FIC Report (Edo State) – The Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council as part of the Nationwide tour held a town hall meeting in Benin the Edo State capital on the June the 23rd. The event was held at John Odigie Oyegun Public Service Academy (JOOPSA) Benin City. The town hall meeting initiative centered around collaboration with states to improve the ease of doing business.
The event was broken into two sessions. The technical workshop on saber program came up in the morning and private sector stakeholders engagement took the final session.
The event was graced by top government officials, representatives of various Ministries, Departments And Agencies (MDAs) in the State; as well as Private Stakeholders.
The opening address was given by the Honorable Commissioner of Finance, Engineer Emmanuel Okoebor. He stated that Edo state was happy to host the town hall meeting as it aligns with the State five key sector. Which are as follows. Security and community development, Health advancement, Education and human capital development, Infrastructural innovation and finally natural resources and food security.
He further stated that the visit of PEBEC’s team to Edo state couldn’t be more timely as they have continued to play pivotal roles in removing the bottle neck in the ease of doing business in Nigeria.
He stated that the ease of doing business report has helped the state to prioritize actionable reforms and thereby achieving progressive milestone in making Edo the next Business destination.
He outline the comprehensive progress made by the government in Agriculture, the acquisition of 36 tractors to aid in the back to farm project. Infrastructural innovation in the state can be seen from the first flyover construction at Ramat park,100 vehicle acquired for Edo line to aid in the transportation to mention but a few.
PEBEC’s Nationwide tour Coordinator Ms Kris Ekanem welcomed all participant to the technical session. She highlighted PEBECS partnership with the State Action on Business Enabling Reform (SABER) she gave a detailed explanation on the Disbursement Link Indicators (DLI) for Saber program.
Ms Ekanem stated that PEBEC 2025 subnational ease of doing business report will highlight the top ten performing business friendly state and that this town hall meeting will henceforth be a yearly event done in each state .The coordinator also explained in detail what the state is expected to do to improve in ranking and hereby making the state a more business friendly state.
The afternoon session of the meeting was dialogue style based as it gave room for all participants, private sector inclusive to openly express their concern and have the contributions also taken.
The program came to an end with the Commissioner parting words of thanks to the PEBEC team and all the participant that graced the meeting, he further reaffirmed the state commitment to be among the best business friendly state in the federation.
Signed:
Kenneth Onwordi
Information Officer
FIC BENIN
June 25th, 2025.
