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Here you can find articles about BECANS and the Business Environment that have featured recently in the National Press. BECANS AND THE LAND REFORM AGENDA BECANS AS MIRROR OF STATE-LEVEL BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT BECANS PRESENTS REPORT ON INVESTMENT CLIMATE BECANS AS OPPORTUNITY FOR IMPROVED INVESTMENT CLIMATE BECANS AND NIGERIA’S 2020 VISION INSTITUTE CANVASSES POLICY SYNERGY BETWEEN FEDERAL, STATE GOVTS INSTITUTE TASKS GOVT ON ENABLING BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT BECANS WILL EASE DOING BUSINESS IN NIGERIA BECANS AND CHALLENGES OF BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT HOW BECANS WILL BENEFIT NIGERIAN STATES HOW BECANS WILL BENEFIT NIGERIA CBN, AIAE, BECANS TO ANNOUNCE MOST BUSINESS FRIENDLY STATE
Businessday. Wednesday, July 25, 2007. BECANS AND THE LAND REFORM AGENDA By E. M. Igbokwe In recognition of the bottleneck posed by poor land administration in the country, the Yar’Adua government has identified land reforms as one of the seven-point agenda for Nigeria. The reforms are aimed at removing the constraints precipitated by institutional deficiencies of the Land Use Act 1978 and the practical difficulties encountered in the land administration for business and commerce. Land is a critical factor in the development of enterprise but unfortunately, it is not equally distributed. This fact underlies the intentions of the federal government in enacting the Land Use Act (LUA) of 1978. In a nutshell the LUA has brought about centralized land administration under a uniform system of land tenure and abolished private ownership of land. Thus, “all lands comprised in the territory of each state in the federation are hereby vested in the governor of that state …” This implies that the highest interest in land is a right of occupancy. It also implies that the LUA is the only law regulating land acquisition and transfer and its allocation to individuals or group of investors. It can be said that the Act was designed to transform the land tenure system in Nigeria rather than allow it to evolve. The advantage in this transformation policy is that security of the title is accorded to all land in use in Nigeria once and for all titles registered. As a consequence, dispositions of land will be facilitated and litigation associated with land transfer and use will be reduced to a minimum. Nevertheless, there are criticisms of the transformation policy. It did not necessarily guarantee the proper utilization of land but the outcome of reviews “quite limited in scope” of weaknesses of the different tenure systems preceding it. In Nigeria, the right of occupancy created by the Land Use Act has been criticized on the following grounds. It is expropriatory in nature. The requirement of governor’s consent to validate/indigenous land rights truly invalidates those rights. Under LUA the state governor exercises the power to grant statutory right of occupancy. Secondly, any alienation or transfer of a statutory right of occupancy must receive the consent of the governor. Proof of the right of occupancy known as certificate of occupancy (C of O) also can only be granted by the governor. The law further vests in the governor the power to revoke the right of occupancy on any land for the “overriding public interest”. However, the law grants local governments the power of control and management of land in non-urban areas. They can grant customary rights of occupancy but only the governor is empowered to issue proof of right of occupancy. The LUA further provides for the constitution of state’s Land Use and Allocation Committee (LUAC) and local governments’ Land Allocation Advisory Committee (LAAC). Membership of both bodies is appointed by the governor and chairman of the local government, respectively. The functions of the state LUAC include advising the state governor on any matter related to the management of land in an urban area; advising the governor on any matter related to the resettlement of persons affected by the revocation of rights of occupancy on the ground of overriding public interest; and determining disputes as to the amount of compensation payable for improvements on land. The LUA does not specify the functions of the LAAC except providing for advising the local government on any matter related to the management of land in a non-urban area. The committees’ functions are by definition advisory. A governor or chairman constitutes one at his whims and caprices as there is no mandatory article of enforcement. It follows from this brief review that the extent of efficient performance in land administration depends on the altruism of the governor, the efficiency and commitment of the states’ ministries of lands and land registries and existence of other legal and institutional instruments for land administration such as land use laws and existence of cadastral maps of the states. Although the key objective of the LUA is to ensure productive utilization of land as a major factor of production and eliminate land speculation, the implementation of the law has in many ways negated the noble objective, and instead created bottlenecks to the growth of business. Principal among the bottlenecks is the long delay and high cost of processing certificate of occupancy. It has been reported that in most states processing of application for certificate of occupancy document takes a long time, which leads to delays and difficulty for business start-ups to make financing arrangements. It is reported that it takes between six (6) and 10 years to approve land transfers and obtain C of O. Permission to lease land and use it as security requires governor’s approval. Besides, there are nine procedures a land user has to pass before obtaining a C of O. The delays and long procedures engender corruption and political witch-hunting and ultimately lead to high transaction cost. The absence of land use laws in the states and proper implementation of land development plans arise from the non-existence of approved cadastral maps that delineate industrial/commercial and residential areas, markets, parks, sanitary and drainage lines and green belts. One of the consequences is a mumbo-jumbo in urban development where residential homes are squeezed in between industrial plants without consideration of the health hazards of the inhabitants. In some cases, commercial farmers are threatened with revocation of legitimately allocated farm plots because some powerful members of society, who illegitimately acquired commercial plots and converted them to residential homes reside there, and find farming activities in the vicinity offensive. Most land registries in the states are viewed as colossal houses of inefficiencies, corruption and confusion. They are characterized by delays in processing of land allocations, multiple allocation of one plot to different applicants and other land use abuses. Grants and transfers of plots are carried out without following laid down rules. Some of these abuses are traceable to poor education and corrupt tendencies of the operators and their proneness to manipulations by superiors and politicians. Record keeping is abysmal due to the lack of computerization and leading to unnecessary delays in confirmation of validity of title in the case of transfer of rights of ownership. It has been observed that the existence of multiple laws governing land acquisition in some states constitutes a hindrance of some sort. The LUA empowers state governors to make rules regarding the administration of land in the states. This creates room for lack of uniformity among the states. For example the Land Tenure Law of 1962 is still extant in the northern states. Some other states have state laws existing side by side with the LUA, a situation described as “confusing land ownership laws”. Land administration constitutes a major variable for assessing ease or cost of doing business worldwide including Nigeria. Such assessments are aggregates of the national condition. For example, Nigeria is rated 94th out of 155 countries in the 2006 World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business rating and land administration was ranked low. The 2007 Index of Economic Freedom ranks Nigeria 131st out of 157 countries and 30th out of 40 countries in the sub-Saharan Africa region. Under investment freedom Nigeria scored 30 percent. Some of the investment disincentives identified were “confusing land ownership laws” and “corruption”, among others. Nigeria targets to improve the World Bank rating to the 30th position by the year 2010. This audacious ambition cannot be realized if federal government measures to improve the business environment are not matched by state-level reforms. This is because many of the bottlenecks to doing business and