By CHARLES IWUOHA

The African Heritage Institute (Afri-Heritage) has urged state and local governments to take advantage of the Business Environment Competitiveness Across Nigerian States (BECANS-4) Survey to improve ease-of-doing-businesses within their areas.

The survey, which was carried out in the 36 states and the FCT, had four thematic pillars and 112 indicators on which data was collected, collated, analysed and recommendation made by a team of socio-economic academic experts across the country.

The Executive Director of Afri-Heritage, Prof. Ufo Okeke-Uzodike, made the call on Tuesday in Enugu during a press conference to announce the date for the official launch of the three-year painstaking BECANS-4 survey.

The BECAN-4 survey, which was done on a multi-sectoral and multi-stakeholders involvement basis, is sub-themed, “Transforming Nigerian Business Environment for Increased Investments, Economic Growth and Inclusive Developments”.

Okeke-Uzodike, who revealed that the survey would be unveiled on Thursday, Nov. 25, in Enugu, said that it contained business environment ranking that would assist states and local government areas to objectively ascertain how they are faring in terms of ease-of-doing-business.

According to him, the survey document will act as a means of peer review among states and council areas and help policy makers and executives to adjust to best business practices for the overall good of the citizenry and entire country.

He said that the survey also looked at underlying factors why some states are getting it right especially for those with good infrastructure and amenities to support businesses and fair tax policies among others.

“There are many noble objectives that the survey document will achieve, which include improving the business environment and ease-of-doing-business in states and council areas in the country as well as providing a platform for healthy competitiveness among states,” he said.

The executive director explained that BECAN-4 survey was delayed by the 2019 general election, COVID-19 in 2020 and unwillingness of government ministries, departments and agencies as well as functionaries to release public information within their domains.

He noted that the survey report also dealt with the question of whether or not micro, small and medium enterprises/businesses are able to access credits from the government to sustain themselves as the big businesses do.

“We want to enable businesses to understand the environment they are operating in and to have a document they can use to talk to the government when things are not working the way they should,” he said.

“To get our report, we visited all states across the country and the FCT where we got the data we needed from businesses, civil society organizations, government agencies and other relevant institutions both state and non-state actors,” he said.

The executive director said that the Nigerian Governors Forum and Gov. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State are expected to attend the launch of the BECANS-4 survey in Enugu.

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