Challenges of doing business in Nigeria are many and these problems affect the growth of the economy of Nigeria as well as making it difficult for investors to invest in Nigeria. The major problems of doing business in Nigeria include:
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Problem of Unstable Power is the most important challenge of doing business in Nigeria
This will increase the cost of production in a country where the minimum wage is nothing to talk about. Vitafoam said it is easier and more profitable for them to produce outside Nigeria and import their mattress into the country than producing here. Telecommunication networks spend millions in powering their generators just to ensure constant network. When power becomes stable in Nigeria, there will be a major boost to the economy.
Challenge of Insecurity
There is no investor who would want to put in millions of dollars in a country where Kidnapping, Robbery, Terrorists and Religious extremism is on the increase with the security officials having a total disregard for the law.
Very Poor Road Network
When you are traveling in Nigeria, you will keep praying because that is what We Africans believe in so much. We will not do what is right and hope on God to do it for us. I recently travelled to Akwa Ibom from Plateau State and some places have roads as if we were in a gutter or as if we were travelling in a remote village but that is a highway, a federal road that is as good as none. How can you produce products and transport them across the country with such road networks? Some of the big vehicles such as trucks often have accidents and fall due to these poor roads.
Poor Transport system
Transporting goods from one state to another in bulk can be very high. You will spend hundreds of thousands of naira just to transport a truck of yams and people cannot afford it when you decide to sell at a price that will help you to recover your expenses. This cannot encourage any entrepreneur to start a business in Nigeria.
Corruption and lack of respect for the rule of law
This is very common that people see it as normal to an extend that they demand for it with boldness. I recently caught a thief trying to steal from my compound and when I took him to the police station, they were demanding for money for bringing him to the station. The asked me to pay for transporting the thief to the next police station because they cannot handle the case in the smaller station; at the bigger station, I was asked to pay to transport the thief to the court; I got fade up and I left them with the thief there. They were not ready to do what they are paid to do but were willing to collect my money. In some offices, you cannot win a contract based on competence unless you pay your way; in fact even when you are due for promotion, you cannot be promoted unless you pay your way. There are many of these instances of corruption in Nigeria that has become a norm to many.
Poor Government Policies
The Central bank of Nigeria (CBN) gave an order that you must have a Permanent National ID Card or Voters card or International Passport or Drivers license before you are allowed to open a Domiciliary Account in Nigeria. When you register for a National ID card, it will take more than 4 years for you to receive the permanent one. I did mine in 2014 but it is still not ready as I write this. The CBN knows of this delayance in obtaining National ID Card but still insist in using the permanent ID card for opening a domiciliary account. If you were doing any business internationally, it means you have to halt it till after 4 years pending when you obtain the ID Card. This is just one aspect of poor government policies I am talking about. There are many others again.
Inefficient and Poor attitude to Work and Supervision
If you have not experience this, then it means you have not sought for something important in government agencies and offices where civil servants have carefree attitude to work. A civil servant only comes to work when he wants, and leaves at any time. When you go to offices for something important, you are told the person is not on seat, or he travelled or no one will even talk to you. It happens in schools, in agencies and many others. This is the reason why government owned schools or businesses are far behind private owned institutions. No one supervises and no one cares whether something works or not; they are just after their monthly salaries and only know of strike and strike.
There are many other challenges of doing business in Nigeria but these few when addressed will contribute to growth of the Nigeria Economy.