specifically, land administration fall under the ambit of state and local governments. International assessments fall short of telling what the conditions are in the constituent states of the federation. The Business Environment and Competitiveness across Nigerian States (BECANS) programme of the African Institute of Applied Economics (A.I.A.E.) is evidence-based assessment of the business environment in the states of the federation. The programme is premised on the fact that reforms at the three tiers of government should be supported by well researched knowledge and credible evidence of business environment conditions. The outputs are required to provide, design and target reforms, monitor implementation, review progress and evaluate impact on the private sector. Towards this, assessment of land administration measure under the legal and regulatory benchmark examines some indicators including availability and usability of a cadastral map of the state, existence of a land tenure law to operationalize the Land Use Act, computerization of land transactions in the state, official cost (charge) of obtaining governor’s consent relative to the price of land, time taken to obtain C of O, time taken to search the registry for confirmation of validity of title in the case of transfer of rights of ownership, time taken to obtain the governor’s consent for transfer of rights of ownership of land and existence of laws for protection of private property rights. These are some of the efficiency variables in land administration but are not admittedly exhaustive. The outcome presented in the state-level business environment reports will promote sharing of experiences, mutual learning, demonstration of best practices and success stories in land administration among the states. Evidence from this endeavour will equip advocacy oriented private sector organizations in advocacy for reforms in land administration. Such reforms should be targeted at removing unnecessary delays and reducing transaction costs and corrupt practices in land administration. The efforts to promote land reforms through the BECANS initiative deserve support of all stakeholders. Businessday. Monday, July 16, 2007. BECANS AS MIRROR OF STATE-LEVEL BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT Endurance Uhumuavbi BECANS is an acronym for Business Environment and Competitiveness across Nigerian States. It is the national flagship business environment programme focused on Nigerian states. It is being implemented by a coalition of private sector and public sector organizations led by the African Institute for Applied Economics, Enugu. Financial Standard. Monday, July 9, 2007 BECANS PRESENTS REPORT ON INVESTMENT CLIMATE Business Environment and Competitiveness across Nigerian States (Becans), a national flagship business environment programme focused on Nigerian states, is billed to present its report on state level investment environment to the Nigerian stakeholders in the public sectors at the second forum on business environment across Nigerian states on August 16-17 this year in Abuja. The forum is intended to be an eye opener for state governments as well as form the cardinal point for a competitive private sector in view of the influence it would create on firm productivity, efficiency, growth and expansion as well as good governance and management of States resources. According to an official of the African Institute for Applied Economics, Enugu, there is no doubt that the project would cause a direct positive shift in the economic paradigm of Nigeria States as well as impact positively on macroeconomic policy for the well being and the development of the Nigerian states. BECANS business environment ratings would be a ground breaking event in the history of Nigeria, the model benchmarks, indicators and measures as well as other instruments will set a great motion for development in Nigeria at the state level and will no doubt have positive multiplier effects on the entire economy. This is because the ratings are coming on the heel of the transition from one democratically elected government to another and Nigeria’s pursuit to be among the 20 largest economies in the World by year 2020. BECANS outcome would also challenge Nigerian States particularly, its new governors to ensure more fiscal, financial and budgetary discipline. This I think will spur real development in the various states in the country. The outcome of BECANS would encourage Nigerian states to be committed towards promoting economic and social development in line with the NEEDS and SEEDS programme of the government’, the official said. According to the official, this would result into poverty alleviation, mass employment, wealth creation and value orientation in Nigeria States. BECANS reinvigorates pressures for higher levels of competitiveness among the States of the Federation. Above all, its policy measures and advocacy instruments would clean up the Nigerian business environment for efficient productivity as well as engender best practices and implementation of macroeconomic policies that would effectively drive the State economy. The survival of a business entity largely depends on its operating environment which in turn affects the cost/lease of doing business. Over the years, the Nigerian business environment has been beclouded with a numerous bottlenecks that have negatively affected its operations. These challenges includes poor and deteriorating infrastructure particularly power supply, funding and lack of working capital, multiple taxation, insecurity to lives, properties and investments, inconsistent government policies, corruption and trade malpractices, proliferation of business regulations which deters investment confidence in the country, ineffective and uncoordinated research and development activities by research institutions, unstable macroeconomic policies, weak domestic demand due to low purchasing power of consumers, low patronage for locally produced goods, etc. All these challenges have resulted to a nose dive investment in Nigeria particularly, the manufacturing sector and equally translated to high cost of production which are being transferred to final consumers. The overall implication of these is the poor competitiveness’ of our local products in relations to other economies of the world. The official of the institute further noted that the issue of investment environment is very critical to an ordinary business investor.BECANS is being implemented by a coalition of private sector and public sector organizations led by the African Institute for Applied Economics, Enugu. Businessday. Friday, July 6, 2007 BECANS AS OPPORTUNITY FOR IMPROVED INVESTMENT CLIMATE The benchmarking of business environment competitiveness across Nigerian states or Business Environment and Competitiveness across Nigerian States (BECANS) process, a research survey and analysis effort is really novel from the domestic point of view. Over the years, the economic command has been largely motivated or mobilized from the federal government stable, which always obscured the place of the state and local government tiers in completing the development stake holding equation. It was therefore a great vision to have a locally devised process where economic and development activities geared to creating an enabling environment for investment at the local or rural economies (states and local government areas) and which strategy is to rate Nigerian states based on generated empirical and benchmarked data. The survey had covered all areas of economic development that directly or indirectly affects investment flow dynamics in any economy, from physical through social infrastructure provision to good governance structures (accountability and prudential management). Without any gainsay, the programme promises to spiral a revolution in public economic management and political leadership. It has been widely agreed that for business environment to become competitive in Nigeria, it has to become competitive across its component states. Every state of Nigeria is of course greatly endowed with natural and human resources that beg to be transformed for human and economic development. The critical factors of infrastructure, manpower, social welfare as well as strong institutional and regulatory regime will have to be addressed for each state to benefit from the pool of investment opportunities that will enable the states to unleash their potential. Effective and efficient resource exploitation is very imperative for full scale economic growth and development, but would not occur without the right climate. As a participant at the just-concluded 2nd European Forum on Sustainable Rural Development that held in Berlin, Germany from 18-21 June 2007, I had made two invited Nigerian-case presentations on Rural Investment Climate in Africa