We are trying to shorten NAFDAC, SON, CAC approvals - Acting President

Acting President

Osinbajo made this known at the launch of the MSMEs clinics in Abuja while interacting with a handful of small and medium scale enterprises.

He said: "We recognise that one of the chief problems that small businesses have is with regulatory agencies; being able to access regulatory agencies and get quick and efficient service from regulatory agencies.

"So, for your NAFDAC approval, we are trying to shorten that process, your SON approval, we are trying to shorten the process and the registration of companies as well.

I recently signed two Executive Orders which are closely related to improving the business environment for MSMEs. These Executive Orders are also important in the work we are trying to achieve.

The first makes it easier for MSMEs to get approvals without delays and bureaucratic hassles; the other one is on local content. The first one which makes it easier for MSMEs to get approval, is one where we are seeking to reduce the time that it takes to register companies, reduce the time it takes to get approvals for different types of things that are required in a business."

Continuing, Osinbajo said: "Secondly, funding is also an important constraint for many of these small businesses. So we thought that it would be wise to actually take these regulatory agencies to the small businesses rather than wait for the small businesses to come to the regulatory agencies.

"This interaction can sensitize the regulatory agencies themselves to the problems of small and medium scale enterprises. What we have seen so far is that there has been tremendous improvement in the way that the regulatory agencies respond to small and medium enterprises.

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"So what we have done for example, is that we have brought NAFDAC which of course as you know is an important agency in the process of approvals for products. We brought NAFDAC, SON and even the CAC, that is the Corporate Affairs Commission. We brought the Bank of Industry here as well.

"These are important agencies for funding and regulation that need to interact with small and medium scale businesses, and we believe that interaction has been very fruitful indeed. We have done this in Aba, Ilorin, Sokoto, Jos, Kastina and in Calabar, and this in Abuja is the latest one. We are still going round the states and the different geo-political zones with the regulatory agencies and we are bringing about this interaction.

"The other is local content which is absolutely important for us because we believe that just as the President said in his budget speech in December, we must make what we use and we must grow what we eat. It is our responsibility as a nation and as individuals that we patronise what it is that we need."

Osinbajo has been working tirelessly to make business transaction seamless with the government providing necessary help to cushion the practices of small scale businesses and enterprises.