Bello Mahmud, registrar-general of the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), on Thursday said the the commission had taken steps to eliminate bottlenecks associated with registering a business.
Speaking at the second presidential economic communication workshop in Abuja, Mahmud said this was with a view to creating an enabling environment for businesses to thrive.
He also revealed that the cost of registering a business had been reduced by 50 percent.
“We have reduced the cost of registering a business by 50 percent. You don’t need a lawyer to register your business for you anymore. You can now do it yourself. The process is easy now,” he said.
”You can now register your business anywhere at our offices in Lagos, Kano and Enugu.”
Earlier, Jumoke Oduwole, senior special assistant to the president on industry, trade and investment, outlined measures the government was to taking to create investment opportunities for the country.
According to her, one of the measures is reducing the strictures to getting a Nigerian visa.
She said President Muhammadu Buhari was concerned about the ranking of Nigeria as one of the most difficult countries to do business; hence he has set up a committee to come up with ways of making Nigeria business friendly.
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While this initiative is laudable and a welcome development, it should not be lost on us to know that the actual reason for high cost of doing business in Nigeria is the habitual propensity of govt officials to demand senseless and outrageous amount amount of money as bribes or gratification from foreigners before doing their jobs of ensuring smooth business climate for investors to thrive. Another one is in the area of prohibitive and multiplicity of of taxes being demanded from genuine investors. These twin evil factors tend to discourage any “church-minded” investor that shows interest in coming into Nigeria for business.