Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) has gone a step further towards enhancing the ease of doing business with the launch of a merger portal.
The portal involves a remote filing system by business people for all merger notifications and according to the commission; the objective of the portal is to make it easy for the submission of merger notifications to the commission.
It is expected that this will facilitate ease of doing business, a desire by every investor operating in Nigeria. Nigeria as of 2020 stood at 131 out of 190 countries in World Bank ease of doing business.
Babatunde Irukera, the executive vice-chairman of the FCCPC said the product was a collective work with stakeholders. He encouraged those who have a notification to file to use the portal.
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“The notification portal is still a subject for us all to continue to work on, and quite a lot of people have commended this availability for engagement,”
He said the commission would continue to be responsive to the needs of businesses, and urged all to ensure compliance with the regulatory laws. He further noted that mergers and acquisitions were part of the competition process that provides discretion for parties.
“Criticisms are largely reflective of a society, and so, I think it is important to engage stakeholders on this, and educate them on what we think is the case,” said Irukera.
Christiana Umana, the head of the mergers and acquisition unit of the FCCPC, said the portal was to automate the process of filling at the commission. According to her, the notification portal is also home-based so as to encourage originality and uphold the nation’s sovereignty.
“The portal automates the merger notification process, ensures that the information relayed is encrypted, and also has a daily backup for disaster recovery,” said Umana.