and Opportunities for rural development from increasing demand for Biofuel in Africa. In the ensuing discussions, the respective audience premised European Union investments flow into rural Africa on the strident condition of the ability or commitment for governance reforms especially at the sub-national government levels. I had brightened the outlook by letting my audience know about BECANS and the prospects of combining the process and the anti-corruption crusade to achieve a high level of improved rural investment climate in the shortest time frame. This, I said will include score ratings on the states. It is even more strategic because the process will independently and continuously monitor performance and assess impact of states policy and programmes on the investment climate in the states (which collectively control over 50% of annual national revenue and expenditure). This process promises to encourage the states to engage in competitive development activities, as was the case in the first republic Nigeria. In the current dispensation, Tinapa, for instance, has become a reference initiative about the possibility of achieving a shift from lame duck leadership at this level. In a few years yet, Cross River state will be an envy of its neighbors as increased non-oil investments flow into its economy. During the 2007 elections build-up, at the NESG-CIPOGG Gubernatorial Elections Debates organized for River State candidates, I remember asking the horde of gubernatorial candidates how, as governor of the state, each will react to the Tinapa opportunity (or challenge) next door; a question I did not receive any feedback. Obviously, it is a typical initiative that will change the investment climate of the entire region shortly. It is important to note that BECANS is a timely initiative. Existing processes aimed at benchmarking investment climate in Nigeria has been seen largely as externally driven and probably carried out with hurried motive. BECANS brings a homegrown advantage with value term emphasis on not only quantity but also quality, especially in terms of physical and social indicators, in a way that values will be vivid on corresponding impact on firms’ growth and human welfare (directly or indirectly). It will also balance revenue versus investment spending across the states and expose states that have hitherto ran under federal cover and other systemic inefficiencies to prevaricate over their responsibilities. It will ultimately ensure that funds budgeted towards creating a more attractive business environment in each state is transparently and accountably spent. Invariably, governments will no longer reap (taxes, etc) without sowing (incentives, infrastructure, good governance, accountability, etc). It may actually encourage states to embrace the Medium Term Sector Strategy (MTSS) framework to ensure delivery and enable re-assertion of institutions of governance. Obviously as the process becomes consolidated, BECANS will, ultimately emphasize on the performance of specific institutions or agencies within and across states to create an overall competitive national investment environment. This process will definitely become an authoritative process that cannot be discountenanced. In spite of the promise, a major challenge that will be rather political, will relate to the audacity of the process to rank the states according to performance. This is given the penchant for many good initiatives to attract political opprobrium from those who will, as always, see their rank as below their expectation given their self-assessed ‘performance’. They will then introduce the political demonization of the process and outcome. This was also the concern of my Berlin Forum audience, when they remarked that a rating agency or institution must of necessity be very credible to be acceptable. I daresay that the BECANS process is not lacking in credibility. The involvement, funding and endorsement of the process by many of Nigeria’s key economic institutions and development partners further deepen the credibility of the process. This is seen in the public-private dialogue (PPD) ingredient that coming as the 2nd National Forum on Business Environment Across Nigerian States (FOBEANS 2007) next month. This will obviously be the national forum for endorsing BECANS outcomes. I would therefore encourage the African Institute for Applied Economics-led BECANS to boldly rank states (as provided by empirical information) and through that means motivate them towards a peak performance trajectory. This will engender healthy competition across the states along the factors of healthy and competitive business climate, improving economic and rural development, poverty reduction and Nigeria’s economic growth. BECANS requires the support of private sector stakeholders including banks, manufacturing firms, business organizations and the media. With BECANS, we can forge a broad coalition for better business environment in Nigeria, through deepened evidence-based dialogue and advocacy.
Financial Standard. Wednesday, July 4, 2007 BECANS AS ADVOCACY ROLE MODEL Prof. Eric Eboh, Executive Director, African Institute for Applied Economics Democratic governance in Nigeria has widened the space for non-state actors to influence government policies and public institutional performance. To harness this democratic space, non-state advocacy mechanisms must strive to identify and champion evidence-based policy issues, educate stakeholders about the issues, mobilize support and create coalitions or networks to canvass policy positions. Since Nigeria’s return to civilian democratic rule in 1999, private sector and civil society have used advocacy and public-private dialogue as important tools to influence the policy reforms of the federal government. Several mechanisms and programmes are today being driven by the private sector and civil society to advocate for accountable, responsive and transparent governance. But, very often, these mechanisms and programmes lack systematic and sustainable systems for evidence-based advocacy and dialogue. They are mostly isolated, non-coherent and not sufficiently evidence-based. Public debates and policy dialogue need to be rooted in scientific verifiable evidence, not on imaginations. In recent years however, there has been a tendency towards evidence-based advocacy in Nigeria. Many civil society and private sector agencies increasingly rely on research studies and critical analysis for evaluating and deciding policy alternatives. This new orientation is however hampered by the lack of critical research capacities in these organizations. Hence, it is imperative for advocacy organizations to network and partner with think-tanks and research institutions. For some years now, the African Institute for Applied Economics (AIAE) has been nurturing and championing model networking and partnership arrangements to connect private sector advocacy with research institutions. The principle is to tap the comparative strengths and reciprocal advantages of both kinds of institutions in engendering more effective and credible policy advocacy and dialogue in Nigeria. From 2003-2005, African Institute for Applied Economics implemented the Better Business Initiative (BBI) which connected five leading private sector organizations including Nigerian Economic Summit Group, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, Lagos Business School and Human Rights Law Services. The BBI integrated policy research, dissemination and advocacy within the unifying framework comprising five sectoral working groups. BBI achieved significant feat in pushing Nigeria’ reform agenda on many national economic questions. The issues include fiscal responsibility, intergovernmental policy coordination, alternative commercial dispute resolution, power sector reform, land reform, access of SMEs to finance and agricultural inputs markets. Like the BBI, the BECANS model embodies international best practices in linking research and advocacy. But, building on the lessons, experiences and achievements of BBI, the BECANS programme further deepens and domesticates research-linked advocacy. It is a multilateral functional partnership. It links research institutions with advocacy organizations on the one hand and private sector with government agencies on the other hand. On the third angle, it is a platform for state-level private sector organisations to network among themselves in order to foster their common interest in engaging and dialoguing with government ministries, departments and agencies. As a coalition, BECANS is predicated upon the shared (government-private sector-civil society) responsibility for the promotion of better business environment and competitiveness across Nigerian states. Focusing on the state level is deliberately aimed at ameliorating the acute shortage