Following the recent release of the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business Report for 2018 which placed Nigeria in the 145th position after a 24-step rise, the bank has released the areas that saw meaningful reforms within the period. Nigeria was placed 169th position in the 2017 report.
According to the report breakdown made available on Wednesday, the areas that Nigeria improved with reforms were in starting a business, dealing with construction permits, registering a property, getting credit and paying taxes.
The key area where Nigeria performed poorly was in access to electricity. While the average number of procedures it required to get electricity in Sub-Saharan Africa was put at 5.3, the number of procedures required in Nigeria was put at 10.
The average length of time it would take to get electricity in Sub-Saharan Africa was put at 115.3 while that of Nigeria was put 166 days.
Also, on the reliability of supply and transparency of tariff index, Nigeria was rated zero (scale of zero to eight), while the average for Sub-Saharan Africa was put at 0.9.
The positive changes in the areas pushed Nigeria to join among the 10 top countries that improved on reforms with New Zealand still leading on the ease of doing business for the second consecutive year.
However, on the areas that the country had recorded improvements, the World Bank said, “Nigeria made starting a business faster by allowing electronic stamping of registration documents. This reform applies to both Kano and Lagos.
“Nigeria (Kano) increased transparency by publishing all relevant regulations, fee schedules and pre-application requirements online. Nigeria (Lagos) made it easier to obtain construction permits by streamlining the process to obtain construction permits and increased transparency by publishing all relevant regulations, fee schedules and pre-application requirements online.”
The 2018 report stated that Nigeria implemented reforms in five areas thereby, placing the nation among top reformers in the region.
The report showed that Mauritius, now in the 25th position in the Doing Business rankings, was the highest ranked economy in Sub-Saharan Africa. Other top economies in the region that performed well in the ranking are Rwanda (41), Kenya (80), Botswana (81) and South Africa (82).
The lowest ranked economies in the African region are Somalia (190), Eritrea (189), South Sudan (187) and Central African Republic (184).
