 | Engr Mansur, director general of NESG (l) and Steven Dimitriyev of the IBRD. |
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The World Bank’s annual Doing Business report generates wide interest and heated debate in Nigeria. And for good reason. Since the return of democracy in 1999, the Nigerian government has been involved in wide-spread economic and institutional reforms. Understandably, Nigerians are in a hurry to see these reforms translate into wealth generation and improved living standards. On April 7, the Public Information Center at the Nigeria Economic Summit Group (NESG) in Lagos, in partnership with the World Bank in Nigeria, held its second annual dialogue aimed at offering stakeholders a forum in which to define problems within Nigeria’s competitive business environment and create solutions. Steven Dimitriyev, the Bank's senior Private Sector Development specialist in Abuja presented a review of the book, paying particular attention to the Nigeria indicators and its 108 th ranking among 178 countries. The report, according to Dimitriyev, presents an interface between the public and private sectors, examining how well government regulations are translated into action in engendering good business practices. He noted that government reforms have yielded notable improvements in areas like registration of new businesses, contract enforcement and judicial reforms. In such a fierce competition where other countries have also improved, however, Nigeria, he said, should view the report as a resource and guide to helping the country focus on creating a competitive business environment. Investors’ Perspective During the discussion, Chief Economist of the African Finance Corporation (AFC), Dr. Temitope Oshokoya, said Nigeria still has a long way to go to make its environment business friendly. For instance, the cost of registering a business in Nigeria is one of the highest in the world. Oshokoya stressed the need to streamline administrative processes, but faulted the benchmarks used for Nigeria in the report. He said Nigeria’s status as the fourth largest recipient of Foreign Direct Investment in Africa should be compared with strong emerging economies like China, India and Brazil. Oshokoya also faulted the report's focus on the institutional environment as a less than stellar means of evaluating a country’s performance. Investors, he said, look at various factors, only one of which is institution. Natural resources, entrepreneurial spirit, population size, availability of labor, vibrant private sector, infrastructure, are also factors, he said. Operators’ Point of View  | Participants at the Doing Business stakeholders discussion. |
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National President of the Nigerian Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (NASME), Dr. Ike Abugu, commended the report, but noted that the ranking of Nigeria as 84th in getting credit was "too good to be true". The report's exclusion of indicators like infrastructure, security and transparency in governance was a great limitation, he said. If those were included, he said, Nigeria would have received a worse ranking. Abugu pointed to multiple taxes, rigid collateral requirements and the high cost of business registration as some of the areas that the Nigerian government should address. He advocated a single digit tax rate for SME operators and a five-year tax window for startups in the subsector, as is the case in countries like China. Regulators’ Perspective Commenting on the report, the Head of Strategy for Nigeria’s Debt Management Office (DMO), Mr. Miji Amidu, said the creation of a business-enabling environment is the shared responsibility of all stakeholders. He decried, however, the increasing interference of government in the activities of regulators and said  | Representatives from the World Bank and International Finance Corporation. |
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less interference would ensure better and efficient performance in policy initiatives. Amidu stressed the need for government to continuously review business and tax laws. He disclosed that the government was making efforts at ensuring a friendly tax regime in the country and said a tax unit has been created to review Nigeria’s taxation problems. The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) Act of 2007 and the Tax Reform Act of 2007 both are aimed at reforming tax administration in Nigeria in conformity with global practices. Contributed by Nneka Okereke, World Bank Nigeria |
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