of advocacy capacities in the states. The predominant focus on federal level reform questions has tended to obscure the potential critical economic impact of lower tiers of government in Nigeria. To correct the imbalance, BECANS is deepening grassroots advocacy for better business environment in Nigeria. It equips state-level private sector and civil society organizations with facts to articulate and canvass reform agenda in the various states. The operational organ is the state-level advocacy group which comprises private sector and government organizations in the states. BECANS builds the advocacy capacities and skills of these organizations to ensure credible and effective engagement with relevant state government ministries, departments and agencies. The issues canvassed through BECANS advocacy are germane to national growth and prosperity. They border on conditions for doing business which resonate on enterprise productivity, business growth, job creation, wealth generation and international competitiveness of the country. All over the world, the ease of doing business is a function of the quality of economic governance. Questions about the efficiency of service delivery, economic institutions to foster investments and business, infrastructure and utilities, security and justice, sanctity of contracts and dispute resolution lie at the heart of economic governance. Businesspeople, investors, entrepreneurs, government agencies and civil society have stake in these issues. A thriving and competitive private sector deepens the economic base and fiscal viability of state governments, thereby ameliorating their fragile dependence on handouts from the federation account. BECANS indeed offers a unique opportunity to deepen democratic governance and policy participation in Nigeria. The structures and mechanisms are fertile grounds to grow public-private partnerships for policy and institutional reforms. Policy participation enhances policy ownership, legitimization and sustainability. The success of BECANS hinges upon complementary actions by the respective parties. State governments need to improve policy participation by being more open and receptive to alternative models of service delivery and institutional development. For policy participation to be effective, state government ministries, departments and agencies must develop capacity and orientation to evaluate policy agenda canvassed by private sector and civil society groups. The policy process must be transparent, open and accessible to non-state actors. On the other hand, private sector advocacy must be based on factual well-researched evidence. In addition, private sector groups must build capacity, competencies and skills to effectively participate in the policy process. Imperative skills must be acquired for galvanizing policy options, articulating and aggregating them into coherent policy standpoint and developing and communicating them as a robust reform agenda for business environment. This is why BECANS incorporates capacity building at the state-level. BECANS is best fit for business environment advocacy in Nigeria’s federal setting. BECANS is partnership for evidence-based advocacy in Nigeria. BECANS is good for Nigeria.
Businessday. Thursday, June 28, 2007 BECANS AND NIGERIA’S 2020 VISION Kobi Ikpo Against the backdrop of President Yar Adua’s lofty target of making Nigeria one of the top 20 largest economies in the world by the year 2020, it has become essential that government seek definite ways to promote a good environment for business and investments so as to become globally competitive enough to attain this target. One of such ways could be to ensure that federal-level measures to improve the business environment are corresponded with state-level reforms. This is because several existing bottlenecks to doing business in Nigeria are responsibilities which reside in the domain of state and local government. Examples of these bottlenecks are land registration, business locating and connection to public utilities, court procedures, tax and license administration, sanitation and safety, roads and transport infrastructure as well as security. All these are regulatory services administered at the state level. A good environment which will create jobs and reduce poverty in a sustainable manner entails favourable macroeconomic and investment policies, efficient and transparent regulatory and administrative processes. While NEEDS and SEEDS emphasize regulatory and administrative reforms to ease doing business or reduce the cost of doing business in Nigeria, there is need to move from adopting measures to taking action. We need therefore to focus on the state and local governments and their impact on the business environment. BECANS is further justified by recent call by President Yar Adua at the opening of International Conference on Financial System Strategy 2020 (FSS 2020) in Abuja. At the Conference, Mr. President called on stakeholders to proffer solutions to his administration’s policy thrusts to ensure the realization of his year 2020 goal. It has been said that for Nigeria to achieve this feat she must maintain an annual average growth rate of 12.4 per cent over the next 15 years and focus on developing the following areas: More economic reforms, structural reforms; and political and governance reforms; steps towards greater integration into world trade and finance; increased commitment to education; improved power supply, transportation and telecom infrastructure and finally, create more industrial economy and eliminate over dependence on primary commodities to greatly improve the business environment. Considering these, BECANS is indeed a step in the right direction! The flagship project of the African Institute for Applied Economics, Enugu, works to remove bottlenecks to business at the state level through regular supply of empirical evidence to monitor business conditions. It’s state-level database on business environment will serve policy makers, government technocrats, investors, entrepreneurs, business managers, researchers, policy activists, students and the general public. It establishes mechanisms to utilize the evidence for engagement and dialogue between state governments and the private sector. It encourages a peer review system whereby states are assessed against one another on several agreed benchmarks and measures. This will promote information flow, experience sharing, mutual learning, understanding of best practices and stimulate reforms among states. Also, BECANS makes it possible for business conditions in a particular state to be directly assessed against that in another country, rather than comparing Nigeria (as one entity) to another country. With BECANS results, state-level private sector and civil society organizations become more confident and credible in evidence based advocacy for better business environment. It identifies the aspects of the business environment where states are doing well, and where there is scope for improvement. It fits into the NEPAD African Peer Review Mechanism model. It coheres with the NEEDS and SEEDS framework of growing the economy by creating an enabling environment private sector growth and competitiveness. It aligns with the national objectives to reduce poverty, create wealth and employment and enhances Nigeria’s march to the poverty-related Millennium Development Goal. It addresses the needs of both government and non-state actors. BECANS is not intended to pitch states against one another. It is not designed for any political end. It is about Nigerians and their businesses. It is about improving Nigeria’s business and investment prospects in a globalizing and increasingly competitive world. Though it could promote healthy competition between states, it has no political undertones. It will find out the aspects of the business environment where states are doing well, and where there is scope for improvement. BECANS could become the basis for development assistance for our newly elected state governments. It can assist any serious minded and focused governor in making definite developmental efforts within a state. It can also help citizens monitor the developmental efforts made by their governors and there by ensure that future choice of candidates are strictly based on performance. AIAE calls on all Nigerians to support BECANS in order to break the vicious bottlenecks to doing business in Nigeria and therefore achieve the President’s target. BECANS is about unleashing the private sector energies, promoting enabling environment for productive and competitive entrepreneurship, growing the non-oil economy, creating jobs and reducing poverty. The BECANS approach is indeed novel and timely. So, let all stakeholders – government, private sector, civil society and international development partners support.
