25 September 2013, Abuja – A three-year Business Leaders Perception Survey, BLPS, conducted by NOI Polls Limited has identified the most critical factors limiting Nigerian businesses as power, security, corruption and access to finance.
In addition, the survey conducted between 2009 and 2012, listed other factors that also makes it difficult for businesses to thrive in the country to include roads, water, multiple taxes and smuggling.
The report by the NOl Polls obtained yesterday, showed that the BLPS was conducted in collaboration with the DfID’s Nigeria Programme – Enhancing Nigerian Advocacy for a Better Business Environment (ENABLE).
According to the World Bank “Doing Business Report” 2013, Nigeria ranks 131st on the list of 185 countries in terms of ease of doing business. The report explained the ranking of economies on the basis of how easy it was to undertake business activities, from 1 – 183. A high ranking on the ease of doing business index means the regulatory environment is more conducive to start and operate a local business.
In view of this, the NOI Polls said it collaborated with the DfID/ENABLE in conducting series of BLPS in order to gauge the perceptions of Nigerian business leaders on the business environment.
It explained: “In order to explore the factors that affect the business environment and make business difficult, respondents were asked to indicate the factors that make doing business “very difficult”, “somewhat difficult”, “had room for improvement” or “was not a problem at all”.
“Findings revealed that the major factor that makes business difficult in Nigeria is power. This was consistent for all three years, however, the level of difficulty that power imposed on business decreased from 3.7 in 2009 to 3.4 in 2010 and increased to 3.5 in 2012.
“Corruption, which was another factor that was identified for imposing difficulty on businesses continued to rise as the years progressed. The level of difficulty it imposed on business increased greatly from 1.1 in 2009 to 2.6 in 2010 and to 3.2 in 2012.”
Furthermore, it showed that security and access to finance were other factors that made business difficult. According to the survey, while security increased from 2.4 in 2009 to 2.6 in 2010 and 3.2 in 2012, access to finance also increased from 2.5 in 2009 to 2.7 in 2010 to 3.1 in 2012.
Road was another factor that was identified as factor that imposed difficulty in business. The level of difficulty it imposed on the growth of business decreased in 2009 from 2.8 to 2.6 in 2010
and increased to 3.1 in 2012.
– This Day
