President Muhammadu Buhari has
expressed delight with the World Bank’s 2020 Doing Business Index (DBI) which
ranked Nigeria 131 out of 190 countries, up 15 places from 146th position last
year.
The report, which was released
Thursday, also named Nigeria one of the top 10 most improved economies in the
world for the second time in three years.
Nigeria is one of only two
African countries to make this highly prestigious list. With this year’s leap,
Nigeria has improved an aggregate of 39 places in the World Bank Doing Business
index since 2016.
The Doing Business Index is an
annual ranking that objectively assesses prevailing business climate conditions
across 190 countries based on 10 ease of doing business indicators.
The index captures the ease of
doing business reforms that have been validated by the private sector and
offers comparative insights based on private sector validation in the two
largest commercial cities in countries with a population higher than 100
million. The report consequently features Lagos and Kano States for Nigeria.
Welcoming the announcement,
President Buhari in a statement signed by his Spokesperson, Femi Adesina and
made available on Thursday, noted that “the movement of 15 places
to 131 as well as the recognition being given to Nigeria as one of the top 10
most improved countries, that have implemented the most reforms this year, is
significant because we were not even able to achieve some of the key reforms we
had pursued, but what we have done so far is being recognized. This validation
confirms that our strategy is working and we will continue to push even harder
to deliver more impactful reforms.”
“With the impending ratification
of the Companies and Allied Matters Bill and the introduction of the Business
Facilitation (Omnibus) Bill, 2019 in view, along with other pending and ongoing
regulatory, judicial and sub-national reforms, the President declared that “the
announcement by the World Bank indicates that our mandate to move into the top
70 doing business destinations by 2023 remains achievable.”
Briefing President Buhari on the
rankings, the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment and Vice-Chair of the
Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC), Otunba Niyi Adebayo
had stated:
“The steady improvement in
Nigeria’s ease of doing business score and rank is a testament to the reforms
implemented by this Administration over the past four years in line with the
reform agenda being implemented at national and sub-national levels across the
country since the establishment of the Presidential Enabling Business
Environment Council (PEBEC) by President Muhammadu Buhari in July, 2016.
“The PEBEC works towards the
fulfillment of the projections of the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP
2017-2020), which is striving to deliver sustainable economic growth in Nigeria
by restoring growth, investing in our people, and building a competitive
economy as we work towards delivering Mr. President’s mandate of bringing 100
million people out of poverty. The 2020 Doing Business report from the World
Bank has reaffirmed the commitment of the newly constituted PEBEC to making
Nigeria a progressively easier place to do business and removing the
bureaucratic constraints to doing business in the country as we forge ahead in
this Next Level.”
The Presidential Enabling
Business Environment Council, chaired by His Excellency the Vice President,
with 13 ministers as members amongst others, has through the Enabling Business
Environment Secretariat collaborated with ministries, departments and agencies
(MDAs), the National Assembly, the Judiciary, State governments and the private
sector to carry out over 140 reforms so far in a bid to remove bureaucratic
constraints to doing business in Nigeria and make the country a progressively
easier place to start and grow a business.
On the new ranking, Dr. Jumoke
Oduwole, Special Adviser to the President, Ease of Doing Business/Secretary
PEBEC, said:
“The private sector remains the
fulcrum of the ease of doing business interventions. We are committed to more
engagements among reform-implementing organs of government and the private
sector players, and we are happy to see that these have resulted in a more
favourable validation of the reforms by the private sector.
“This result will serve as an
encouragement to sustain the deepening of these reforms and make it even more
tangible for businesses and the citizenry. The PEBEC is focused on delivering
even more substantive reforms for the improvement of the general business
climate.”
She noted that over the past four
years, Nigeria’s score has steadily improved in the World Bank Doing Business
Report, after years of decline in both score and ranking in the years preceding
2016.
She also recalled that in 2017,
Nigeria moved up by an unprecedented 24 places on the Doing Business rankings,
and was for the first time ever, recognized as one of the top 10 reformers in
the area of doing business that year.
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