WHEN POLICIES ARE TAKEN SERIOUSLY, SYSTEMS WORK

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The reason Nigeria moved 24 paces forward (from 169th to 145th) in the World Bank’s 2017 Doing Business index, 6 months after the issuance of the Executive Order on the "Ease of Doing Business " is because policies were made and implemented, deliberately to pursued to produce results. The following are taken very seriously; 1. Transparency; 2. Default Approvals; 3. One Government operations; 4. Entry Experience of Traveller and Visitors; and 5. Ports Operations 1. Transparency: All relevant MDAs are now mandated to publish a comprehensive list of all fees, timelines, conditions and requirements for obtaining permits licences and approvals, and all these must be published in their websites. The heads of the MDAs must ensure that the list is verified and kept up-to-date at all times, and if there is a conflict between a published list and an unpublished list, the published list shall prevail. Information is power; and more transparency goes hand-in-hand with better-quality government. 2. Default Approvals: Any application not approved or rejected by an agency or official within the agency's specified timeline is being assumed to have been approved. The applicant whose application is deemed granted can now apply to the Minister in-charge to issue a document or certificate as evidence of the grant within 14 days of lapse of the deadline. For rejected applicants, reason must be given for the denial, and agencies must communicate acceptance or rejection of applications to the applicants by at least two methods, including letters, emails and publications on websites. Failure of appropriate officer to act on application within stipulated timeframe without lawful excuse is misconduct and disciplinary actions are being taken against such officer. Accelerating approval and permit processes can significantly increase revenues, attract investors and boost economic activities. 3. One Government: If an MDA requires a document from another MDA in order to deliver service to an applicant, it is the responsibility of the MD, not the applicant, to seek verification or certification from the issuing MDA. The requesting MAD is now mandated to request only a photocopy from the applicant. Service Level Agreements (SLAs) between MDAs and citizens is now strongly binding on the MDAs. Heads of the MDAs are responsible for ensuring that the agreed terms of the SLAs are adhered to. Failure of appropriate officer to act on application within stipulated timeframe without lawful excuse is misconduct and disciplinary actions is now being taken against such officer. When a government wo
rks as one enterprise, it leads to a more efficient public sector, improved integrated services for citizens and enterprises, more transparent public processes and more access to public information. 4. Entry Experience of Travellers and Visitors: Ordinary tourist and business visas are now issued within 48hrs. An up-to-date list of requirements and timeline for visas-on-arrival is being published on all immigration-related websites and thee processing of issuance of visa on arrival is being done in a transparent manner. There is no touting in the airports, and any official caught soliciting or receiving bribes from passengers or other port users are subjected to immediate removal from post and disciplined accordingly. The different agencies at the airports have now merged their respective departure arrival interfaces into a single customer interface. As it is for humans, so is it for countries, it is hard to get past a bad first impression. Visitors are treated better. 5. Ports Operations: All agencies present at the ports now harmonise their operations into one single interface station in one location in the port and implement by a single joint task force at all times. The new single interface solution at the ports supplies weekly data on goods arriving and departing Nigeria to the head of the relevant MDAs and the head of the National Bureau of Statistics. Each port in Nigeria now assigns an existing export terminal to be dedicated to the exportation of agricultural produce, in the bid to promote agri-business. The Apapa port now has 24-hours operations and touting is not allowed by officials or non-official persons. Any official caught soliciting or receiving bribes from passengers or other port users are be immediately removed and disciplined. Ports are indeed important, as around 80% of of global trade (by volume) and over 70% of global trade (by value) are carried and are handled by ports worldwide. This is what is called policy coherence; the systematic promotion of mutually reinforcing policy actions across government departments and agencies creating synergies towards achieving the agreed objectives. With policy coherence we will have possibilities hugging us day and night.

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