The Guardian. Tuesday, June 26, 2007 INSTITUTE CANVASSES POLICY SYNERGY BETWEEN FEDERAL, STATE GOVTS AS President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua settles down to the task of sustaining some of the initiatives of the past government in the development of the private sector, the African Institute for Applied Economics, Enugu, wants the government to adopt the approach of ensuring what it called coherence and synergy of policies between the federal and state governments. This, the Institute believes would help to facilitate the promotion of private sector growth and competitiveness across the tiers of government. The African Institute for Applied Economics (AIAE), incorporated by Guarantee in Nigeria in 2000, is a non-profit and non-partisan organisation devoted to economic policy research. The Institute facilitates policy advocacy, training networking and provides consulting services. The Institute in a statement recently, expressed joy that the government of Yar 'Adua had identified growing the private sector as a cardinal policy thrust. Noting that this policy thrust was underpinned by the Vision 2020 object of making Nigeria one of the largest 20 economies of the world by the year 2020, the Executive Director of the Institute, Prof. Eric Enoh in the release stressed that synergy of policies and institutions truly needs to be achieved within Nigeria's federal setting "which gives the states considerable fiscal, policy and administrative autonomy." He observed: "Given the federal setting and its peculiar complexities in Nigeria , the prospects of growing the private sector will largely depend on the extent to which policies and institutions for creating enabling environment for private sector are coordinated and harmonised across the tiers of government." And here, he buttressed that point that agencies, charged with inter-governmental coordination of policies and institutions, face enormous challenges and responsibilities in this regard. According to him, "To be able to fulfill this responsibility, the National Planning Commission requires reliable evidence on several state policies and institutions. Such evidence will provide insights on how Federal and state government policies and institutions interact to affect the operating environment for private enterprise. It can reveal the net impact of Federal and state government reform measures for providing the enabling environment for the growth of the private sector. "Also, the Central Bank of Nigeria needs reliable empirical information to gauge the impact of economic management policies and measures on private sector competitiveness and business conditions at the state level." Eboh thereafter stressed the need for greater attention to be paid at the sub-national (state and local governments) jurisdictions in order to achieve a more comprehensive and coherent approach to business environment reforms in the country. In this regard, he added, "Environment and Competitiveness Across Nigerian States (BECANS) was initiated by African Institute for Applied Economics (AIAE) in July 2003. It is an integrated research, survey and advocacy initiative designed to produce, benchmark and disseminate contemporaneous evidence on the business environment across states of the country. "BECANS is implemented in collaboration with key government agencies including the National Planning Commission, Central Bank of Nigeria, National Bureau of Statistics. Key collaborating private sector organisations include the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, National Association of Small and Medium Enterprises. Other collaborators are the Human Rights Law Services and Department of Economics, Federal University of Technology, Yola. He observed that prior to BECANS, there was no comprehensive nation-wide business environment assessment on state-by-state basis. "Rather, there were isolated surveys, studies and assessments, which were not benchmarked for comparisons over time and across the states. By benchmarking and evaluating business environment in the states, using scientifically validated indicators, methods and procedures, BECANS stands out as a historic exercise. "BECANS provides evidence base for policy monitoring and impact evaluation by the National Planning Commission, Central Bank of Nigeria, Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria. The BECANS programme constitutes a mechanism by which these Federal Government agencies obtain independent non-partisan and reliable evidence on the economies of the states. "The business environment reports will avail the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission facts and information about variations in operating environment across the country. Such state-specific information can be helpful in demonstrating investment climate success stories. Also, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria can utilise the state-disaggregated information in targeting interventions and promoting dialogue in respective states."
The Guardian. Wednesday, June 27, 2007 INSTITUTE TASKS GOVT ON ENABLING BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT Emeka Anuforo, Abuja FOR Nigeria to realize its target of being one of the top 20 economies of the world by the year 2020, the Federal Government has to create the required environment for business and investment to strive, according to the African Institute of Applied Economics, (AIAE). The Institute said in statement issued over the weekend that one way of achieving this is to ensure that federal measures to improve the business environment are extended to the states. The statement issued by Kobi Ikpo, Head, Corporate Affairs at the African Institute for Applied Economics, Enugu, noted, "Against the backdrop of President Yar' Adua's lofty target of making Nigeria one of the top 20 largest economies in the world by the year 2020, it has become essential that government seek definite ways to promote a good environment for business and investments so as to become globally competitive enough to attain this target. "One of such ways could be to ensure that federal-level measures to improve the business environment are corresponded with state-level reforms. This is because several existing bottlenecks to doing business in Nigeria are responsibilities which reside in the domain of state and local government. Examples of these bottlenecks are land registration, business locating and connection to public utilities, court procedures, tax and license administration, sanitation and safety, roads and transport infrastructure as well as security. All these are regulatory services administered at the state level." The statement added, "While NEEDS and SEEDS emphasize regulatory and administrative reforms to ease doing business or reduce the cost of doing business in Nigeria , there is need to move from adopting measures to taking action. We need therefore to focus on the state and local governments and their impact on the business environment." In this regard, he added, "Environment and Competitiveness across Nigerian States (BECANS) was initiated by African Institute for Applied Economics (AIAE) in July 2003 as an integrated research, survey and advocacy initiative designed to produce, benchmark and disseminate contemporaneous evidence on the business environment across states of the country. "BECANS is further justified by recent call by President Yar' Adua at the opening of International Conference on Financial System Strategy 2020 (FSS 2020) in Abuja . At the Conference, Mr. President called on stakeholders to proffer solutions to his administration's policy thrusts to ensure the realization of his year 2020 goal. AIAE further called on all Nigerians to support BECANS in order to break the vicious bottlenecks to doing business in Nigeria and therefore achieve the President's target. "BECANS is about unleashing the private sector energies, promoting enabling environment for productive and competitive entrepreneurship, growing the non-oil economy, creating jobs and reducing poverty. The BECANS approach is indeed novel and timely. So, let all stakeholders - government, private sector, civil society and international development partners support BECANS," the statement stressed.
