Over-regulation killing businesses and investments in Nigeria – VP Osinbajo

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, on Tuesday said that over-regulation is killing businesses and investments in Nigeria.

Osinbajo also said that there has to be a complete reorientation on the exercise of regulatory authority in the country in order for businesses and investors to thrive in Nigeria.

He said this after receiving a report of an Ad-Hoc Committee of the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council, PEBEC, on Agro-Export and the presentation of a National Action Plan 7.0 today at the Presidential Villa.

Osinbajo, who presided over the first PEBEC meeting this year, noted that there is a problem “if people who want to export cannot export due to what seems like too many regulations.

“There are too many regulatory requirements. Too many regulations kill output. We have to take a second look at how we regulate. Over-regulation is killing businesses. It kills investments. An agric exporter can’t export perishable produce after months,” he wondered.

The Vice President lamented that there are also processes of product certifications that take so long on the regulatory queues in Nigeria, while businesses from outside the country with swift regulatory regimes will then bring the same products into the country to sell.

“Because our certification processes are slow, others from outside nations (from neighbouring countries based on an ECOWAS agreement) with faster processes can bring their products and sell here, while our own businesses are still on the queues of regulatory agencies,” the VP observed.