The World Bank recently tips Ghana above Nigeria when it comes to the EASE OF DOING BUSINESS. They were ranked 118 out of 190 in the world, while Nigeria was ranked 131 in the 2019 World Bank annual ratings of countries with ease of doing business.

One key factor responsible for this ranking is the epileptic power supply in Nigeria, which has affected many businesses’ overhead costs as a result of providing alternative power supply for production or operation. In 2006, Michelin and Dunlop, two tire manufacturing companies relocated to Ghana, citing epileptic power supply as the major factor for the move.

55 percent of Nigeria’s population have little or no access to power supply compared to Ghana where about 85 percent of the citizenry have access to the power supply. On average, Ghana experiences a relatively stable power supply. A possible reason why some of these companies moved to Ghana.

International Centre For Investigation Reporting (ICIR) revealed that the power supply in Nigeria averaged 11 hours daily with some places having as low as 4 hours in September 2018. Tell me, what company can function effectively while aiming to maximize profits with such a poor power supply?

Second, Nigeria has a very unreliable business policy. Oftentimes, policies are made and changed at will without proper research as to its effects on the economy. For instance, during the present administration, the country’s borders were closed without proper feasibility studies to determine its effectiveness nor were provisions made to combat the negative effects of this ban.

Today, a lot of manufacturing companies that rely heavily on the importation of raw materials from neighbouring countries have been roughly affected with some shutting down permanently.

Ghana, on the other hand, is aiming towards fostering local and foreign investments opportunities. In 2017, under the leadership of Nana Akufo-Addo’s, the country launched a ‘Ghana Beyond Aid Agenda’ which aims to improve trade and investment competitiveness on a global and regional scale.

Thus 2018, the manufacturing sector was the fourth-largest sector in Ghana, accounting for 11.3% of its GDP. Meanwhile the manufacturing factor is crumbling under the present administration in Nigeria.

Third, the rate of insecurity in Nigeria is completely disheartening. Nigeria is among the top 5 countries by global terrorism index. The situation is made worse by the government’s lackadaisical attitude towards the whole situation. The country is been overrun by terrorists and the military forces are dying in numbers out there on the waterfront. Meanwhile, the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation has placed a restriction on media houses airing these crises. There seems to be no hope in sight.

On the other side of the coin, Ghana was ranked the most peaceful country in West Africa (and the third most peaceful in the continent) in 2020. You hardly ever hear reports of inter-tribal or religious wars, something her West African sister nation Nigeria cannot dream of, at least not under this administration.

Other notable problems responsible for the exodus of companies from Nigeria include corruption and the lack of basic amenities that tends to flow from such corruption, like bad roads, congested ports and a high exchange rate. While the Nigerian economy suffers the most as a result of these problems with no clear solution in sight, Ghana is making progressives reforms to open more doors for foreign investors.

Will Ghana eventually overtake Nigeria as the new Giant Of Africa? I’ll answer that question in the final part of the series (Part III).

https://www.dallasweekly.com/articles/is-ghana-slowly-becoming-the-giant-of-africa-the-exodus/