By Oluyinka Akintunde and Kingsley Ighomwenghian, Abuja



Nigeria has again failed to meet the criteria used in determining where investors put their money, despite the reforms in the economy in the past three years.

A new report by the World Bank and its private sector arm, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), ranked Nigeria (for the second successive year), 108th out of 178 countries assessed on "Ease of Doing Business".

The country was 109th in 2005, and 108th in 2006, out of 175 countries graded. The new report, "Doing Business 2008", will officially be launched today in Washington.

It disclosed that Nigeria did not make the list of the top 30 economies that took reforms seriously, unlike last year when it was named among the top 25 reformers.

Doing Business 2008 is the fifth in a series of annual reports investigating the regulations that enhance or constrain business.

Regulations affecting 10 stages of a business' life are measured, such as: starting a business, dealing with licences, employing workers, registering property, getting credit, protecting investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts, and closing a business.

Although Nigeria made progress in some of the criteria, it did not meet the minimum requirement for economies seeking investors and foreign investments.

It ranked 80th out of 178 in the area of starting up a business. The report noted that it takes nine procedures and 34 days to start a business in Nigeria, unlike the 43 days reported in the Doing Business 2007, which was released last year.

Out of 178 economies, Nigeria came 161st in the area of dealing with licences, 173rd (registering property), 84th (getting credit), 51st (protecting investors), 107th (paying taxes), 138th (trading across borders), 30th (employing workers), 93rd (enforcing contracts), and 89 (closing business).

In 2006, Nigeria ranked 129th in dealing with licences, 170th (registering property), 83rd (getting credit), 46th (protecting investors), 105th (paying taxes), and 137th (trading across borders).

The latest report stated that the cost of starting a business in Nigeria has risen to 56.6 per cent from 43.3 per cent in 2005 and 54.4 per cent in 2006.

It said firms go through 39 processes and 457 days to enforce a contract. On trading across the borders, the report disclosed that it requires 10 documents and 26 days to export, and nine documents and 46 days to import.

The cost of exporting a container in Nigeria is estimated at $1,026 while it costs $1,047 to import one.

Egypt leads the list of top 10 African reformers that make it easy to do business. The report said: "Egypt greatly improved its position in the global rankings on the ease of doing business, with reforms in five of the 10 areas studied by the report. (It) made starting a business easier, slashing the minimum capital requirement from 50,000 Egyptian pounds to 1,000 and halving start-up time and cost. Fees for registering property were reduced from 3 per cent of the property value to a low fixed fee.

"With more properties registered and less evasion, revenue from title registrations jumped by 39 per cent in the six months after the reform. New one-stop shops were launched for traders at the ports, cutting the time to import by seven days and the time to export by five".

Others among the 10 reformers are Croatia, Ghana, Macedonia, Georgia, Colombia, Saudi Arabia, Kenya, China, and Bulgaria.

"In Africa, the pacesetters are Ghana and Kenya. Reform elsewhere in the region was uneven, with nearly half the countries not reforming at all. Also leading reform in southern Africa were Madagascar and Mozambique.

"In West Africa, little reform took place other than in Ghana and Burkina Faso. Reform in the Middle East and North Africa is picking up speed, led by Egypt , Saudi Arabia , and Tunisia".

Overall, Singapore came out tops on the ease of doing business in 2007, as was the case last year.