The Vice President, Senator Kashim Shettima, has implored state governments, ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) of the federal government, the organized private sector, and other stakeholders to do more in advancing the business environment in Nigeria. He acknowledged the successes recorded this year, describing them "as the triumph of collaboration over silos," even as he said when the 36 states of the federation, MDAs, development partners and other critical sectors commit to working together across the board, it becomes a big win for Nigeria.

Senator Shettima gave the charge in Abuja during the PEBEC Gala and Awards Night organized by the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) to celebrate exceptional public service delivery, reform excellence, and collaborative efforts toward improving Nigeria’s business environment. The Vice President underscored the importance of working as a team, noting that while every organization reflects the kind of people working within, the people cannot "achieve excellence in a vacuum."

According to VP Shettima, excellence is cultivated - "the result of choices, of discipline, of a refusal to settle for the bare minimum," adding that it is not something that is inherited. He observed that it is for this reason that the Gala and Awards Night was organized "to honour the belief that public service can and must be synonymous with excellence." Reminding stakeholders that the ball is in their court to make a difference, the VP said, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has laid the critical foundation for the reforms required to reset the economy, and the success of this depends on the awardees they celebrated at the event.

Earlier, the Deputy Chief of Staff to the President (Office of the Vice President), Senator Ibrahim Hadejia, said under the leadership of Vice President Shettima, PEBEC has continued to deliver reforms that is incrementally impacting businesses in different sectors across the country. He, however, reminded stakeholders that the task of transforming Nigeria's business environment is far from over, as every improvement celebrated at the 2025 awards will be the foundation upon which more lasting reform initiatives will be built. On her part, the Director-General of PEBEC, Princess Zahrah Audu, outlined some of the achievements recorded by the agency in the past year through deliberate and result-oriented collaboration to transform operations across MDAs, noting that reform is embedded and remains a critical component of PEBEC's service delivery. She added that the scope of PEBEC's achievements under the current dispensation reflects the depth of partnership established and nurtured by management with critical stakeholder across the country over the past months.

The highpoint of the occasion was the unveiling of the 2025 Business Facilitation Act (BFA) Compliance Report and the Subnational Ease of Doing Business Report, as well as the presentation of various categories of awards, including access to justice; legislative trailblazer; leadership of action and business advocacy and partnership, among others.