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Highlights of the 60-Day National Action Plan on Ease of Doing Business in Nigeria

  1. Starting a Business;

  2. Construction Permits;

  3. Getting Electricity;

  4. Registering Property;

  5. Getting Credit;

  6. Paying Taxes;

  7. Trading Across Borders; and

  8. Entry and Exit of People 

The EBES identified six (6) broad challenges affecting ease of doing business in Nigeria, all of which are to be frontally dealt with, within the 60 days implementation timeframe. The challenges were stated to include the following:

  • Starting a business in Nigeria can be difficult, requiring two (2) times as many procedures and three (3) times the amount of time as in developed economies;

  • Obtaining construction permits in Nigeria involves manual submission of several documentations, higher fees and longer procedures than most countries;

  • Registering property in Nigeria requires two (2) times the cost and number of procedures, and three (3) times the amount of time as in leading countries;

  • Whilst the strength of legal rights to credit in Nigeria is admirable, the country's Collateral Registry is under-utilized and Credit Bureau coverage is below average;

  • Exporting from Nigeria can require almost ten (10) times the amount of time and five (5) times the cost as leading nations, with similar gaps for importing;

  • Visiting and working in Nigeria - from getting travel documentation to using Nigeria’s international airports - are not up to par with similar economies and leading countries.

THE INITIATIVES

To address the challenges stated above, different arms of government particularly the Legislature and specific MDAs formed alliances and formulated initiatives which are targeted towards streamlining processes as well as cost (in terms of fees and time) of doing business in Nigeria. These stakeholders include the Corporate Affairs Commission (“CAC”); Lagos State Government (“LASG”), the Kano State Government, the National Assembly (“NASS”); CBN; Federal Inland Revenue Service (“FIRS”); Nigeria Customs Service (“NCS”); Nigerian Ports Authority (“NPA”); Nigeria Immigration Service (“NIS”); Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (“FAAN”) and; the Federal Ministry of Finance (“FMF”).

On Starting a Business

The following reforms are being implemented by the CAC with the cooperation of the FIRS:

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