- Gombe retains top spot, Edo rated most difficult for business
Nigeria’s commerical nerve, Lagos State and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja have been rated below average in Ease of Doing Business rankings per state by the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC).
PEBEC revealed this in its recently released the second edition of the Subnational Ease of Doing Business Report for 2023, which placed Gombe ahead of the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.
Going by the report, the nation’s average EoDB score is 5.69 but Lagos attained 5.16 points and FCT got 5.09 points.
The report also indicated that Lagos dropped nine places to occupy 29th position having ranked 20th in the 2021 report while the FCT fell to 31st having been rated 17th in 2021.
Gombe, referred to as the Jewel of the Savannah, recorded a weighted score of 7.15 to emerge as the state providing the friendliest environment for business. Placed second is Jigawa State (6.79), followed in third by Sokoto State (6.88). However, Edo State was ranked the most difficult for business with 4.55 score.
Since 2017, the PEBEC has been implementing reforms aimed at removing bureaucratic constraints to doing business and to make Nigeria a progressively easier place to do business.
The 2023 Subnational Ease of Doing Business Report builds on the inaugural Subnational EoDB Baseline Report released in March 2021.
A breakdown of the report by geopolitical zones shows that Plateau State (5.8) topped the states in North Central; with Gombe State (7.15) topping the states in North East; Jigawa State (6.88) topping North West; Anambra State (6.19) first among the states in the South East; Rivers State (5.76) on top of South South; and Ekiti State (5.79) on top of South West.
The key findings from the survey indicate that there has been a marginal improvement in satisfaction with the ease of doing business in Nigeria from the 2021 baseline with the 2023 EoDB weighted score increasing to 5.69 (against 5.45 in the baseline).
Infrastructure and a Secure and Stable Environment are the key drivers of satisfaction both accounting for 41.1 % (22.8% and 18.3% respectively) of satisfaction.