Economy

Ease of Doing Business: Nigeria Eyes Sub-100 Ranking in 2020

Published

7 years ago

17/01/2019

By Dipo Olowookere

The Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) has announced a goal to move Nigeria into the top-100 on the 2020 World Bank Doing Business Index (DBI). This was made known at the 10th Presidential Quarterly Business Forum which held in Abuja this week.

The forum was attended by leading members of the organised private sector and other key stakeholders; and had seven Ministers, including Industry, Trade & Investment, Finance, Budget & National Planning and Power, Works and Housing present to share detailed progress reports with representatives.

The DBI is an annual ranking that objectively assesses prevailing business climate conditions across 190 countries based on 10 Ease of Doing Business (EoDB) indicators.

The index offers comparative insights based on private sector validation of reforms delivered in the two largest commercial cities in countries with a population higher than 100 million, and the report consequently features Lagos and Kano states for Nigeria.

The World Bank has reported an improvement in Nigeria’s Distance to Frontier (DTF) score by more than 11 basis points over the past 3 years. This means that Nigeria has improved its business regulations as captured by the doing business indicators, and is narrowing the gap with global regulatory best practice. This success has been driven by the implementation of over 140 reforms by PEBEC over the period, which also resulted in the country moving up 24 places in the rankings.

Speaking on the sub-100 target, Dr. Jumoke Oduwole, the Secretary of the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) and Senior Special Assistant to the President on Industry, Trade & Investment, said “We know it is bold, but we are quite clear on what our mandate is and are motivated by the impact we know these reforms will have on the lives of Nigerians”.

Since its establishment in 2016, PEBEC in collaboration with MDAs and other public and private sector partners has systematically worked to remove bureaucratic bottlenecks faced by businesses in Nigeria.

PEBEC is chaired by the Vice President Prof. Yemi Osinbajo with the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment as Vice Chair. The council has nine other ministers, Head of Civil Service of the Federation, Governor of CBN and representatives from the National Assembly and private sector as members.

It has focused on reducing the time, cost and procedures of doing business, and some of its successful reforms include the ability of stakeholders to reserve a business name within 4-hours and complete the registration of a company within 24 hours online; apply for and receive approval of a visa-on-arrival electronically within 48hrs; file and pay all federal taxes online; and access specialised small claims commercial courts in Lagos and Kano States, to mention a few. The World Bank also reported in 2018 that 32 states improved in their EoDB environment led by Kaduna, Enugu, Abia, Lagos and Anambra.

Dr Oduwole stated further “This year, we intend to strengthen the collaboration with MDAs and partners to consolidate and build on the work done. We will be pursuing the implementation of much-needed legislative reforms, specifically the passage of the CAMA and Omnibus Bills; the expansion of the regulatory reform program started with NAFDAC and NAICOM to include other regulators; the establishment of a National Trading Platform for ports; and the concession of our major international airports. We will also continue to cascade the EoDB initiatives down to the sub-national level working with the state governments, and will release the first sub-national survey report in April 2019”.

“We remain firm in our conviction of the immediate and long-term benefits of the PEBEC reforms. We have put in place frameworks for improved communication and engagement between government stakeholders and private sector players, as we intend to ensure the reforms are validated to enable us achieve our sub-100 place in the rankings” she said.

Economy

FrieslandCampina Wamco, MRS Oil Buoy NASD Exchange by 0.91%

Published

22 minutes ago

04/06/2026

Adedapo Adesanya

By Adedapo Adesanya

The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange extended its gains by 0.91 per cent on Wednesday, June 3, spurred by three price gainers led by FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc, which rose by N13.90 to sell N210.41 per share versus the previous day’s N196.51 per share. MRS Oil appreciated by N10 to N190.00 per unit from N180.00 per unit, and Food Concepts Plc added 5 Kobo to sell at N3.00 per share versus N2.95 per share.

As a result, the market capitalisation increased by N23.91 billion to N2.660 trillion from N2.636 trillion, and the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) gained 39.97 points to finish at 4,446.27 points, in contrast to Tuesday’s 4,406.30 points.

The NASD exchange witnessed three price losers at midweek, led by Nipco Plc, which shrank by N21.30 to close at N325.97 per unit compared with the previous session’s N347.27 per unit, Nitrox Industrial Gases Plc went down by N1.20 to quote at N24.30 per share versus the preceding session’s N25.50 per share, and Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc weakened to by 69 Kobo to N75.41 per unit from N76.10 per unit.

The volume of trades yesterday significantly improved by 71.5 per cent to 527,221 units from Tuesday’s 307,363 units, as the value of transactions soared by 49.9 per cent to N64.2 million from the preceding session’s N49.9 million, and the number of deals surged by 9.5 per cent to 46 deals from 42 deals.

When trading activities ended for the day, Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc remained the most active stock by value on a year-to-date basis with 3.4 billion units valued at N8.4 billion, followed by Infrastructure Credit Guarantee (Infracredit) Plc with 2.3 billion units worth N6.5 billion, and CSCS Plc with 64.6 million units exchanged for N4.4 billion.

