Abuja
— Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, has said six infrastructure
reforms bills put together by the National Assembly would not only
modernise the nation's infrastructure base, but would create at least
580,000 new jobs for Nigerians in the next five years.
The bills are the
Nigerian Railway Bill, Nigerian Ports and Harbour Bill, National Road
Funds Bill, National Transport Commission Bill, National Inland
Waterways Bill and the Federal Roads Bill.
Saraki, said this
at the dialogue session to mark the first anniversary of the National
Assembly Business Environment Roundtable (NASSBER) yesterday, where he
expressed the commitment of the legislature to ensuring a friendly
environment for businesses in Nigeria.
He added that the
six bills draw from the experiences of other countries with similar
demographics with Nigeria, and would lean heavily on enabling the
participation of the private sector in the construction and maintenance
of roads, railways and ports as well as their operations.
The Nigerian
Railway bill, Nigerian Ports and Harbour bill and National Inland
Waterways bill have already been passed by the Senate, while the
remaining three are expected to be passed in June 2017.
"The net effect
will be more investment in the country, reduced pressure on the forex
market and public funds will be channeled towards more governance
oriented public services," he said.
The bills are also
projected to cause a 2.5 per cent reduction in national poverty levels,
as it will save lives, reduce wasted man-hours while reducing the cost
of food and other essential goods and services as a result of cheaper
logistical costs.
"The eighth
National Assembly has also placed significant focus on helping our SMEs
who employ over 88% of our workforce to expand their opportunity to
raise funds for their businesses as well as reduce the regulatory burden
our startups face today," he said.
"In this regard, we
have passed the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act Repeal and Re-enactment
Bill, Electronic Transactions Bill, Credit Reporting Bill, Independent
Warehouse Regulatory Agency Bill and Secure Transactions in Movable
Assets Bill."
The Senate
President said the bills, when signed into law, would revolutionise
access to credit and reduce the barriers to commercial transactions
across the broader spectrum of doing business in Nigeria.
"Studies have
already shown that we should expect a 50 per cent increase in the
capital availability to MSMEs as a direct result. We expect an average
of about 1.57million additional jobs and MSME income growth by an
average of five per cent per annum over five years," he added.
Speaking further on
the passage of the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill (PIGB), Saraki
noted that the bill makes a bold statement to the world that the
Nigerian petroleum industry is now ready to compete with its
counterparts across the world.
"It creates an
entirely new regulatory and institutional regime for the oil and gas
industry. The bill targets high levels of efficiency and independency
that is at par with international best practices. With this bill, our
revenues leakages will be a thing of the past and the confidence of
investors in the industry will be further enhanced," he emphasised.
Similarly, the
Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Yakubu Dogara in his
remarks expressed the commitment of the National Assembly to passing
laws conducive to foreign and local investors.
"The National
Assembly will continue to play a central role not only in governance but
also ensuring that we deliberate and act on frameworks that will
improve Nigeria's business environment through the review of relevant
legislations and provisions of the constitution," he said.
He urged the
members of the NASSBER Committees to provide the necessary guidance
required to move the initiate forwards, and ensure it achieves it
objectives.
"A little over a
year ago when NASSBER was inaugurated, we were very confident it was the
right step to take if we were indeed committed to bringing our economy
out of recession, and stimulating long term economic growth that is
inclusive and sustainable for the shared prosperity of all Nigerians,"
Dogara said.
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