BECANS WILL EASE DOING BUSINESS IN NIGERIA It is today imperative for countries to promote good environment for business and investments so as to be globally competitive, create jobs and reduce poverty in a sustainable manner. Good environment entails favourable macroeconomic and investment policies, efficient and transparent regulatory and administrative processes. While NEEDS and SEEDS emphasize regulatory and administrative reforms to ease doing business or reduce the cost of doing business in Nigeria, there is need to move from adopting measures to taking action. In this light, the Federal Executive Council recently approved the establishment of a Presidential Committee with a mandate to improve and ease the processes of doing business in Nigeria and engender a better investment climate in the country. Specifically, Nigeria targets to improve its 94th position out of 155 countries on the World Bank’s ease of doing business rating to about 30th position by 2010. This ambition would not be realized if federal-level measures to improve the business environment are not corresponded with state-level reforms. This is because several reported bottlenecks to doing business are responsibilities of state and local governments. Some of these are land registration, business locating and connection to public utilities, court procedures, tax and license administration, sanitation and safety, roads and transport infrastructure as well as security. Incidentally, Nigeria’s worst performance on the World Bank’s doing business indicators include “paying taxes”, “registering property” and “enforcing contracts” – all these are regulatory services administered at the state level. We need therefore to focus on the state and local governments and their impact on the business environment. This is why BECANS has come. BECANS works to remove bottlenecks to business at the state level through regular supply of empirical evidence to monitor business conditions. The BECANS state-level database on business environment serves policy makers, government technocrats, investors, entrepreneurs, business managers, researchers, policy activists, students and the general public. It establishes mechanisms to utilize the evidence for engagement and dialogue between state governments and the private sector. BECANS encourages a peer review system whereby states are assessed against one another on several agreed benchmarks and measures. This will promote information flow, experience sharing, mutual learning, understanding of best practices and stimulate reforms among states. Also, BECANS makes it possible for business conditions in a particular state to be directly assessed against that in another country, rather than comparing Nigeria (as one entity) to another country. With BECANS results, state-level private sector and civil society organizations become more confident and credible in evidence based advocacy for better business environment. AIAE calls on all Nigerians to support BECANS in order to break the vicious bottlenecks to doing business in Nigeria. BECANS is about unleashing the private sector energies, promoting enabling environment for productive and competitive entrepreneurship, growing the non-oil economy, creating jobs and reducing poverty. The BECANS approach is novel and timely. Now, let us point out what BECANS is not. BECANS is not a mere academic exercise. Though the methods are scientific and requires rigorous scrutiny, it is an action-oriented program. It produces data and statistics for current and future use. BECANS is not intended to pitch states against one another. It is not designed for any political end. It is about Nigerians and their businesses. It is about improving Nigeria’s business and investment prospects in a globalizing and increasingly competitive world. Though it could promote healthy competition between states, it has no political undertones. It will find out the aspects of the business environment where states are doing well, and where there is scope for improvement. This could become the bases for development assistance to the states. We are not unmindful that BECANS may be misconstrued as a ranking of states. In order to eliminate such misunderstanding of BECANS and ensure ownership and sustainability, the design and methods have been arrived at based on extensive consultations since 2004. The principles and methods are open and transparent, thereby bringing about buy-in from the broad spectrum of stakeholders. The National Workshop on State-Level Business Environment is also a good opportunity to build understanding, interest and support for BECANS and business environment reforms at the state level It will find out the aspects of the business environment where states are doing well, and where there is scope for improvement. It fits into the NEPAD African Peer Review Mechanism model. It coheres with the NEEDS and SEEDS framework of growing the economy by creating an enabling environment private sector growth and competitiveness. It aligns with the national objectives to reduce poverty, create wealth and employment and enhances Nigeria’s march to the poverty-related Millennium Development Goal. So, let all stakeholders – government, private sector, civil society and international development partners support BECANS. It addresses the needs of both government and non-state actors. Nigeria needs BECANS. It is indeed an idea whose time has come.
ThisDay. Tuesday, June 19, 2007. BECANS AND CHALLENGES OF BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT Ignatius Orisewezie The global competition has become a rat race akin to the postulate of Aristotle, the ancient Greek philosopher. He wrote in his Politics, that the inferiors revolt to be equal and equals, that they may be superior. In the same vein, the drive by countries to be reckoned with as key players in the global community has increased the concern about the conduciveness of their business environment to private investment and their relative global or regional standing. What makes a nation competitive is the ability of government to provide efficient and transparent public services on which businesses depend to thrive. Countries whose business climate is harsh and characterized by high costs and high perceived risks tend to suffer low efficiency in producing a wide range of goods and services that serve directly as intermediate inputs to production or that underpin the efficient operation of services. Conversely, countries with stable low-cost business climate are more likely to secure competitive edge in the world markets. Investment or business climate consists of physical infrastructure, utilities, financial markets, security and predicable public institutions. Together, these create the enabling environment for investment and business and thereby enhance opportunities and incentives for firms to invest productively, create jobs and expand in a sustainable manner. Thus, if the nation’s ambitious economic growth projection which the National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS) is targeting, is to be in any way realizable, if we are serious as a nation about the policy of making the private sector the engine of economic growth, and if Nigeria is to achieve her aspiration to become the largest and strongest African economy and a key player in the world economy by mid 21st century, it is imperative that we must do something urgently, with our environment of business, making it enabling for the private sector to operate profitably. Business environment is said to be friendly and enabling, when it is conducive for the private enterprises to operate productively, profitability and efficiently without hindrance. The Business Friendliness Index measures the overall conduciveness of the State to Business and Investments. It depicts the ability of the state to provide public goods to the investment community in the form of improving the ease of doing business through reliable infrastructure and utilities, efficient regulatory services, efficient public services, security and investment or business promotion. Where the business environment is friendly, the cost of business is low, enterprises operate profitably and sustain ably, and their ability to create jobs and retain the workers is high. On the contrary, where the business environment is unfriendly, such a country finds it difficult to achieve powerful externalities. And this affects the cost of production and market competitiveness. Consider for example, the kind of business environment where a firm has to generate its energy supply at this time when the cost of fuel is at roof-top. When such expenses on energy generation are added to the cost of production, the products of the firm obviously becomes uncompetitive. How enabling is the nation’s business environment? What is the investment outlook of individual Nigeria states? The answer to these question s shall be the focus of the two day stakeholders’ summit on business environment tagged: FOBEANS (Forum on Business Environment across Nigerian States), slated for August 21st -22nd 2007 at Transcorps Hilton Hotel, Abuja. At the Forum, there shall be a public presentation of the Business environment profile of each state of the federation. Over the years, the assessment and evaluation of the nation’s business climate is just a matter of aggregation which obviously obscured state-level variations in the business environment. Such national aggregations misrepresent our business environment to local and foreign investors. The product of such aggregation has little value for guiding state level reforms based on public private