GNI Plc also ended the session as the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis with 3.4 billion units sold for N8.4 billion, followed by Infracredit Plc with 2.3 billion units traded for N6.5 billion, and Resourcery Plc with 1.1 billion units transacted for N415.7 million.

Economy

Naira Continues Positive Run, Official Market Rate Now N1,357/$1

Published

2 hours ago

04/06/2026

Adedapo Adesanya

By Adedapo Adesanya

The positive run of the Naira against the US Dollar in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) continued on Wednesday, June 3, with the former chalking up N3.79 or 0.28 per cent against the latter, closing at N1,357.26, in contrast to the preceding session’s N1,361.05/$1.

Similarly, the Nigerian currency gained N10.52 against the Pound Sterling in the official market during the session to close at N1,822.67/£1 compared with the previous rate of N1,833.19/£1, and appreciated against the Euro by N9.56 to N1,574.83/€1 from N1,584.39/€1.

Further, at the black market, the Naira improved its value against the greenback at midweek by N5 to trade at N1,375/$1 compared with the N1,380/$1 it was traded a day earlier, and at the GTBank FX counter, it gained N6 to sell for N1,372/$1 versus N1,378/$1.

The boost came as the country’s external reserves continued to gain momentum. A look at the updated data from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) showed that foreign reserves continue to increase with two consecutive inflows in June 2026, settling at $49.876 billion as of Tuesday.

Foreign portfolio investors, exporters and non-bank corporates continue to keep the supply side strong, with the less aggressive FX interventions by the CBN at the official window in recent times helping to ease worries about capital flight.

The apex bank reported that interbank FX turnover declined to $133.731 million across 136 deals, from $169.822 million the previous day.

Meanwhile, the cryptocurrency market remained bearish due to sell-offs triggered by geopolitical uncertainties and the US stock market rally.

Cardano (ADA) dipped by 5.5 per cent to $0.2046, Binance Coin (BNB) slumped by 4.8 per cent to $627.56, Solana (SOL) shrank by 3.9 per cent to $72.99, Ethereum (ETH) depreciated by 2.9 per cent to $1,844.53, and Bitcoin (BTC) slipped by 2.7 per cent to $65,675.87.

Further, Dogecoin (DOGE) depleted by 1.4 per cent to $0.0928, Ripple (XRP) declined by 0.7 per cent to $1.21, and TRON (TRX) lost 0.4 per cent to sell at $0.3336, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) gained 0.01 each to settle at $0.9986 and $0.9997, respectively.

Economy

Customs Street Bleeds 1.44% as Lafarge Africa Leads Losers’ Chart

Published

2 hours ago

04/06/2026

Dipo Olowookere

By Dipo Olowookere

Nigeria’s stock market further depleted by 1.44 per cent on Wednesday following panic sell-offs by investors, who are cutting down their exposure to local equities.

Business Post observed that profit-taking dominated Customs Street at midweek, with all the key sectors of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited closing in red.

The insurance space shed 2.76 per cent, the industrial goods index lost 1.55 per cent, the banking counter declined by 1.53 per cent, the consumer goods segment shrank by 0.28 per cent, and the energy sector weakened by 0.05 per cent.

As a result, the All-Share Index (ASI) contracted by 3,554.05 points to 243,132.61 points from 246,686.66 points, and the market capitalisation moderated by N2.279 trillion to N155.940 trillion from N158.219 trillion.

Lafarge Africa led the losers’ chart yesterday after it gave up 9.97 per cent to trade at N307.90, Zichis lost 9.82 per cent to close at N29.20, Learn Africa depreciated by 9.80 per cent to N11.50, John Holt crashed by 9.80 per cent to N13.80, and Consolidated Hallmark dipped by 8.84 per cent to N6.19.

On the flip side, Abbey Mortgage Bank topped the gainers’ log after it grew by 9.93 per cent to N7.75, International Energy Insurance appreciated by 9.89 per cent to N6.00, Tripple G gained 9.80 per cent to sell for N4.37, Universal Insurance expanded by 8.91 per cent to N1.10, and Royal Exchange improved by 7.14 per cent to N1.50.

A total of 17 stocks gained weight yesterday, while 43 stocks lost weight, indicating a negative market breadth index and weak investor sentiment. This has been the mood of the market since the beginning of this week.

Market participants transacted 923.0 million shares worth N42.3 billion in 69,332 deals on Wednesday, in contrast to the 718.8 million shares valued at N29.3 billion traded in 71,683 deals on Tuesday, representing a drop in the number of deals by 3.28 per cent, and a rise in the trading volume and value by 28.41 per cent and 44.37 per cent, respectively.

Sterling Holdings led the activity chart with 264.6 million units valued at N2.1 billion, Access Holdings traded 76.7 million units worth N1.8 billion, Linkage Assurance exchanged 55.1 million units for N99.2 million, VFD Group sold 35.5 million units worth N378.8 million, and Ellah Lakes transacted 33.1 million units valued at N334.3 million.