· Businesses still grappling with epileptic power supply, bad roads, others—-LCCI
Following the World Bank latest ranking on ease of doing business that shows improvement in Nigeria by 15 places to 131 out of 190 countries, the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) and the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry have berated the World Bank attest report on ease of doing business.
In a chat with Shipping Position Daily, Mr. Segun Ajayi Kadiri, Director General MAN, though noted that Nigeria movement from 146th position to 131st in the world n the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business ranking is a positive development. He however noted that the country still underperforms in getting electricity, trading across borders and paying taxes.
He said Infrastructure, both hard and soft, remain, not only a national challenge for Nigeria, but a continental one.
According to him, “Nigeria’s movement from 146th position to 131st in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business ranking is a positive development. Moving 15 places is progress. The country was hailed for conducting reforms impacting six indicators, including making the enforcement of contracts easier and placing the economy among the world’s top improvers.
“That said, we should know that it is call for more efforts, especially because we have two Sub-Saharan African economies ranking in the first 50, namely Mauritius and Rwanda, and Kenya is third in the 61st position. So if we can establish a nexus between the ease of doing business and competitiveness, increased productivity and poverty alleviation, 131st position should not be a comfort zone.
“The same report also indicated that, when compared to other parts of the world, Sub-Saharan Africa still underperforms in getting electricity, trading across borders and paying taxes. Infrastructure, both hard and soft, remains, not only a national challenge for Nigeria, but a continental one.
Also speaking, the LCCI DG Mr. Muda Yusuf, buttressed his MAN counterpart, while informing our correspondent that businesses are still grappling with epileptic power supply, and bad port access roads among others. He noted that the report captured two cities where less than 15 percent of the country Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) operate.
According to LCCI, the World Bank captured Nigerian business environment using Lagos and Kano largely as a result of their economic and commercial importance to Nigeria and of course both states are the two most-populous states in Nigeria.
The chamber explained that 77per cent of sampled businesses by the World Bank were drawn from Lagos and 23per cent from Kano.
“We are of the view that the World Bank findings in the two cities might not be broad enough considering the fact that the combined MSMEs in Lagos and Kano is less than 15per cent of total MSMEs (41 million) in Nigeria, according to a 2017 SMEs national survey conducted by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
“We believe that only two cities will not adequately capture what it takes to do business in Nigeria. The report failed to capture cities like Aba, the industrial hub of the South-East region, Onitsha, Abuja and Port-Harcourt where commerce also thrives,” the LCCI in its response explained.
The latest response by LCCI signed by the Director General (LCCI), Muda Yusuf, said, present administration has disclosed intention to be among top 70 countries on the ranking by 2023, stressing that the goal is laudable but would only be achieved when the government address major issues around infrastructure, policy, regulation, quality of institutions and insecurity.
According to him, the ranking is Nigeria’s best performance since 2011.
Yusuf also noted that, “Our analysis of the report shows Nigeria climbed four spots higher to snatch the 17th position in the Sub-Saharan Africa and jumped two spots higher to claim the 5th spot in West Africa.
“We commend the government on the attainment of this feat which also reflects the efforts of the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC). With this report, Nigeria has moved 39th places in five years, from 170th position in 2015 up to 131st position.
“However, Nigeria’s ranking in the West African sub-region is 5th position. We can do much better as the economic powerhouse of the region.”
“Meanwhile, the issue of multiple taxation needs to be addressed, especially at the states and local government levels where various fees and levies are charged. Tax reforms that will stimulate the growth of MSMEs should be pursued vigorously such that the present revenue drive of the government does not cripple and destroy whatever gains that have been achieved in the MSMEs development in the past.”
He further noted that electricity reform does not reflect present realities as business are still grappling with epileptic power supply and this has taken a toll on cost of production and profitability.
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