*Nigeria’s Vice President, Prof. Osinbajo SAN
As a way of providing palliative to support the Micro Small and Medium Enterprises, (MSMEs), National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) said it is offering discount to enable businesses in this class to register their products at reduced costs. Nigeria’s Vice President Prof. Yemi Osinbajo whose powers have been allegedly watered down by President Muhammadu Buhari tweeted this at the weekend.
Prof. Osinbajo said the agency will offer MSMEs an 80 per cent discount for a period of six months to register their products. He tweeted, “Thanks to NAFDAC’s automated product administration and monitory systems, MSMEs can now register and certify their products at an 80 per cent discount rate for the period of six months.” He said they will also enjoy zero tariffs for first 200 people on the platform and a waiver of late admin charges.
This is the second discount given to MSMEs in recent times; the first being a flat rate of N5,000 to register business names with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) from October 2018 to March 2019. The current administration has been making efforts to improve Nigeria’s ease of doing business and set up the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) to remove bottlenecks in the business environment and attract away investments but it does appear the bottlenecks are old habits that have refused to die.