Nigeria reaffirms commitment to ease of doing business

The Nigerian government has condemned the discontinuation of the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business Report 2020.

Nigeria’s dissatisfaction followed the announcement by the World Bank that it has decided to discontinue the Doing Business report on the heels of the irregularities spotted in the data for China (DB 2018), as well as Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Azerbaijan (DB 2020) which are the countries affected by the irregularities.

According to the World Bank, the changes in the data for the aforementioned countries did not align with the Doing Business methodology, promising that a new methodology will be worked out to assess the business and investment climates of countries across the world.

Consequently, a statement released by the Presidency through the Office of the special adviser to the President on Ease of Doing Business and Presidential Enabling Business Environmental Council (PEBEC) secretary, Dr Jumoke Oduwole, stated that Nigeria was saddened by the anomalies that trailed the discontinued World Bank’s report just as she maintained that Nigeria would continue to improve its business environment.

She said: “Testimonials from our private sector remain the primary yardstick for success of the ease of doing business agenda in Nigeria. We are aware that manifold challenges remain, which private sector players’ face daily in the course of their interactions with some ministries, departments and agencies across the country. As such, we remain committed to our agenda of improving Nigeria’s business climate in its entirety.”