By Merit Ibe
The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) is seeking direct and effective engagements between Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and regulatory agencies for enhanced transactions, communication and responsive feedback mechanism.
Director-General,LCCI, Dr Muda Yusuf, made this known to the media following a study by the Chamber and the Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE).
On the study titled “Transactional Accountability, Process Consistency and Operational Transparency,” Yusuf said it was administered on business owners, senior managers and personnel responsible for interfacing with the regulatory agencies in three cities- Aba, Kano and Lagos due to their high concentration of SMEs.
He noted that the study focused on the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and the National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC) as critical and strategic regulatory agencies.
He said the study revealed the need for ease of access to information for SMEs to address gaps between officials of regulatory agencies and owners/managers of SMEs in engagement process.
This, he said, would eliminate all forms of revenue leakages and transparency issues in their procedures and operations, translating to improved outcomes for both SMEs and regulatory agencies.
He noted that the study also revealed the importance of the full adoption of technology by the Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) to drive efficiency and ensure transparency.
Poor deployment and inadequate use of information technology, ineffective grievance redress mechanism and non-standard approaches as SMEs and regulatory agencies engage created opportunities for transactional accountability breaches, Yusuf said.
“The Federal Government on May 18, 2017, signed the Executive Order 001 on “the Promotion of Transparency and Efficiency in the Business Environment. The objective of the Order was to facilitate the ease of doing business in Nigeria.”