sectors dialogue. For example, the World Economic Forum Global/ Africa Competitiveness Report on Nigeria, World Bank Doing Business indicators do not capture sub-national evidence at the State and Local government levels, whereas the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, gave certain responsibilities to these tiers of government, the performance or otherwise of those functions have fundamental impact on the economic environment of the country. What this distortion entails, is a compelling need for greater attention to the sub-national (state and local governments) jurisdictions in business environment research in order to achieve business environment reforms in the country. It is in this regard that the African Institute of Applied Economics, Enugu initiated Business Environment and Competitiveness Across Nigerian States (BECANS) in July 2003 as a veritable platform for stimulating the states to strive for a better business environment. BECANS, a flagship programme of the African Institute of Applied Economics, is an integrated research, survey and advocacy initiative designed to produce benchmark and disseminate evidence-based study and report on the business environment across the entire country. BECANS is implemented in collaboration with key government agencies including the National Planning Commission, Central Bank of Nigeria, National Bureau of Statistics, key private sector organizations including the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria and National Association of Small and Medium Scale Enterprises among others. BECANS is premised on the fact that reforms by the federal and state governments should be supported by sound knowledge and credible evidence of business environment constraints. Such evidence based reports are required to provide, design and target reforms, monitor their implementation, review progress and evaluate impact on the private sector. As a matter of fact, it is in knowing your short comings that you are able to surmount them. Understanding the dynamics of a problem is as good as solving it by half. Before now, there have not been sufficient and coherent state-level evidence with respect to factors in inhibiting the ability of the private sector, on the basis of which civil society groups could engage constructively with state governments on how to remove the regulatory, administrative and policy bottle-necks to private enterprise. It is therefore a good thing that the African Institute of Applied Economics has taken up the challenge of providing the knowledge base for institutional reforms. As Margaret Head postulated, a small group of thoughtful citizens can change the world. The product of the over three years, BECANS research and stakeholders engagement is the Business Environment reports which is the state-by-state profile of conditions of the private enterprises. The report which will be presented on August 21st -22nd 2007 at Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja, shall highlight the major characteristics and trends of the private sector performances in each state, including the spatial and sectoral distribution of firms and their general outlook. The report will feature major developments in business environment reforms, the contextual analysis of state-level economic and investment policies, regulatory agencies and administrative processes affecting business, the policies and measures impacted on the business environment, their enforcement and the prevailing empiric situation faced by businesses. Indeed, the analysis will reveal the strengths and weaknesses of business environments in each state. For the states with good profile, it shall ginger them to do more and for those whose performances are poor, they will feel challenged to keep pace with the changing time. The BECANS Report in a nutshell, is a story on how each state stands in terms of Business friendliness Index, to wit, the extent to which the states have provided public goods to the investment community. They will be ranked according to their performances on the four benchmarks, namely, infrastructure and utilities, regulatory services, business and investment promotion and security. A word of caution – BECANS Report on Business Environment is not a political matter. It is expected to stimulate a healthy competition among states for the ultimate benefit of the citizens. It is hoped therefore, that it would stimulate Nigerian States into peer review, experience sharing and healthy competition for better business environment. As a matter of fact, competition is essential to nurture business environment for the growth of private enterprise and ultimately as a means of job creation and poverty reduction. The good thing about BECANS is that it is underpinned by sound methodology, strong government-private sector partnership and guaranteed use of its reports by key stakeholders at the state level.
Business Day. Thursday, June 14, 2007 HOW BECANS WILL BENEFIT NIGERIAN STATES Prof. Eric Eboh Across Nigeria, there is unanimity about the imperatives of reducing poverty, generating wealth and creating jobs. The key broad strategy for realizing these development objectives is the promotion of private sector-based economy by all tiers of government. One main element of the strategy is the provision of favourable business and investment environment. In recent years, the federal government has recorded progress in promoting private sector participation in the economy. This progress should be complemented by simultaneous progress at the state level, in line with the constitutional division of functions and responsibilities. State governments affect the business environment as much as the federal government. The constitutionally-assigned development functions of state governments have direct bearing on the operating environment for private enterprise and businesses. Tax administration, provision of public utilities, industrialization strategies and enterprise development incentives are examples of areas where state governments can nurture or hinder growth of the private sector. Moreover, as a result of improved fiscal profile, the potential for state governments to influence the business environment has grown since the return to democratic rule in 1999. Unlike the period before the return to democratic governance, states and local governments together now account for about 50% of consolidated public sector spending. Consequently, the states now have greater financial resources to promote enabling environment for private sector growth and competitiveness. While states may currently be heavily dependent on the federally generated oil revenue, the prospects of sustainable and viable state- level economies hinge critically upon progress in harnessing local resources to create wealth, generate jobs and improve internally generated revenue. Achieving the prospects entails growing the private sector, making it more dynamic, competitive and efficient. In order to promote performance and competitiveness of the private sector, the states must work to reduce the cost of business by improving infrastructure, eliminating the bottlenecks of administrative inefficiency and bureaucratic bottlenecks in regulatory services delivery and providing incentives for enterprise development. BECANS – Business Environment and Competitiveness across Nigerian States – was initiated to stimulate the development of private enterprise across the states through evidence-based policy, institutional and administrative reforms that improve the operating environment. The approach of BECANS is to partner with states in collecting, analyzing, documenting and disseminating information about investment and business conditions. These conditions are measured in terms of a set of indicators which are comparable across states. BECANS has identified four areas of benchmarking and evaluation. They are: infrastructure and utilities, legal and regulatory services, business support and investment promotion, security. Each of these benchmarks is broken down into measures which are in turn evaluated by a set of indicators. The benchmarking and evaluation is done by an independent non-partisan economic research think tank – the African Institute for Applied Economics (AIAE). The methodology and procedures are scientific, verifiable and empirical. AIAE is partnering with government agencies including the Central Bank of Nigeria, National Planning Commission and Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission and Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria. The private sector partners include the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, Nigerian Economic Summit Group and Nigerian Association of Small and Medium Enterprises and Human Rights Law Services. Over the past three years, BECANS has been working to develop model benchmarks and indicators for evaluating state-level business environment. The work has now produced the ground-breaking business environment ratings and assessments of Nigerian states. The ratings and reports will benefit Nigerian states in the following ways:
It is for these reasons that state governments should participate in the upcoming FORUM on Business Environment across Nigerian states, holding from August 21st -22nd 2007 at the Transcorp Hilton, Abuja. The forum tagged FOBEANS 2007 will feature the public presentation of and dialogue on the first-ever business environment ratings of Nigerian states. State government representatives will come from relevant Ministries and Departments including Justice, Land, Finance, Industry, Commerce and Planning Commissions/Board.
