The Central Bank of Nigeria, a key partner of AIAE’S flagship project BECANS, on Thursday 31st May 2007 hosted the inauguration ceremony of the organizing committee for the Forum on Business Environment Across Nigerian States (FOBEANS) in the conference room of the office of the Deputy Governor, Economic policy, at 10:45am, at the CBN Headquarters, Abuja. Dr. (Mrs.) S.O. Alade, Deputy Governor, Economic Policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria who presided over the ceremony, in her inaugural address restated the objectives of BECANS as a public-private sector collaboration to produce and disseminate reports on the business environment and competitiveness across Nigerian states on a continuing and sustainable manner. She noted that for a long time, due to the dearth of relevant information, Nigeria had been perceived as a homogeneous business environment without regard for the peculiarities of its sub-national units which made up the country.

This, she said, had negatively impacted on the business environment and the quality of advocacy at the state level. BECANS, she said, entrenches evidence-based public-private dialogue on reforms in policy, regulatory and institutional environment at the state level, integrating research, survey, dissemination and advocacy task. Thus, the inauguration of the organizing committee for Forum on Business Environment Across Nigerian States (FOBEANS) re-emphasizes the commitment of the CBN to the course of improving the business environment in Nigeria.

She thus outlined the objectives of the Organizing Committee to include:

1. Launching of the business environment reports, emphasizing the strengths and weaknesses of respective states;

2. Disseminating and discussing the business environment ratings of the states;

3. Initiating state-level stakeholder groups for advocacy on business environment reforms;

4. Developing advocacy networks and action-plans/milestones for state-level stakeholder advocacy groups;

5. Enabling uptake and use of business environment reports for designing reform agenda and initiatives; and

6. Sharing information and experiences on business environment agenda items.

Earlier in his the Acting Director, Research Dr C.N.O. Mordi stated that the CBN as a key partner in the BECANS Project was pleased with AIAE for taking the initiative to domesticate sub-national business environment rankings in Nigeria. He expressed the hope that the inauguration of the FOBEANS 2007 Organizing Committee will set the pace for a fruitful Forum in August 16, 2007.

Prof Eric Eboh in his address, (click here for address) on behalf of the BECANS Project, thanked the CBN for her strong and continuing support for the BECANS Project. He said the BECANS Project had achieved a critical milestone – having conducted the field data collection survey (done concurrently with the 2006 SEEDS Benchmarking exercise). The technical analysis of this data which was soon to be concluded would inform the Business Environment Ratings of states, and the Business Environment Report on Nigerian States to be presented at the coming FOBEANS 2007 from 16-17 August, 2007 at the Transcorp Hilton Abuja.

Dr. Chukwuma Agu – Coordinator of the BECANS Project in a vote of thanks, expressed his appreciation of the CBN for its support for the Project, and especially the Deputy Governor, Economic Policy for being physically present to inaugurate the Committee even at a short notice. He thanked the Director of Research and his staff for their continued support and encouragement in the BECANS work. He also appreciated the role and participation of other government, and non-government partners – the National Planning Commission (NPC), the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC), the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG), the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), the Nigerian Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (NASME), the BusinessDay Newspapers and the Human Rights Law Services (HURILAWS) all in attendance at the ceremony.

The forum, which is the second of its kind, (the first having held in July 6-7, 2006) promises great things for the country especially the business community and the government at the sub national level. (FOBEANS, 2007)