In furtherance of the implementation of the Business Environment and Competitiveness across Nigerian States (BECANS) project, the Institute in collaboration with the National Planning Commission organised a National Workshop. BECANS is a public-private sector collaborative project designed to produce business environment and competitiveness reports across Nigerian States, on a regular sustained basis. The project integrates research, survey, dissemination and advocacy.

AIAE's two day National Stakeholder Workshop on BECANS held on the 6th and 7th of July, 2006 at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, and it turned out to be a huge success. The workshop which recorded an overwhelming attendance rate of over two hundred participants from across the nation, saw an impressive influx of key State Government officials, who exhibited keen interest and optimism in the various sessions of the stakeholders' workshop. Hence, the level of support and participation to be expected from BECANS seems to be tremendous.

The workshop was designed to disseminate the BECANS methodology, enlighten federal and state government officials and deepen stakeholder participation. The workshop is an integral part of the implementation program which started since 2003. The program implementation has passed through several stages of conceptualization, consultations, technical reviews, stakeholder mobilization and feedback. BECANS is implemented by a coalition of private sector and civil society stakeholders led by the African Institute for Applied Economics.