ThisDay Newspaper . Monday, June 11, 2007 HOW BECANS WILL BENEFIT NIGERIA As Nigeria clamours for private sector driven economy, promoting the growth of business across the states has become imperative and this is the center point of Business Environment Across Nigerian States (BECANS) programme, which explores ways to create business environment in every state, utilizing the states’ peculiar opportunities. The government of President Umaru Musa Yar’ Adua has identified growing the private sector as a cardinal policy thrust. This policy thrust is underpinned by the VISION 2020, which objective is to make Nigeria one of the largest 20 economies of the world by the year 2020. One key approach to realizing this vision is to ensure coherence and synergy of policies and institutions between the federal and state governments in promoting private sector growth and competitiveness across the tiers of government. Synergy of policies and institutions needs to be achieved within Nigeria’s federal setting which gives the states considerable fiscal, policy and administrative autonomy. Given the federal setting and its peculiar complexities in Nigeria, the prospects of growing the private sector will largely depend on the extent to which policies and institutions for creating enabling environment for private sector are coordinate and harmonized across the tiers of government. Agencies, charged with inter-governmental coordination of policies and institutions, such as the National Planning Commission faces huge challenges and responsibilities in this regard. To be able to fulfill this responsibility, the National Planning Commission requires reliable evidence on several state policies and institutions. Such evidence will provide insights on how federal and state government policies and institutions interact to affect the operating environment for private enterprise. It can reveal the net impact of federal land state government reform measures for providing the enabling environment for the growth of the private sector. Also, the Central Bank of Nigeria needs reliable empirical information to gauge the impact of economic management policies and measures on private sector competitiveness and business conditions at the state level. Prior to BECANS, there was no comprehensive nation-wide business environment assessment on state –by –state basis. Rather, there were isolated surveys, studies and assessments which were not benchmarked for comparisms over time and across the states. By benchmarking and evaluating business environment in the states, using scientifically validated indicators, methods and procedures, BECANS stands out as a historic exercise. BECANS will provide evidence base for policy monitoring and impact evaluation by the National Planning Commission, Central Bank of Nigeria, Nigeria Investment Promotion Commission, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria. The BECANS programme constitutes a mechanism by which these Federal Government agencies obtain independent non-partisan and reliable evidence on the economies of the states. The business environment reports will avail the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission facts and information about variations in operating environment across the country,. Such state specific information can be helpful in demonstration investment climate success stories. Also, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria can utilize the state-disaggregated information in targeting interventions and promoting dialogue in respective states.
Businessday. Thursday, May 31, 2007 CBN, AIAE, BECANS TO ANNOUNCE MOST BUSINESS FRIENDLY STATE Onyinye Nwachukwu, Abuja Nigerians will soon get to know the most busi-ness friendly state in the country as the African Institute for Applied Economics (AIAE), the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the National Planning Commission (NPC) release the result of a survey conducted in December 2006. The survey was conducted by Business Environment Competitiveness across Nigerian States (BECANS), and the result would be announced at the 2007 Forum on Business Environment Across Nigerian States (FOBEANS) in July. Eric Eboh, BECANS’ programme director, disclosed this yesterday in Abuja at the inauguration of an 11-man organising committee of the FOBEANS 2007. The committee comprises representatives from the CBN, the NPC, the private and public sectors of the economy as well as Business Day newspaper, which is the sole media partner for the programme. According to Eboh, the assessment of states was a response to the needs of a cross-section of business environment stakeholders for an independent, scientific evidence to guide investment decisions as well as public sector response to bottlenecks in the private sector. Eboh said: "It marks the first time in the history of Nigeria when business environment is benchmarked and evaluated to reflect existing constitutional division of responsibilities and functions across the federal and state governments." He said that the reports of the assessment being finalised would constitute the primary object of the 2nd BECANS forum comprising two dimensions: the business environment ratings of the states, measured by the overall business friendliness index, and the business environment reports on the states. Sarah Alade, deputy governor, economic policy, CBN, says the assessment constitutes the evidence tool for a more credible and effective advocacy by the private sector and civil society organisations as well as means for self appraisals and peer review among state governments. The inauguration proves CBN’s commitment to the course of the improving the business environment of the country especially informed by acceptance of the private sector as the engine of growth in the economy, according to Alade. BECANS, a flagship programme of business environment research and advocacy, was initiated by African Institute for Applied economics (AIAE) in 2003 as a tool for closing the knowledge gap and promotion evidence-based advocacy and dialogue on business environment reforms at the sub-national level. Its objectives include: provision of scientific investment climate assessments for state governments in order to assess strength, weaknesses as well as encourage self appraisal and mutual learning. Supply independent empirical information for inter-governmental economic planning, policy coordination and management to government agencies including the CBN, NPC, and Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission. International investors and business corporate organisation will also be armed with nationally domesticated investment climate reports and ratings to aid investment decisions. Moreover, it will provide international development partners with nationally domesticated business environment assessment to guide the frameworks for targeting programme designs and policy reforms at the state levels.
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