By Ahmed Idris
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo said on Monday that the Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved the concession of the Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport in Abuja and the Murtala Muhammed Airport in Lagos.
Osinbajo said this at the 5th Presidential Quarterly Business Forum, the first since the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) announced that the nation has exited recession after five successive quarters of contraction.
“First, we want to do a general overhaul. Second, we want to concession all the airports. I am pleased to say that the Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved the concessioning of the Lagos and Abuja airports,” he said.
The Vice Presidency also encouraged the private sector to report Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) stalling the implementation of the ease of doing business. He said naming and shaming of the affected MDAs was the only way to improve the business environment.
“We are ready to confront the system that is used to rent and gratification. In order to reverse that and for things to be done properly involves calling out officials involved.
“If we don’t we will never solve the problem. Part of the problem is that nobody is willing to report anybody for asking for gratification,” he said.
He said the partnership with private sector “is not merely a policy, it is the only sensible thing to do.”
“Our approach is to engage, to work collaboratively, to take criticisms and suggestions seriously and to respond,” he said.
Emphasizing on the issue of criticisms, suggestions and response, Osinbajo said a lot needs to be done in the whole process.
“We welcome the criticism because our business is to make the sector. These interactions are important in improving capacity of regulators because they are there to serve investors,” he said.
Osinbajo also called for patience, saying that though change is always slow those involved in the process must remain focused.
“Change is often slow but we must remain focused. We’ve issued four Executive Orders so far, and we’re training civil servants to implement.”
“Our work is far from being done. It is a systematic change that is is required. We need the buy ins from the private sector on the ease of doing business.
“Bureaucratic reforms involve a fair amount of drudgery and frustration. We all need staying power to see it to the end.
“We’re demanding more from our regulators/regulatory agencies, and setting new key performance indices (KPIs) for them,” he said.
