‘It’s difficult to do business in Nigeria in 2016 than in 2015’ – World Bank

It is difficult to do business in Nigeria in 2016 than it was in 2015, the World Bank ‘Doing Business Report’ opines.

However, the report also states that Nigeria moved up a spot from its position last year, in the ‘ease of doing business’ ranking.

Out of 189 countries surveyed, Nigeria ranked at 169th with an ‘ease of doing business’ score of 44.69 percent, a step higher than the 170th position the country occupied in 2015.

The position of Nigeria on the ease of starting a business further fell from 131st position in 2015 to 139th in 2016, while access to electricity dropped from 181st position to 182nd in 2016.

However, property registration in Nigeria improved from 185th in 2015 to 181st in 2016. The country also dropped from its 52nd position on the ease of getting credit in 2015 to 59th position in 2016.

Mauritius, ranked at 32nd position, is the best destination for business in Africa. Rwanda follows closely at the 62nd position, Botswana at 72nd and South Africa at 73rd. Ghana pegged at the 114th position, thus making it top in West Africa.

Speaking on the ranking, the World Bank stated that: “Where informal construction is rampant, the public can suffer. Take the case of Nigeria, which lacks an approved building code setting the standards for construction.”

“Without clear rules, enforcing even basic standards is a daunting task, and many buildings fail to comply with proper safety standards. Structural incidents have multiplied.”

“According to the Nigerian Institute of Building, 84 buildings collapsed in the past 20 years, killing more than 400 people.”

On the issue of electricity, the World Bank stated that: “Industry is a core sector for the generation of national wealth and employment in Nigeria, but faced with an electricity sector hampered by poorly utilized generation capacity, high transmission losses and frequent outages, companies turn to self-provision of electricity.”

“This raises their production costs, reducing their competitiveness and thus their demand for labour. The erratic and inadequate power supply in Nigeria has often been cited as the main reason forcing multinationals to relocate production lines to other countries. Power outages also affect output levels.”

On the increase in ease of registering properties, the global financial institution stated that: “Nigeria made transferring property in Lagos less costly by reducing fees for property transactions.”

“Nigeria strengthened minority investor protections by requiring that related-party transactions be subject to external review and to approval by disinterested shareholders. This reform applies to both Kano and Lagos.”