LAGOS, Nigeria (VOICE OF NAIJA)– The Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) has released the second edition of the Subnational Ease of Doing Business Report for 2023 with Gombe State leading the 36 States and the Federal Capital Territory.
This is the second time Gombe will rank first position having emerged the overall best last year when PEBEC released the 2022 Ease of Doing Business report.
Gombe, also known as the Jewel of the Savannah, came top as the State with the most business-friendly environment with a weighted score of 7.15. Jigawa State 6.79, which is in second place, also followed by Sokoto State in third place 6.88.
A breakdown of the report by geopolitical zones shows that Plateau State (5.8) topped the states in North Central; with Gombe State (7.15) topping the states in North East; Jigawa State (6.88) topping North West; Anambra State (6.19) first among the states in the South East; Rivers State (5.76) on top of South South; and Ekiti State (5.79) on top of South West.
Since 2017, the PEBEC has been implementing reforms aimed at removing bureaucratic constraints to doing business and to make Nigeria a progressively easier place to do business.
The 2023 Subnational Ease of Doing Business Report builds on the inaugural Subnational EoDB Baseline Report released in March 2021 and improves it in several areas, including deepening of the methodology and enhancing the statistical significance of the survey.
It highlighted improvements made since the release of the last report in March 2021 and identifies the challenges that remain to be met, as well as the reforms that need to be implemented to make the business environment more conducive for businesses and investors.