economies in the world in 2017.

By April 5 of this year when NAP 3.0 would have run its course, it is expected that the business climate in Nigeria would have been further enhanced and the country’s position in the global rankings for EoDB and economic competitiveness would also have been improved; if all hands continue to remain on deck as regards implementation of the laudable initiatives of the Federal Government’s reform agenda.

The Grey Matter Concept is an initiative of the law firm, Banwo & Ighodalo

DISCLAIMER: This article is only intended to provide general information on the subject matter and does not by itself create a client/attorney relationship between readers and our Law Firm. Specialist legal advice should be sought about the readers’ specific circumstances when they arise.