Doing Business in Nigeria: The Business Facilitation(Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2023

01 Introduction

As part of the commitments of the Federal Government of Nigeria to continuously create an enabling environment for doing business, on February 13, 2023, the Business Facilitation Bill 2022 (also known as the Omnibus Bill) was signed into law (the “Act”).
The main objective of this Act is to promote the ease of doing business in Nigeria and eliminate bottlenecks and amend relevant legislation and institutionalises all the reforms to ease implementation.

To achieve this objective, the Act amended various business-related legislations.
In this newsletter, we highlighted key amendments and possible impact on the
Nigerian business environment.
This Act applies throughout the Federal Republic of Nigeria In eliminating administrative bottlenecks, the Business Facilitation Act introduces
mandatory transparency requirements for ministries, departments and agencies, as well as a regime for default approvals, a one government directive, and the prohibition of touting at Nigerian ports. In promoting the ease of doing business, the BFA amends the following legislation:

1. Companies and Allied Matters Act
2. Nigerian Export Promotion Council Act
3. Export (Prohibition) Act
4. Financial Reporting Council Act
5. Customs and Excise Management Act
6. Foreign Exchange (Monitoring and Miscellaneous) Act
7. Industrial Inspectorate Act
8. Industrial Training Fund Act
9. Immigration Act
10. Investment and Securities Act
11. National Housing Fund Act

APRIL EDITION
2023
12. National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion Act
13. National Planning Commission Act
14. Nigeria Customs Service Board Act
15. Nigerian Investments Promotion Commission Act
16. Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development Act
17. Nigerian Ports Authority Act
18. Patents and Designs Act
19. Pension Reform Act
20. Standard Organisation of Nigeria Act
21. Trademarks Act