Despite their fighting spirit against all odds to stay afloat, Nigerian entrepreneurs are still bugged down by all manner of setbacks that hinder their toil and breakthrough in business. The Organised Private Sector (OPS) has consistently pointed the lapses. In Lagos State, for example, the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has over the years been pointing out the difficulties posed to the business community nationwide by decrepit infrastructure, stress associated with sourcing funds, policy inconsistency and somersaults, legal strictures, corruption, insecurity, weak institutions, and so forth. Take access roads to the ports as one case in point. In its ‘Economic & Business Review in 2015 and Perspectives for 2016’, LCCI expressed concern over the deplorable state of roads leading to Apapa and Tincan Island ports in Lagos.
“These ports account for over 60% of the cargo into the country and an estimated 70% of customs revenue. The poor state of the roads has multifarious effects on the private sector, economy and the citizenry. Some of these effects are as follows:
(1) Risk to the lives of citizens arising from containers falling off the trucks as a result of bad roads. Several lives have been lost in recent past as a result of this.
(2) Congestion at the ports resulting from the delay in the evacuation of cargo.
(3) High demurrage paid by importers to Terminal Operators and Shipping Companies as a result of delay in the clearance and evacuation of cargo in the ports.
(4) High cost of transportation for evacuating cargo because of the prolonged engagement of the trucks by importers arising from the delays.
(5) Serious traffic congestion along the roads leading to the ports, which often spill over into the Lagos Metropolis causing severe traffic jam and loss of man hours.
(6) Delays in getting raw materials and other inputs from the ports to the factory premises in Lagos and other parts of the country”, the body stated.
Through the year, according to LCCI, Nigeria drifted into economic and financial crisis following series of adverse developments in the international and domestic oil market, leading to several, panic stricken gate-keeping measures by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
“Since the crisis was a supply-side issue occasioned by the moribund international oil price and weak productive capacity, the demand approach through capital control further reduced liquidity in the system (affecting business operations, credit worthiness and image, increased inflation rate, reduced profit margin)”, the body stated.
When the year 2016 set in, LCCI identified three major economic drivers as frontiers of what it called ‘the expected boom in 2016’.
“First, the successful political transition in the country… Second, the curbing of fiscal leakages through the TSA (Treasury Single Account) … Lastly, the diversification strategy adopted by the government through import substitution and export promotion which aims at increasing and broadening income stream of the economy”, the report said. It is sad to point out, however, that less than three months to the end of 2016, the reality on ground largely reflects a weak national productive capacity, increased inflation rate and reduced profit margin for virtually all businesses in the land, all of which sustain widespread unemployment, dehumanizing poverty and suffering.
President Muhammadu Buhari, when he visited Kenya recently, said Nigeria would be one of the most attractive and easiest places of doing business in the world by 2019. The President said his administration was implementing policies and measures to create right and enabling environment for business and investors in Nigeria. As at the time he was speaking in Kenya, Nigeria had been ranked 169 out of 189 countries by the World Bank’s 2016 Ease of Doing Business report.
Recall that from its 134th position in 2010, the country plummeted further to 137th in the 2011, according to World Bank Ease of Doing Business report. Economies are ranked from 1 – 183, while a high ranking on the index means the regulatory environment is more conducive to the starting and operation of business outfits. A nation’s ranking on the index is based on the average of 10 sub indices namely: Starting a business; Dealing with construction permits; Employing workers; Registering property; Getting credit; Protecting investors; Paying taxes; Trade across borders; Enforcing contracts; Closing a business.
How easy nations make businesses thrive, based on these sub indices, determines their ranking on the WBEDBI. From the look of things, no tangible job has been done on improving the Ease of Doing Business in Nigeria. Mr. President and his team should be at home with this truth and buckle up.
