Kwara State government has today announced the inauguration of a 12-man Council on Ease of Doing Business in its effort to lift bureaucratic bottlenecks that hurt businesses as well as attract new investments to the state.
Deputy Governor Kayode Alabi inaugurated the 12-man Council amid high expectations of economic repositioning.
Kwara Head of Service, Mrs Modupe Susan Oluwole is the chairman of the Council, just as the Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Harmony Holdings Limited, Mallam Abdullahi Abdulmajeed will serve as its secretary.
Abdulmajeed was also appointed Kwara Ease of Doing Business Reform Champion/Focal Person.
Other members of the Council are: Commissioner for Finance, Florence Oyeyemi; Commissioner for Enterprise, Abdulwahab Agbaje; Commissioner for Works, Engr Rotimi Iliasu; Executive Chairman of Kwara State Internal Revenue Service (KW-IRS), Mrs Folashade Omoniyi; Special Assistant on Geographic Information System, Abdulmutollib Shittu; Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Rafiu Ajakaye; Technical Assistant to the Governor on Investment, Kabir Shagaya; Director of Economic Affairs (representative of the SSG); and Chairman of Kwara State Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mining and Agriculture (KWACCIMA), Dr Ahmed Raji.
Speaking at the inauguration, Deputy Governor Alabi said the Council would identify and eliminate all constraints to the growth of business, especially small and medium enterprises through holistic reforms.
He said Governor AbdulRazaq is unhappy with the rating of the state in the country’s Ease of Doing Business ranking and is determined to turn the page with reforms of various processes.
On her part, Chairman of the Council, Oluwole promised that members of the Council would justify the confidence reposed in them by quickly improving the Ease of Doing Business in Kwara State, while attracting more investors into it.
Also speaking, Abdulmajeed, who is the Secretary of the Council, said their mandate is to domesticate the policies designed by the PEBEC in Kwara State and identify all binding constraints facing businesses and investments, especially Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).
He described SMEs as the engine of the economy, while expressing hope that Kwara State would beat Kaduna State which ranks first in the country’s Ease of Doing Business ranking.
