Nigeria Remains One Of The Worst Places In The World To Do Business – World Bank

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Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy, has long been touted as one of the continent’s most promising business hubs.
In the first quarter of 2015, foreign direct investment inflow surpassed $700 million and even though investor confidence is shaky given the uncertainty during and since the 2015 elections, things are expected to pick up once a clear economic direction is put in place by President Buhari.
But despite offering so many opportunities, Nigeria remains one of the worst countries to do business, as data from the World Bank Doing Business report shows. The report ranks Nigeria 169 out of the 189 in consideration—essentially unmoved from last year’s 170 rank. Nigeria ranked 39th among the listed African countries.
The report measures the ease of doing business along various parameters such as paying taxes, ease of obtaining construction permits, getting electricity, enforcing contracts, registering property, trading across borders and getting credit.

While Nigeria has strengthened minority investor protection, where it ranks 20 out of the 189 countries, it still has numerous problems to contend with. Starting a business is a cumbersome process with inefficient business registration processes and new businesses are often tied up in layers of government bureaucracy with many resorting to third party agents to help facilitate the process of registering a business. Accessing credit and getting electricity also remain low-scoring parameters in the World Bank report and it does not much better in Africa’s other top economies.
Ranking of Africa’s top ten economies for ease of doing business
Country                                                                               Global ranking
Nigeria                                                                                            169
South Africa                                                                                    73
Egypt                                                                                                131
Algeria                                                                                             163
Angola                                                                                              181
Morocco                                                                                            75
Libya                                                                                                188
Sudan                                                                                               159
Kenya                                                                                               108
Ethiopia                                                                                           146
Data: World Bank
Overall, Mauritius, which is often promoted as a tax haven, is the highest ranked African nation (32) with good ratings on enforcing contracts and paying taxes.
Highest ranked African countries for ease of doing business
Country                                                                                                 Global ranking
Mauritius                                                                                                        32
Rwanda                                                                                                           62
Botswana                                                                                                        72
South Africa                                                                                                   73
Tunisia                                                                                                            74
Morocco                                                                                                         75
Seychelles                                                                                                      95
Zambia                                                                                                           97
Namibia                                                                                                        101
Swaziland                                                                                                    105
Data: World Bank