Nigeria’s business environment is gradually improving as reforms, accountability measures and increased transparency begin to take effect, according to the Director General of the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council, Princess Zahrah Mustapha.
Speaking on ARISE News on Thursday, Princess Zahrah said progress was being made despite lingering challenges, describing the reforms as an ongoing process.
“I would say yes, it is getting easier. It’s a work in progress. It’s nowhere near perfect. But we are beginning to hold ourselves to be more accountable,” she said.
She linked the improvements to the recent release of two key reports by PEBEC, the Business Facilitation Act report and the subnational ease of doing business report, which assess the performance of federal ministries, departments and agencies as well as states.
“I would also mention that we released two reports. The BFA report, which is the Business Facilitation Act, which basically ranks our federal MDAs on their efficiency, transparency and performance as a whole. As well as the sub national report,” she said.
According to her, the reports are designed to strengthen accountability across government and provide a clearer picture of Nigeria’s business climate.
“But yes, I would say overall, we are becoming more accountable. We are trying to embed principles that would help improve the entire business climate ecosystem in Nigeria,” she added.
Explaining why the reports rely on multiple indicators, Princess Zahrah said the approach was deliberate to capture the full complexity of doing business in Nigeria.
“For us, because we try as much as possible to cover all the different factors of doing business in Nigeria, hence the multiple indicators,” she said. “Sometimes you might think they overlap, but every specific indicator is enough to highlight or further understand the peculiarities of the Nigerian business sector.”
She said local realities were carefully considered in compiling the reports.
“Every single indicator is put in there to show us or help explain the current situation within the business climate in Nigeria,” she said.
Princess Zahrah described the reports as a baseline tool for future reforms, noting that they were intended to guide policy actions rather than merely rank performance.
“For us with this report, it’s a baseline. We have to have metrics, we have to understand where we’re at, and we have to be able to build based on that,” she said.
She added that the reports identify areas of strength and weakness at both federal and subnational levels, stressing that PEBEC’s work goes beyond publishing reports, pointing to ongoing technical assistance provided to states and federal agencies.
“At the federal level, this is what we’re doing, this is what we need to do better. At the sub national level, these are the areas of concern,” she said.
“This is more than a report, it’s more than just rankings, it’s about how do we keep moving the needle,” she said.
Princes Zahrah said 2025 would serve as a benchmark year, with implementation of recommendations expected to intensify in 2026.
“So if we take this 2025 as a baseline, we’re hoping to start actively from the beginning of 2026 implementing some of the recommendations, and hopefully by the time we’re doing the report for 2026, we should have moved the needle, and there will be tangible benefits for businesses,” she said.
On insecurity and its effect on business rankings, she acknowledged its impact but said it was not directly used as a core metric, explaining that states grappling with insecurity often struggle to prioritise business reforms.
“If you go through the indicators, you will see that security is clearly one of them,” she said. “States that have internal security issues will obviously have different priorities from states that are more stable security wise. So of course, there will be impact.
You would find that state governors who are grappling with security challenges will probably have less time to focus on their business policies that would enhance the entire business climate in their state,” she said.
Highlighting why some states performed better than others, Princess Mustapha pointed to digitalisation and automation as key drivers.
“The majority of the states that have excelled is simply because they have started to digitalize and automate their systems and basically streamline processes, making it a lot easier to do business in those states,” she said.
Using Lagos as an example, she cited automated land registration, tax systems and online payment platforms as contributing factors, refrencing the role of legal infrastructure.
“One of the key reasons why Lagos is at the top is simply the digitalization and automation of the services,” she said.
“They’re probably one of the only states who have a functional commercial court at the moment, which is very important when you talk about business,” she said.
Princess Zahrah explained why PEBEC avoids publishing a bottom ten ranking of states, saying the aim was collaboration rather than public criticism, warning that naming and shaming could undermine cooperation.
“Our job is not to discredit any state, which is why we’ve not published any particular list, let’s say bottom 10,” she said.
“If it becomes a name and shame game, then in some cases it could degenerate into a situation where it’s very difficult to even communicate, and that’s not the end goal,” she said.
Looking ahead, she said PEBEC’s focus in 2026 would include working with states to complete World Bank supported programmes and addressing gaps identified in the reports.
She also highlighted efforts to automate reporting systems and improve transparency.
“We’ve automated the entire service in terms of reporting,” she said. “It’s not just about releasing reports or ranking or naming and shaming. It’s more about fixing the system.”
Princess Mustapha said the ultimate objective was to build a transparent, efficient and functional business environment across all states.
“The end goal is to have a fully functional, efficient, and transparent system,” she said.
Faridah Abdulkadiri
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