The Acting President of Nigeria, Yemi Osinbajo (SAN) showed up unexpectedly at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport.
The unscheduled visit to the airport is part of the country’s number two man’s plan to make business easier for both local and international entrepreneurs.
“As part of our work on the Ease of Doing Business, on making the environment friendly, not just for local businesses but also for those who want to come and do business in Nigeria, the airport obviously is one of the major places where we need to ensure that facilities are working and that things are being run properly” said Osinbajo in his press statement.
Continuing he said “so we have looked around, we’ve seen some of the equipment. There are many many things that need to be done, many things that need to be corrected, and we have to work on them as quickly as possible.”
Everyone (and everything) knows how hellish it is to do business in this dear country of ours. Bottlenecks, multiple taxation and kickbacks are some of the obstacles facing an entrepreneur. Add the poor state of the power supply and the price of petrol and diesel, and business in Nigeria is more than hellish.
A simple thing just as registering your business in Nigeria isn’t as straightforward as it should be. Thankfully, with the Acting President’s ‘Ease of Doing Business’ reforms, it seems the website of the Corporate Affairs Commission will soon be able to receive business documents.
This is going to be an overdue development. When you wanted to do anything with the CAC you had to go to their office. In 2017, this embarrassing.
The Murtala Mohammed International Airport has the role of creating the first impression of our country. Unfortunately, it has not lived up to that over the years.
Nigerians who work at the airport have turned to beggars as they hound visitors for money. The airport is overcrowded and it has a bad cooling system. Corruption is the order of the day at the airport.
I think the problem of Nigeria is deeper than airports though no matter how noble the thoughts of the Acting President are. Osinbajo known has to make PR moves and this might just be one. I hope this is not him playing to the gallery. It is time for Nigeria to start doing serious business.
