Toxic business environment

•NECA seeks a rethink of ease- of- doing- business template

The out-going Director-General of Nigerian Employers Consultative Association (NECA), Olusegun Oshinowo, has called on the government to take the matter of easing the environment for functioning of the private sector with more seriousness. The call is not only in respect of polices but also with respect to provision of enabling infrastructure.

NECA is a reputable stakeholder in efforts to nurture the country’s private sector. For decades, it has served as a non-governmental provider and booster of capacity of youth, women, and workers. Its views thus deserve to be given attention by government and other stakeholders, particularly because it is an organization that should know when the environment of business is threatened in the country.

The issue of the imperative of government to promote the private sector for the purpose of strengthening the economy has been on the drawing board for quite a while. Even though this problem has been cast in an international business phraseology, ‘ease of doing business’ through laws and government actions that can improve the chances of the private sector to improve the economy and provide jobs for citizens, the outcome is the same: proper synergy between government and the private sector to grow the country’s economy and provide employment for its citizens.

For example, between 2008 and 2018, the average ranking of Nigeria in the table of efforts to encourage the private sector has been 145.09 out of 190 economies. When the current government assumed power in 2015, the country was at its worst ranking of 170 out of 190 economies. The new government in 2016 rightly recognized the imperative to do better in this respect, by creating the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) under the chairmanship of Vice President YemiOsinbajo. PEBEC was designed to reform the business environment among other obligations. It is, therefore, remarkable that in the last three years, the country’s rank has improved considerably from 170 in 2015 to 146 in 2018.

Despite this progress, NECA’s observations about failure of government to nurture business as it is done in other countries in a global economy are on the mark. Even PresidentMuhammaduBuhari himself, in his response to Nigeria’s failure to sign the African Common Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA), cited Nigeria’s lack of competitiveness as the main reason. This is a recognition from the first person to know that the environment for business in the country is far from what it ought to be.

It is, therefore, logical that in addition to ongoing efforts by PEBEC, other government agencies ought to recognize their duty as enablers of business for the overall good of the country. Government at all levels should routinely engage members of the organized private sector (OPS) as fellow-stakeholders in the development of the nation through establishment and sustenance of a virile and agile private sector.The importance of regular consultation between government and the private sector on ways to improve the business environment is an ideology that is common to all the leading economies: the European Union, the United States of America, China, the Asian Tigers, Brazil and South Africa, all of which are far ahead of Nigeria on the list of countries whose governments care for the growth of the private sector as an agent of economic development.

We urge the government to take advantage of the convergence between the observations of NECA and President Buhari on the need for raising the level of competitiveness of the country’s producers of goods and services. It may be salutary for government to reduce the number and cost of registration of business, but it is meaningless if the environment in which such companies function remains toxic.

Ensuring effective maintenance of infrastructure, such as roads, ports, and reliable supply of electricity,is crucial to a sustainable private sector.‘The Apapa Gridlock and Agbara Nightmare’ and others like these in many parts of the country are immediate problems for the government to address, just as the lack of adequate supply of electricity is a daily threat to producers of goods and services.There is no better way for the private sector to thrive in the country for the benefit of all citizens than for the government and the private sector to think, plan, and work together at all times.